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> You can't legally steal someone's trash. The courts have ruled that once you've put it in public it's abandoned and fair game. This article specifically dis
by gwern 8y ago
> You can't legally steal someone's trash. The courts have ruled that once you've put it in public it's abandoned and fair game.
This article specifically disagrees:
"Trash picking is illegal in California — once a bin is rolled out onto the sidewalk the contents are considered the possession of the trash collection company, according to Robert Reed, a spokesman for Recology, the company contracted to collect San Francisco’s garbage. But the law is rarely enforced."
- DrScump 8y agoAnd SCOTUS disagrees with the article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_v._Greenwood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_v._Greenwood
- athms 8y agoNo it doesn't. The case wasn't about ownership of the trash. The case was about whether the search was unreasonable. Did the person that disposed of the trash have an expectation of privacy. In that specific case, the police asked the waste company to set aside the trash allowing it to be examined and they did this without a warrant.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]