Sorry if this is out of context and if it doesnt match your general ideas.
Finders Keepers - Salvage, Stolen, Illegal Goods and Theft.
Hi Chums,
Lots of folk laying their hands on other peoples stuff and claiming hey no fair its not illegal its 'Salvage' its not stolen its 'Salvage'
Here's an interesting article by the BBC on the subject
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8129534.stm
Here's a snippet.
"
At a hearing in April, defence lawyer Rob Ross told the court: "It is important for the public to know that 'Finders keepers, losers weepers' is not true and never was true."
This is how I see it and it might help you come to terms with those fines and why the police are after you.
You've just found some Cargo floating in space and pick it up to discover its 'Stolen' ... what again? Yes!
You get miffed... Sulk. I found it, its mine!
1) How do you know it wasn't stolen in the first place?
2) Law in the game disagrees with you. It's not yours. Never was.
3) Finding something does not make it your property, whatever reality you live. There's rule you know.
If you find a gold ring in a field, it does not make it yours. That's petty theft. It belongs to the original owner or next of kin.
Find a tonne of gold with the intention to sell it is opportunistic well considered theft. Not your's don't take it.
If you find a wreck in space and take the cargo floating around. You are robbing a grave, accident or crime scene. It's not your property or legally up for grabs.
If you find a wrecked truck that's spilled its contents of several tonnes of watches in the middle of knowwhere and you think the driver is probably dead you do not have the right to take and sell the cargo. That would be a crime in the real world.
If someone 'salvaged' my property, the property of my business, or the property of a relative living or dead I'd want it back because they have no legal right to it.
Sadly there is no mechanism for returning found property and you are well aware that if you find something that's not yours it counts as stolen. Simple.
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Oxford English Dictionary Definition of Salvage.
Rescue (a wrecked or disabled ship or its cargo) from loss at sea:
an emerald and gold cross was salvaged from the wreck
The rescue boat attempted to salvage the smaller vessel yesterday.
A number of attempts were made to salvage the ship but when they failed she was dispersed using explosives.
Attempts to salvage the ship were hampered by thick fog on Saturday night and the bad weather continued yesterday morning, French coastguards said.
As you can seen the definition is about rescuing stuff, not nicking it and selling it.
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Urban Dictionary definition
sal·vage (săl′vĭj)
n.
1.
a. The rescue of a ship or its cargo from fire or shipwreck.
b. The ship or cargo saved in such a rescue.
c. Award given to those who aid in such a rescue when under no obligation to do so, especially in the form of a portion of the cargo.
d. The recovery of a sunken ship or its cargo by divers or submersibles.
2.
a. The act of saving imperiled property from loss.
b. The property so saved.
3. Something saved from destruction or waste and put to further use.
tr.v. sal·vaged, sal·vag·ing, sal·vag·es
1. To save from loss or destruction.
2. To save (discarded or damaged material) for further use.
Again, no mention of pinching stuff that's not your's to sell later.
--- Here's a nice Definition of theft
theft n. the generic term for all crimes in which a person intentionally and fraudulently takes personal property of another without permission or consent and with the intent to convert it to the taker's use (including potential sale).
The stuff that we find in space are not credit power ups, they normally seem to be the result of a tragic accident or an act of violence. So until we can turn goods in that we find, let's just accept that if it's not got your name on it, it's not yours and that finders keepers is what children say ( and a very good game on the ZX Spectrum).
I hope that didn't sound like a rant and if you disagree, that's fine. It's just a game and my intention is to help other players come to terms with one aspect of the game that seems to bother quite a few people. My command of English is not great so sorry if the above comes across oddly. Would love to here some other in game explanations. There's some good stuff on smuggling, crime etc. in the DDA.
