treasure for some rubbish for others?
- Thread starter RAPPLEBY2000
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what would i do with them?
the other stuff I've "wombled" is Bicycle parts!
Over the last few years I've found several bike frames, and taken the good bit's off, I haven't had to buy any bike spares for ages!
The problem for me, is I'm not sure how I stand legally if I am taking bit's off an obviously long dumped bike. (possbily previously dumped by a joy rider)
is it handling stolen goods?
I've stripped about 3 frames of useful bits now, i still have about 5 spare wheels! (including tyres and inner-tubes!), rather than leaving the frames there I've take them to the dump to be recycled (metal).
is this legal?
In my mind, I'm riding the countryside of rubbish and doing a service to the local council. am i right?
If I found a new or obviously well looked after bike I would tell the police.
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The problem for me, is I'm not sure how I stand legally if I am taking bit's off an obviously long dumped bike. (possbily previously dumped by a joy rider)
is it handling stolen goods?
I'm not a lawyer but I have seen them on TV. I would think that any found bicycle, long dumped or otherwise, was very likey at some point stolen. I've worked a number of years in the bicycle business and know as much about it as any cop or crook. I can not advise you on the legal status of your finds but if you are concerned, post a "Found" ad (often free) or call it in. At worst you will waste a lot of time and probably still get the bike. At best, you might just make someone's day. Otherwise, RAPPLEBY, I've got to believe you have the discretion to know the answer.
True story... A young couple hiking along a trail near Moab, Utah find a couple of mountain bikes. Seems like the middle of nowhere to them, they figure the bikes have been abandoned. They take the bikes back to town and stop in one of the local shops, wanting to confirm their good fortune. "We can keep these, right?" . The shop guy notices the rental sticker from another local shop and calls them up. SAR ensues. Non-Hollywood ending... story heading OT perhaps.
Bicycle shops are a good resource for some free odd bits, used tubes, cables, shipping boxes, widgets, etc.
I look through skips, and if there is a house, I'll go and ask if I can look/take. Some people are surprised to be asked, someone was very pleased to be asked, and pointed out other items they were throwing away.
THe hospital I work in is great for "junk" I was given a stainless steel pail that the domestic team were chucking out as surplus as well as storage boxes and old food grade containers from the kitchens.
THe hospital I work in is great for "junk" I was given a stainless steel pail that the domestic team were chucking out as surplus as well as storage boxes and old food grade containers from the kitchens.
so basically what you are all admitting to is being skip rats I.E you look through others skips
well can i join the clan cos in me time i have been known to scavenge in the odd skip
well can i join the clan cos in me time i have been known to scavenge in the odd skip
Erm...I think so.
yup, you have to live in a skip overnight to pass the test!
I'm not sure if "skip rat" is a good enough term for the amount of booty on offer.
perhaps something like
H.A.T.E. "Harvester of Alien Trash in the Environment"
would be better?
"HATE" has a sort of good publicity ring to it 
My most surprising find was a small form factor PC in almost perfect condition. I was taking some old electrical rubbish to our recycling dump and it was just sat there in the skip. It was last year's model, but who cares!
PC's were mentioned, just considering a possible danger.
if someone were to pick up a dumped PC/laptop, it may have been dumped by someone such as a pedophile that wanted to loose evidence!
you don't want that in your "free" hard-drive!
if someone were to pick up a dumped PC/laptop, it may have been dumped by someone such as a pedophile that wanted to loose evidence!
you don't want that in your "free" hard-drive!
Yeah - thought of that! I use a program that completely wipes a hard drive in my work, for security purposes when kit is being disposed of. So no worries.
No program truly wipes a hard drive, thats why 'secret' hard drives are melted down when they are no longer needed. A 'ghost' imprint always remains.
Pretty much an urban myth that one. The difficulty in recovering data that's been overwritten just once is phenomenal; overwrite it multiple times according to the Gutmann method and it's impossible even with magnetic force, scanning tunneling and electron probe microscopy.
Supposed techniques such as reading off-axis simply don't work any more if the data has been overwritten properly with the Gutmann method. Note: This was once applicable, though barely, when HD's were top-loaded, heads were moved with inaccurate stepper motors and they held a few megabytes. Not for the last 20+ years!
Statistical analysis of the raw magnetic signal is only marginally useful if the data has only been overwritten once or twice with with non-random data. After a few passes of 1 an 0 sequences and random data, there is nothing left of the starting state.
Bottom line is: Use proper data wiping techniques and MI5 aren't going to recover anything; let alone the police. Anyway, the police and MI5 outsource data recovery to the private sector, so there are no really secret methods!
Why do governments like to melt or shred HD's then? 1. They might have very old kit that does fall into the (extremely unlikely) off-axis reading possibility; 2. It eliminates the possibility of the wiping software failing and leaving data intact; 3. It's cheaper, since the hardware will be replaced anyway.
None of the above necessarily applies to flash memory devices, which can use distributed write techniques and 'dead block' reallocation. To wipe one of them truly securely, melt it!
P.s. I'm a bit obsessed with computer and network security. You couldn't tell though, could you?
...
To bring us back on topic...
I've also found screwdrivers, pliers, shovels, pick axes, and tons of computer kit. Even my big server was a throw-out that I rescued just before it hit the skip.
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I can only take your word for it as my computer knowledge is not the best I have however, been down to the Technical crime labs and seen them restore some very disturbing images, from damaged, deleted hard drives. Not sure if thats down to the software/hardware available to them. MOD melts its hard drives to prevent details getting out.
Not far from me, within spitting distance of the local Asda is an abandoned bulldozer, it has been there for years, and was still there last time I checked.
The MOD leaves laptops lying around on buses, trains, and taxis, not to mention skips, what utter bollox it's just publicity to scare the horses.
do tell....or was it a sore point?
I think it was to do with using the leather from a very rare and pricey ww1 saddle.
yep - I am a womble and proud!
I have no great finds to my name that I can think of.
although recently I have found no less than 5 bits of broken coil spring on the side of the road, they will be made into scandi knives most likely.
andy
P
Pcwizme
Guest
Gas Tanks are my normal haul and insulation foam
The gas tanks become stoves on occasion or sit till i can be bothered to make one
and the foam becomes props for filming and theatres.
The gas tanks become stoves on occasion or sit till i can be bothered to make one
and the foam becomes props for filming and theatres.
Can't walk past a skip/visit the tip without a good look around - have built an allotment shed complete with windows, benches, shelving etc with only the contents of skips before now...
However... a friend who shares the same obsession was actually stopped by the the police and informed that it was an offence to remove anything from a skip without the skip hirer's permission, but NOT an offence to actually put things in someone else's skip.
Which seems mad to me - The idea of paying for a skip to find it "legally" filled with other people's rubbish would annoy me considerably, whereas if I am throwing something out, put it in my skip, and then find that someone has re-homed it, freeing the valuable space in my skip again, I'd be happy
1. Stuff in a skip remains the property of the person who hired the skip until the skip company takes it away whereupon it belongs to them. If it's in a skip, knock on the door and ask if you can have it - I've never been refused.
2. Dumping stuff in someone else's skip IS AN OFFENCE. Curiously enough it's classed as Theft, as the hirer of the skip has "bought" the space inside from the hire company and if you take up that space with your rubbish, you have "stolen" part of that space. (I kid you not - that was one of those abstract questions we had to discuss 30-odd years ago when I did my initial police training.)
3. Stuff in a Local Authority bin / skip / tip becomes the property of the local authority as soon as it is put there by the "Depositor".
4. "Lost" stuff you find when out and about still belongs to the "loser" and you must take "resonable steps" to locate the owner and return it to them unless it has clearly been "abandoned", which may be difficult to ascertain. "Reasonable steps" vary depending on the item and its value and the circumstances at the time, but anything of value (again rather subjective) should be reported as found property to the local police. Typically after a period of 1 to 3 months, the item can be considered to be yours, although the original owner may still seek to claim it back from you.
Cheers,
