http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_(mathematics)
Taxi Driver Norm is listed under "other norms"
Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
11–20 of 86 posts
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#12See 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…
Even doctors have doctors and barbers have barbers. So?
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#13Why legally?
A couple of days ago I found a wallet with what looked like £40 (Didn't count it), travelcard and bank cards in it. I could have taken the money and put it the rest in the bin.
I could have even skimmed the credit/debit cards and gone on a spending spree!
But I did not.
I went to the local shop and enquired - 'do you know this guy?' The wallet owner actually lived in the flats above the shop and the wallet was returned.
To the owner of the wallet this was an unexpected turn up for the books - his faith in human nature restored etc. - fine, but not a tangible benefit to me (unless there is a god).
However, there actually is a tangible benefit, one that I did not think of when I enquired in the shop. The owner of the shop now knows that I will do the right thing for a complete stranger that happens to have lost a wallet. Hence, if I lose my wallet and cannot afford so much as a pint of milk, I can expect a favour from him, i.e. some necessities on credit until I can sort out my wallet.
All I am saying is that there may be benefits to returning the documents, benefits that you have not thought of.
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#14See 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…
> tiny details with huge consequences.
This reminds me of tax filling.
> Even lawyers have lawyers.
Do accountants have accountants too?
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#15Jacques_chester is correct, but I'll provide an additional warning. If you use the information to buy or sell stocks, and it is confidential and material that is very liky to be a violation of insider trading.
If I were you, I would consider handing back to their investor relations and try to build a new contact. It may work, it may not.
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#16See 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…
> tiny details with huge consequences. This reminds me of tax filling. > Even lawyers have lawyers. Do accountants have accountants too?
Yes, many (most?) accountants that don't specialize in personal accounting and tax filing recognize the value in having someone more knowledgeable than them take care of documents with a large impact on their lives.
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#17Why legally? A couple of days ago I found a wallet with what looked like £40 (Didn't count it), travelcard and bank cards in it. I could have taken the money and put it the rest in the bin. I could have even skimmed the credit/debit cards and gone on a spending spree! But I did not. I went to the local shop and enquired - 'do you know this guy?' The wallet owner actually lived in the flats above the shop and the wall…
Does using the information on the document mean whoever misplaced is going to lose something? Probably not. My point is, the OP's case and your example about the wallet are not the same.
PS: if I were the OP I would try to return or destroy them.
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#18First thing I would have done, NOT F*CKING POST on HN. The person that lost it reads too and so do his friends.
Second, if you wanted to you might used part of it you would have to be very careful and pair it with something totally yours.
Oh, and laws vary from country to country. Ethics are a different thing
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#19Documents left on a taxi seat can be characterized as mislaid. That is, the paper was intentionally put on the seat and forgotten. http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=117... Confidentiality is a an agreement between parties not to disclose information to a third party. You are now talking about the unintended disclosure of confidential information. Since you are not a party to the confidentiality…
> As far as insider trader, I don't suspect a random person who stumbled upon such data lawfully could be found guilty of any crime for using it.
That sounds like terrible advice to me. See this for example: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/100803.asp
> Oftentimes, people accused of the crime claim that they just overheard someone talking. Take for example a neighbor who overhears a conversation between a CEO and her husband regarding confidential corporate information. If the neighbor then goes ahead and makes a trade based on what was overheard, he or she would be violating the law even though the information was just "innocently" overheard: the neighbor becomes an insider with a fiduciary duty and obligation to confidentiality the moment he or she comes to possess the nonpublic material information. Since, however, the CEO and her husband did not try to profit from their insider knowledge, they are not necessarily liable of insider trading. In their carelessness, they may, however, be in breach of their confidentiality.
Re: Ask HN: I found documents on the backseat of a taxi. Can I legally use them?
#20See 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…
Even doctors have doctors and barbers have barbers. So?
You've added an example in doctors, actually. If a GP has cancer, he or she will go see an oncologist instead of just going on dimly recalled med school courses. The oncologist will see a sports physician about the shoulder injury from rugby, the sports physician sees an opthamologist about their slight ocular degeneration and so on and so forth.
Law is a sufficiently large field (remember, the problem domain is "all interactions between humans") that it requires specialisation and so, in fact, lawyers must frequently consult with other lawyers. OP may get an answer from a general practice solicitor. Or that lawyer may need to consult another lawyer. Until he or she sees a lawyer it's not clear to us lay folk.
Does this ever annoy you?
You're good with computers, can you make a poster for me?