Question about returning documents: OP stated these are printouts, so what is the point of returning them if the original owner can just print them out again? Wouldn't returning the documents actually put that person in trouble, because their superior will know this information was misplaced - or is it the point to notify superiors?
Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
81–86 of 86 posts
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
The penalty for you making a mistake is higher than the penalty for your accountant/lawyer making a mistake. By "penalty" I mean negative consequences, not just explicit fines.
Okay, what sort of negative consequences? And why does having someone else make the mistakes on your behalf protect you from the consequences?
I imagine it is harder to get charged with fraud when your accountant files your taxes wrong then when you do your taxes and file them wrong.
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
The penalty for you making a mistake is higher than the penalty for your accountant/lawyer making a mistake. By "penalty" I mean negative consequences, not just explicit fines.
Okay, what sort of negative consequences? And why does having someone else make the mistakes on your behalf protect you from the consequences?
While representing yourself in court you can accidentally waive your fifth amendment rights.
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You could take the documents and through thinking of 'I have struck gold' and nothing else, walk out of the cab and into the on-coming bus, to go under it and be rescued by the paramedics. I'm sympathetic to your conclusion, but this seems spurious reasoning. Why is it more likely that you'd be hit by a bus thinking about how you're going to take advantage of the information than hit by a bus thinking about how you…
I see your point and it is a good one! Most people that step out into the road in front of me on my commute are doing the 'ipod shuffle', distracted by text or talking about what they are going to have for dinner. So it isn't as if they are distracted by anything really significant and in some way that is where the danger is - an assumption they can multi-task whilst crossing the road. If they were interrupted by som…
>To conclude, it is the element of deceit.
And that's what makes this tricky, because stock market situations are so unlike ordinary life. Is there deceit?
The OP has the option of returning the papers as soon as possible, and informing the people he returns them to about his stock market plans. He could in fact tell everyone he meets about his stock market plans and still be capable of a tidy profit.
There's something uncomfortable about the situation, but it's really hard to pin down what it is, and I don't think there's any dishonesty involved.
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#851. The texts are subject to copyright. You have to treat them as you would any other copyrighted text. 2. You can trade on the information in the capital markets. The information was disclosed to you inadvertently. You are not an insider, you did not conspire with anyone to to violate the law. 3. The physical papers still belong to the owner. You may have custody of them, but you do not own them. With respect to trad…
> 2. You can trade on the information in the capital markets. The information was disclosed to you inadvertently. Be careful of acting on that idea; just because something is morally reasonable doesn't make it legal. I heard of a case once where someone sold shares based on happening to see a factory on fire through an airplane window, and a court found it to be insider trading. Sure, maybe that case wasn't represent…
http://fubarinc.blogspot.com/2013/08/inside-out-more-on-insi...
That plane thing seems to have been an erroneous hypothetical.
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#86See a lawyer. Seriously. See a lawyer. People on the internet are not lawyers; if they are lawyers, their main advice is go see a lawyer . Law is a profession of tiny details with huge consequences. Those tiny details vary from place to place and from subject to subject. Even lawyers have lawyers. If I learnt one and only one important lesson from my time in law school, it's this: If you have a question of law, go se…
If our only understanding of the law came directly from consulting a lawyer, we'd all be very poor and very ignorant. There is nothing wrong with asking about the experiences of others who may have asked lawyers similar questions, as long as we understand that we should directly seek a lawyer's advice in proportion to what is at stake. By sharing our legal experiences, we'd all become better at understanding the spec…
This person is talking about doing something that could land them in jail.
The only correct advice is "see a lawyer".