I found a lost kindle 2 should I keep it or return it?

[Yojinbo]

Well,

My DX in a standard case was taken from pocket on a SWA flight a few weeks ago. A male passenger took it off the plane in TX and has turned the comms on at least once (it may simply been on by default).

I have been told that the device was even posted on craigslist at one point by the male who found it.

My device had some sensitive (and valuable) information on it and I am treating it as a theft with the authorities on those grounds. I can't really comment on the ethics of keeping what is identifiable as another person's property, but I will be pressing charges aginst one individual to the fullest extent of the law.

So, please don't keep sensitive data on your Kindle, but if you do remember that is has value in excess of the device and could change a misdemeanor into a felony in the US.

If you steal or even find someone's ebook device just return it quickly and feel free to boldly ask for a reward. But don't continue to hold on to objects or information that are not yours.

[boswd]

This is ver interesting. A person on the "What Should I buy" sub forum lost a Kindle 2 at the airport.

Now that would be weird if they are one and the same.

[Danariel]

Originally Posted by disney_mommy

I hope you're thanking your lucky stars that dtrainor was not the one to find your Kindle. You would have been screwed.

Amen, mommy! The fact that I had it returned to me in no way causes me to expect that if I misplace it again the next person will do the same.

I am much more careful with it now, and even though it is once again without the SS hack (waiting for update 2.5) that enables me to put my info and Reward if Found on it, I have a case that has a window for a business card, as well.

If I found someone's Kindle, I know how to find out who it belongs to, if they've input their personal info into the Settings screen and that'll be the first place I look. If I am unable to locate the owner that way, or through any other identifying marks/features (some put a decal with their personal info on them, others use the same ss hack to do what I do) then I know Amazon knows who the registered owner is, and I for one trust Amazon to do the right thing. Just see my post about noticing the Sun-fade issue 2 months AFTER warranty expiration (my replacement will be here tomorrow.)

With many devices, it can be VERY hard to know who to return it to. But with the Kindle, Amazon should always know.

You know, this gives me another idea...I have the Kindle for iPhone application on my iPod Touch. If I lost it, and someone noticed the app and thought to call Amazon, I wonder if they'd be able to help there, too? There has to be some identifying code that Amazon uses to identify who's iPod/iPhone it is...may have to ask CS this question.

[tmhung]

take it to owner . please

[dtrainor]

Originally Posted by disney_mommy

Okay, there is a whole lot here, so I'm going to break it up and respond to one opinion at a time:



I may be wrong here, but I don't think the OP was thinking about sleeping or feeling better, s/he was asking what was the right thing. The right thing is to do what can be done to return the Kindle to it's owner.




I resent the fact that you're saying that I would keep it if something similar were to happen to me. I absolutely would not. If it doesn't belong to me, then I have no interest inkeeping it. Whether someone steals something or finds it, it belongs to someone else and is therefore not mine to keep. As far as I'm concerned there is only 1 option in this case, and that is to try to return it to it's owner.




"Finders keepers, losers weepers" is something second graders say to each other when they find a crayon that another child wants or see a toy another has set down. As they grow up, they are properly taught that that is not true. It is not something that grown adults say to each other over stolen cars and lost Kindles. If that is how you and your friends value each other's posessions, I am glad I do not socialize with you.




Perhaps that is karma at work...




Maybe it was a chance to test the finder of the Kindle. Maybe it was a chance for the loser to meet someone in the process of reporting it. Maybe it was meant that the finder would meet someone in trying to return it. Maybe the loser wasn't meant to have it at all. Who are we to try to figure out the reasons?




What expense has s/he incurred? Is making a few phone calls not worth the effort of returning something that someone is surely missing?




S/he would not be "losing it." S/he would be returning it to its owner.




That is no surprise, considering the company you keep.




Let's forget for a moment about Karma, which you are obviously not a big fan of, yet spent an inordinate amount of time pontificating on, and concentrate on right and wrong. There is no entitlement or giving or receiving. It's simply the right, honest thing to do. Why does it matter whether you will be recieving a huge karmic payback sometime in the future?




How do you know it doesn't pay off? Maybe everything in your life that's good you owe to karma. Maybe karma is a myth somebody made up that only suckers believe in. Whatever the case may be, there is right and wrong. That's the bottom line.




Since when is doing the right thing something somebody has to force himself to do? Perhaps knowing they did the right thing is somebody's karma. Perhaps not getting hit by a car on the way home from work is somebody's karma. Perhaps the fact that you didn't get struck by lightening today on the golf course was karma at work. Perhaps the fact that a wife makes dinner for her husband tonight is his karma for doing the right thing today. How do we know what karma is? You seem to think it involves flashing neon lights and big payouts that leave no doubt as to their intent. Maybe that's not what it is.

I'm sorry you didn't receive a huge sum of money or a nice big kiss as reward for returning a lost item to its owner. I'm sure if the owner knew you were expecting "gratification," he would have surely done much more to thank you. And since when is not receiving gratification punishment? Sounds like you were greedily expecting something simply for doing the right thing and you were disappointed. Boo hoo. Poor you.




If the person that found the Kindle returned it to Amazon, two owners would not lose out. Only the owner of the Kindle would (and that's assuming Amazon simply chucks the Kindle in the trash). The person who returned it did not own the Kindle, so would not lose out. And I can pretty much guarantee that anyone who has ever had anything returned to them is appreciative. They might not offer you a big sum of money or a handjob as thanks, but they are thankful.




They are surely more protective and aware of what they are doing now that they have lost something, but returning it to them does not ensure that they will become complacent with their belongings. That's quite a leap to make. It is not our job to teach lessons to strangers about losing their belongings, nor is it our job to attempt to divvy up karma as we see fit.


I don't recall the last time a post has made me so up in arms, so forgive the length of this post. I'm sure the intent was to incite someone's emotions, and in that case it succeeded. To quote kindlekitten - welcome to the forums.

A recurring trend throughout your post was making personal assumptions upon my character. I was arguing as devil's advocate regarding the ethics of the issue; most of what I mentioned in my own post was fictitious. I don't even lose things often, I was just putting myself in the position of someone who does. Your comments regarding the "company I keep" were out of line, as now you're assuming what sort of friends I have. Don't worry yourself over such frivolities; someone with a rear end as uptight as yours wouldn't make the list.

I notice you dodged the issue of ethics altogether and expected me to break down my post one reply at a time. The tedium of this exercise exceeds the ambition I have to approach it. My post was to illustrate that karma can not be dictated from the subjective opinions of those already predisposed to favoring one response or another; to simplify: that karma will always look differently from one perspective than it does from another.

Your smarmy introduction to the boards gave me the sort of information I was looking for regarding the company I'd prefer not to keep in the future. I see now I'll never break into this little cult and earn the acceptance of some aging Kindle users who spend time on the boards in between what can only be assumed is a passive approach to parenting; you could have raised your children more efficiently in the time it took you to parrot the sentiments of another almost verbatim. You can avoid having personal judgments like this made about you by showing others the same courtesy; I read somewhere about learning all that in 2nd grade. I guess there are things you didn't learn that year, either.

Not receiving gratification is of course punishment because it proves a fruitless endeavor. Alas, we've more proverbs: no good deed goes unpunished, and playing devil's advocate on these boards for the sake of exposing liars didn't do me any favors either. The fact that you thought I singled you out in my post when, quite frankly, I didn't know you existed until five minutes ago, tells me I must have struck a nerve. I'll let the cult following you've acquired here nurse any wounds that may have ensued as a result, because I can no longer care any less what you think about just about anything.

[dtrainor]

Originally Posted by disney_mommy

I hope you're thanking your lucky stars that dtrainor was not the one to find your Kindle. You would have been screwed.

I thank my lucky stars that I'm not the disney_daddy that goes home to you every evening. We're all winners today.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by dtrainor

Your smarmy introduction to the boards gave me the sort of information I was looking for regarding the company I'd prefer not to keep in the future. I see now I'll never break into this little cult and earn the acceptance of some aging Kindle users .

OUCH! you're right. you wouldn't fit in here. you couldn't handle the open international comaradery, or the fact that teens get along with folks in their 70s and have lively discussions about just about anything. don't let the screen door hit ya' in the 5th point of contact on the way out

[dtrainor]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

OUCH! you're right. you wouldn't fit in here. you couldn't handle the open international comaradery, or the fact that teens get along with folks in their 70s and have lively discussions about just about anything. don't let the screen door hit ya' in the 5th point of contact on the way out

Do you all answer for each other now? Again, I can't stress enough how fortunate I feel not to belong to Heaven's Gate (Kindle edition).

[disney_mommy]

Originally Posted by dtrainor

A recurring trend throughout your post was making personal assumptions upon my character. I was arguing as devil's advocate regarding the ethics of the issue; most of what I mentioned in my own post was fictitious. I don't even lose things often, I was just putting myself in the position of someone who does. Your comments regarding the "company I keep" were out of line, as now you're assuming what sort of friends I have. Don't worry yourself over such frivolities; someone with a rear end as uptight as yours wouldn't make the list.

I notice you dodged the issue of ethics altogether and expected me to break down my post one reply at a time. The tedium of this exercise exceeds the ambition I have to approach it. My post was to illustrate that karma can not be dictated from the subjective opinions of those already predisposed to favoring one response or another; to simplify: that karma will always look differently from one perspective than it does from another.

Your smarmy introduction to the boards gave me the sort of information I was looking for regarding the company I'd prefer not to keep in the future. I see now I'll never break into this little cult and earn the acceptance of some aging Kindle users who spend time on the boards in between what can only be assumed is a passive approach to parenting; you could have raised your children more efficiently in the time it took you to parrot the sentiments of another almost verbatim. You can avoid having personal judgments like this made about you by showing others the same courtesy; I read somewhere about learning all that in 2nd grade. I guess there are things you didn't learn that year, either.

Not receiving gratification is of course punishment because it proves a fruitless endeavor. Alas, we've more proverbs: no good deed goes unpunished, and playing devil's advocate on these boards for the sake of exposing liars didn't do me any favors either. The fact that you thought I singled you out in my post when, quite frankly, I didn't know you existed until five minutes ago, tells me I must have struck a nerve. I'll let the cult following you've acquired here nurse any wounds that may have ensued as a result, because I can no longer care any less what you think about just about anything.

Of course I was making assumptions about your character. Isn't that what a post is - your opinion, the sum of which defines your character? When you say that "Most people, when finding something, do not value it as the lost possession of another," I gathered you were speaking of you and the people you know. So yes, I formed an opinion of you and the company you keep. And the fact that you wouldn't even consider doing the right thing unless you received gratification says quite a bit.

As I said previously, I am pleased to not be an aquaintance of yours. And if the fact that I hold other people's valuables as their personal property and not mine to take when they turn their back makes my rear end uptight, then that's fine with me.

You join a board for mobile readers, then use your first post to say that something that doesn't belong to you is okay to keep, and you are surprised that everyone here urges the OP to return someone's lost item? Perhaps you don't belong in this "cult" (by which I'm sure you meant an incredibly large group of people of all ages from all walks of life and all corners of the earth who come together to intelligently discuss reading in general and ereaders in specific, all while maintaining a sense of neighborly conduct).

How did this become about my parenting? If anything, from my posts you have surely learned that I have raised my son to be a kind and thoughful person who will return things that do not belong to him. And I can assure you that I know from experience that that is exactly who he is.

I never assumed you singled me out, I was simply responding to a post which upset me. You can't expect to make such statements and not receive responses from people who disagree with your opinions.

I can assure you that you have not caused me any wounds, for the opinions of a selfish egomaniac mean nothing to me. I will however, spend my time on other threads of this board where people of intelligence reside.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

sure, you go downtown, find a kindle on a park bench, give it to the police. but if you find a kindle (or anything) at the airport, they have their own lost and found, they are their own "port" and have their own police. technically the "found" item should never have left the facility

Of course, if you just find an electronic device laying around at the airport, it's likely to get blown and/or shot up by the Keystone Kops running security. Something the rightful owner would not appreciate.

Luqman

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

Of course, if you just find an electronic device laying around at the airport, it's likely to get blown and/or shot up by the Keystone Kops running security. Something the rightful owner would not appreciate.

Luqman

well yeah, if you go down that road and don't pick it up and start playing with it first. op; this was a drill! you are now dead! blown to pieces by a dummy Kindle!

[mores]

Poke it with a stick first, then return to original owner.

This thread just convinced me to modify my iPhone home screen to include a message to a finder, should it get lost.

[brecklundin]

I wonder how many ignore lists this thread is on by now...this place ahs truly become pathetic in that every "discussion" devolves into bitchfests between the same ID's...

[dtrainor]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

I wonder how many ignore lists this thread is on by now...this place ahs truly become pathetic in that every "discussion" devolves into bitchfests between the same ID's...

Yeah, but everyone loves reading your 1500 useless posts here.

Get over yourself.

[dtrainor]

Originally Posted by disney_mommy

Of course I was making assumptions about your character. Isn't that what a post is - your opinion, the sum of which defines your character? When you say that "Most people, when finding something, do not value it as the lost possession of another," I gathered you were speaking of you and the people you know. So yes, I formed an opinion of you and the company you keep. And the fact that you wouldn't even consider doing the right thing unless you received gratification says quite a bit.

More strawmen from disney mommy.

I never said I'd not consider doing the right thing unless I received gratification; my original post implicating doing what you would perceive as the "right thing" was done without any promise of gratification. It was that very lack thereof that helped me form my opinion, in fact. Don't confuse the cause with the effect.

As I said previously, I am pleased to not be an aquaintance of yours. And if the fact that I hold other people's valuables as their personal property and not mine to take when they turn their back makes my rear end uptight, then that's fine with me.

I have no knowledge of that being a fact. I'd more readily believe you're a liar pandering for approval on the forums. In what instance has your good samaritan virtues been put on display? Who do you return lost money to? The rightful owner, right? You should write a book about your adventures. I'd read it on my Kindle, the one I had the sense not to lose.

You join a board for mobile readers, then use your first post to say that something that doesn't belong to you is okay to keep, and you are surprised that everyone here urges the OP to return someone's lost item? Perhaps you don't belong in this "cult" (by which I'm sure you meant an incredibly large group of people of all ages from all walks of life and all corners of the earth who come together to intelligently discuss reading in general and ereaders in specific, all while maintaining a sense of neighborly conduct).

It's quite clear you meant that, and I meant no such thing.

How did this become about my parenting? If anything, from my posts you have surely learned that I have raised my son to be a kind and thoughful person who will return things that do not belong to him. And I can assure you that I know from experience that that is exactly who he is.

It's this same tired naivete that led you to believe you were a good parent to begin with. What makes you think your son is so honest? I bet your son is using the lost Kindle in question as we speak.

I never assumed you singled me out, I was simply responding to a post which upset me. You can't expect to make such statements and not receive responses from people who disagree with your opinions.

I didn't involve my emotions in the affair. I'm sorry if you made that mistake.

I can assure you that you have not caused me any wounds, for the opinions of a selfish egomaniac mean nothing to me. I will however, spend my time on other threads of this board where people of intelligence reside.

So I haven't caused any wounds, yet in the preceding paragraph you admit to getting upset.

Your story checks out nicely. I'm not going to write you off as a contradicting liar because I haven't earned that right as a member of your little cult thus far. Rest assured I'm looking forward to it upon gaining acceptance in the group.