What would you do in such a case?

[12voltman59]

I just found this story a few minutes ago and after reading it---decided to post it in a few places to see what sort of responses people give.

I hope that what they found in this little experiment is really not true in most places. I know that I would only go so far looking around the phone to try to determine the owner so I could contact them to let them know I found their phone left someplace.

I would surely not do anymore than necessary to find that person---I find it kind of creepy that in this test, most people did do things like look through the pictures on the thing and worse---went through the info on how to get into the "owner's" banking info.

So folks---what would you all do---just try to find the person by only going into info that would provide that---or once past that point---would you snoop into someone's personal stuff on their phone?

http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/08/10595092-exclusive-the-lost-cell-phone-project-and-the-dark-things-it-says-about-us?chromedomain=redtape

[fredtyg]

I'd have to put myself in the 10% or so that wouldn't try to find anything on the phone but owner information and then try and return it. If not that, turn it in to the police or service provider, as the article mentioned toward the end.

I can't imagine going through someone's personal stuff as so many of those people did.

[nutme]

I find it absolutly silly when I hear some say that, "people are generally good" Rule 1, people generally suck and are not trustworthy. Sounds like I box myself in, doesn't it? With following Rule 1 I find that I am not surprised at peoples behaviors and it actually opens myself up to be more generous to those that are nice and trustworthy. I assume nothing about a persons charactre until it is displayed. I have seen very good things done by people with true gratitude in their style, but by and far, I have witnessed more of the assult and battery of the human conscience by people. This doesn't shock me at all, I just find it sad.

[cumplay]

I find there's 3 things you can do when initially finding the phone. 1) Take the phone to the provider (ie, Verizon, ATnT, T Mobile etc) and they can track the phones owner. Most logical. 2) Turn it in to the police or 3) If it's not locked, most phones have an ICE entry. Call that number and let the person who answers know that you found this phone (chances are real good that if they are in that phones ICE entry, the person on the other end will know who owns the phone and arrangements can be made. Of course, there's always the old snoop till you find something you can use method.

[welickit]

I wouldn't pick it up to begin with, it doesn't belong to me. If I did pick it up I would toss it away. One less person driving and being distracted by chatting or texting. I just built a cell phone signal jamming device that works like a charm. We also have a fun little item in the car to fix assholes with their boom, boom, boom vibrating windows and ear drums. Is it all legal? About as legal as what they are doing but I win.

[DuckiesDarling]

Personally, I'd drop it at the nearest "lost and found" that was around. If in front of a store, I'd take it in, cause chances are the customer will call there hoping against hope. I really didn't like reading the results, Volt, even though I am well aware of human nature, I'd love to know exactly what parts of town they dropped it in and if it was younger people or older people who picked it up, though.

[Long Duck Dong]

lol there was a time in town that I found a cellphone so I opened it and rang the number labeled * mum * to let them know that that I have found the cellphone and that I was looking to get it back to the person....... their response was to say thank you very much and they would ring the owner on their cell phone to let them know it had been found...... I did not say a word, hung up and waited..... the mother rang back and said hello ? who is this " and I replied, " the person that is holding the cellphone I have found hence why I rung you, trying to trace the owner "

what I did was tell the mother that I was going to hand the phone in at the police station so that it could be picked up by somebody... and the mother was helpful enuf to give me their first name so I could tell the police that she would be picking it up


this is the trouble with Iphones, people have their whole lives on their Iphones and when they lose them, they are generally screwed cos they have no idea what to do...and cos its like handing a crim your whole life on a silver platter......

[rickoyler1969]

The last time I found a phone, I waited until someone called the phone & answered it, the lady's husband then came to me & picked up the phone & insisted on giving me $ 20 reward

[Gearbox]

I've found a few. I just phoned the 'My Home' numbers. I do admit that I played Monopoly on one while I waited for the owner though.lol
I wouldn't dare look at pics or vids etc. If somebody found mine, I would deny all knowledge of it.:tongue:

[elian]

That's the whole point LDD, the vendor wants you to think of that device as an extension of your body that you can't live without. I love the way technology empowers people but it's also a double-edged sword. In any case, I'm glad you were able to reunite the lost phone w/it's owner.

If I were to pick it up at all (what's to say the owner won't return to the place they lost it?), I would probably go through the contacts, or just wait for it to ring to see if there was anyone I could call to find the owner, barring that probably take it to the nearest carrier store - they can trace it by the SIM or the IMEI #.

I once saw two unsigned credit cards laying face down on the pavement but I didn't even touch them - just let them lay because I didn't want my fingerprints all over them..



this is the trouble with Iphones, people have their whole lives on their Iphones and when they lose them, they are generally screwed cos they have no idea what to do...and cos its like handing a crim your whole life on a silver platter......

[Brian]

I find it absolutly silly when I hear some say that, "people are generally good" I disagree. And I have issues with this "study" - it seems to me it may have been designed to get the result it got and therefore be misleading.

If you read the article, the only way for the finder to find the person who owned the phone was to click on a folder called "Contacts". For most people that was not the first place they looked. It isn't the first place I would have looked either. I'm not a big cell user, but I don't think I am in my own list of Contacts and if I am I don't think I am identified as the phone owner there. A better test would have been if there was a folder called "My Contact Info" displayed prominently with a phone number and people skipped over that folder, or chose not to call the number, and instead went to the "Bank Info" or "Passwords" folder.

Keep in mind that Symantec, although a fine company that I deal with myself (to the tune of about $88 per year for Norton Internet Security - not bloody cheap!), sells fear. They are a bit like Fox News - they financially benefit from creating and selling fear (for Symantec, over privacy and personal security issues).

So I don't buy this study. I smell modern marketing bullshit disguised as science. I think it is an intentional smear job on human nature to sell their products.

I think people are basically good. Most people have a sense of altruism and community - they know that what is in the common good is good for them and their loved ones. And there is even science that suggests we are becoming more and more good with time: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/books/review/the-better-angels-of-our-nature-by-steven-pinker-book-review.html?pagewanted=all

- Drew :paw:

[dick8823]

I'd probably look at the personal photos then return the phone.

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

Why go thru all that hassle? Too many people's lives on on their gagets and I think its hilarious. Last time I found a phone in the store, I took it to Customer Service to let them deal with it. A Frantic man came in a second later looking for his phone. Since I was still there he gave me 20 bucks and asked if I looked at anything on his phone. I told him "Hell No. I'm not that interested in people's private lives that I dont know, but you Did look awful cute in those fishnets" then walked away....lol I dont know if he had or Hadnt had any fishnets, but the look on his face was priceless..lol
Mean Ole Cat

[MtnMan]

Yep, I'm a returner. I'd just send it to the provider if I can figure out who that is and let them return it. I've returned wallets, keys, one handbag, and whatever I find, except cash. I found $80 (4 20's) on the street in SF once when I lived there, and felt no ethical dilemma keeping it.

[swmnkdinthervr]

I don't consider viewing anyone's personal info as "curiosity" or "necessity" when considering what to do, either turn the phone in at the appropriate venue or don't pick it up. If I find something it's obviously not mine, I will make a reasonable effort to return it to the rightful owner. When that is not an option I would find an ethical/honest answer to the dilemma.

[æonpax]

People are generally fools as well as being innately curious and prone to rationalize their criminal misdoings. Those who store sensitive and personal information without a care to securing that data eventually find out the hard way the cost of such a folly. I carry around a cell phone that only has the minimal basics so in case I do lose it, it's no big deal. I also carry around a laptop when I travel that has everything sensitive, fully encrypted. I've memorized my most frequently used passwords (all over 12 characters in alpha-numeric-ASCII).

It's not that I distrust people but I do. Also, if by rare chance your device is found by law enforcement, you can be sure they are going to go through it with a fine tooth comb.

In light of all the techno criminality going on these days, I have very little sympathy for those who do not take even the most common sense precautions to secure their information.

[elian]

@Drew - don't you know? The marketers are upstairs, the people in the basement WRITE the viruses..and yeah, show me a study that DOESN'T prove what it's been funded to prove..numbers and words are wonderfully flexible.

@Aeon - I call this the "car" analogy - used to be that you actually had to know how the car worked in order to drive it - took 20 minutes just to start it up. Now ANY idiot can hop in one and turn the key.. In the early 2000s I witnessed a phenomenon where people started to throw "worn out" computers in the garbage if they were broken $10 toasters..really all the machines needed was reloaded and cleaned up from tons of malware/virus abuse.

The amount of security applied should vary proportionally to the value of the information. There is very little information on my machine that I wouldn't want people to see, and there is NO "personal" information..so no real reason to encrypt. Little secret, if you have all of your passwords in a spreadsheet that you think is password protected, there are utilities you can pay for, about $25 that easily break the password protection in Excel, etc. I would never use one of these maliciously, but there have been legitimate occassions where someone has asked me to alter a form in MS Word or something that was password protected.

Whether people are good or not? That's like asking "what makes a person gay?" - I think it's a combination of nature, nurture and probably genetic factors. I think it also depends on your definition of "good". I think all beings want to be happy. You may have been raised, and experienced deriving your happiness by interacting with other people in a positive way. Or you may have been raised, or had experiences where you feel that a big motivator for happiness is a sense of entitlement at the expense of others. What exactly is "evil" - I can think of examples in the second case that may not be "evil" at all.