Ethical question.

[Meat Plow]

On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:53:47 -0600, Jeffrey Angus wrote:

On 1/6/2011 3:23 PM, Meat Plow wrote:
Owner says he has no knowledge of the contraband and that he had it
repaired not long ago and the contra- band must have been placed their
by the repair person.

Glad to see you paid attention to the original posting.

I tend to lose my ability to focus when posts are long and ambiguous.
Next time just get to the fucking point. And my arguments are still valid
but also involve morality and honesty. Obvious you know nothing about
either since you were snooping.



--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

JeffM wrote:

Meat Plow wrote:
?I'll assume you found some child porn.
?
...while snooping somewhere where you weren't authorized.

?If it were me I would hand it over to the cops.
?
Now you have a reputation
not only as someone who does unauthorized snooping
but as a nark.

Word gets out that you are a jerk
and people immediately stop bringing you their work.
Another jackass out of the business. Good.

With that attitude, people will think you distribute child porn.


--
What are you looking for, all the way down here?

 

[Arfa Daily]

"D Yuniskis" <not.going.to.be@seen.com> wrote in message
news:ig5cmd$8gf$2@speranza.aioe.org...

On 1/6/2011 2:28 PM, jeff_wisnia wrote:
D Yuniskis wrote:
There was a girl named Pandora who made a similar
mistake (except it was a *jar*, in her case)...

I remembered that it was her *box*. <G

Actually, that is a mistranslation. It was, in fact, *jar*

But it's only funny if the word is "box" ...

Arfa

 

[Arfa Daily]

"Meat Plow" <mhywatt@yahoo.com> wrote in message
newsan.2011.01.06.22.55.38@lmao.lol.lol...

On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:17:46 -0800, JeffM wrote:

Meat Plow wrote:
I'll assume you found some child porn.

...while snooping somewhere where you weren't authorized.

If it were me I would hand it over to the cops.

Now you have a reputation
not only as someone who does unauthorized snooping but as a nark.

Word gets out that you are a jerk
and people immediately stop bringing you their work. Another jackass out
of the business. Good.

A NARC is urban slang for someone who squeals on narcotics dealers.

In the UK, it's definitely spelt with a "k" and usually goes in the phrase
'copper's nark' as in a police informant. The wisdom on the interweb seems
to suggest that it is derived from a Romany word meaning "nose" , so I
suppose further deriving "nosey" (person) from that ...

Arfa

 

[JeffM]

JeffM wrote:
Now you have a reputation
not only as someone who does unauthorized snooping
but as a nark.

Word gets out that you are a jerk
and people immediately stop bringing you their work.
Another jackass out of the business. Good.

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
With that attitude, people will think you distribute child porn.

"If one would give me six lines

written by the hand of the most honest man,
I would find something in them to have him hanged."
--Cardinal Richelieu

You advocate making it easier on the persecutors
who go after individuals who haven't harmed anyone.[1]
Want to put a REAL dent in child porn?
Stop wasting resources on people who aren't hurting anyone.
Go after THE PRODUCERS .

....and It could easily be argued
that guys who are whacking off at their computers
are NOT a threat to any *actual* kids.
Charge a guy with possessing CP then put me on the jury
and he gets an acquittal.
I don't see anyone whom *he* victimized.
..
..
[1] The only thing more stupid
is the trend to consider possession of *drawings*
to be prosecutable.

All of you priggish blue noses can go to Hell.

 

[mm]

On Thu, 6 Jan 2011 18:59:37 +0000 (UTC), Meat Plow <mhywatt@yahoo.com>
wrote:

So, what to do?

Jeff

I'll assume you found some child porn. If it were me I would hand it over
to the cops. Can't say I really hate much about the world but child abuse
and those who do the abuse would be 1 of the few things I hate.

I think I would make a distinction between child porn the owwner
created versus stuff that looks clearly purchased, even though both
are illegal.

I bought a big harddrive at a hamfest last summer and it wasn't wiped
like most are, adn on it was nothing involving children, but there was
some porn, a little bit of labeled with a web-addreess, so it was
clearly downloaded, a free sample perhaps, and a couple short videos
that had no one in them that looked anything like the owner of the
hard drive.

OTOH, there were others that looked home made, because the same "girl"
appeared in the bedroom and ohter plces like at a restaurant.
Actually some of the girls wree in their 50's and quite unattractive,
and a couple were darn good looking and pretty young, but still 25 or
30. I think the man is not married. He also had a lot of family
pictures. (I've thought of trying to find him in case these were his
only copies of the pictures.)

My point is that maybe the op can tell if it was user created, or
received from a friend?, versus bought, where the customers arrest
wouldn't have any repercussion for the sellers, iiuc. I don't know
entirely how, but I could clearly tell the differnce in what I saw.


Any other evidence of a real crime, like videos of vandalism,
muggings, arson, murders, should be turned over to the police, and I
don't think any defense claims, if any, that the computer repair man
inserted anything will be believed by anyone.

Just a couple days ago there was another example of some group
videoing their beating up a homeless man.

OTOH, how can a customer be so stupid he takes teh computer in if it
contains anything illegal. There are some people who wouldn't even
ask advice and woudl take it to the police if it showed someone
spitting on the sidewalk. That's illegal too some places.

 

[mm]

On Thu, 6 Jan 2011 15:00:29 -0500, "Charlie" <left@thestation.com>
wrote:

"Jeffrey Angus" <jangus@suddenlink.net> wrote in message
news:4d2602bc$0$5566$bbae4d71@news.suddenlink.net...
Customer brings in a lap top. "Won't boot"

So you do the usual amount of diagnostics
and knock a little sense back into the machine.

Being nosy of course, you check out the
pictures folder to see what their kinks are.

Isn't that an nvasion of privacy? Did you have a search warrant?

FWIW, search warrants don't relate to private parties, only the
government. They don't give search warrants to private parties, not
even private detectives. Only to government law enforement persons.
Like DY said.

"Invasion of privacy" is a term that can apply lots of places but only
a few of them are illegal or tortious.

However the OP says he was nosy and snooping. If he says that
elsewhere or used his real name here, he's weakened his defense a lot.

Do you open yourself up to a lawsuit?

Advice I one got from an attorney. You never want to be in the witness box.
And you don't know the ansewer until the judge tells you.

 

[mm]

On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:53:47 -0600, Jeffrey Angus
<jangus@suddenlink.net> wrote:

To answer the point of invasion of privacy.
You have no expectation of privacy if you hand your
laptop to someone.

You may well be right about this. If I sent my diary in to have it
rebound, and the bookbinder read it, well if I kept a diary I wouldn't
send it to a bookbinder.

What exactly did you find on this computer?

I forgot about child abuse. That's even worse than naked poses of a
child, which is all I had in mind that I called pornography.

To the others, if the OP had no reason to suspect a crime and he
snooped just because he was nosy, yes, that's unethical, but his
unethical behaviour doesn't mean he has to hide in the corner after he
found something bad. If the right thing to do for a perfectly ehtical
person, who only found this stuff because he needed to verify that the
..jpg viewer was working, and he chose a picture named NiagraFalls
because he thought it wouldnt' be personal, if the proper thing to do
for him is to go to the police, then it's the proper thing for a
snooper to do too. If the OP were a murderer, it would still be the
proper thing to do. Everyone has failings; some are even criminals;
it doesn't mean they're not allowed to turn in other people who commit
crimes. Rather, they have the same moral obligations the rest of us
do.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

OTOH, how can a customer be so stupid he takes the
computer in if it contains anything illegal?

In this case, the machine wouldn't boot.

If one has material one does not wish others to see -- legal or illegal --
it should be stored on an external drive. One can then hand the computer to
a serviceman without worry.

Though the temptation to snoop can be overwhelming, an ethical serviceman
will resist the temptation at all times. No one expects him to "play
police", and no reasonable person would condemn him for not prying, even in
cases of child molestation or murder.

It's NOT his business to spy on his neighbors and report unacceptable
behavior. The Constitution protects our privacy, and though that protection
doesn't generally apply to snooping by neighbors, an ethical person will
respect that protection.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

JeffM wrote:

JeffM wrote:
Now you have a reputation
not only as someone who does unauthorized snooping
but as a nark.

Word gets out that you are a jerk
and people immediately stop bringing you their work.
Another jackass out of the business. Good.

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
With that attitude, people will think you distribute child porn.

"If one would give me six lines
written by the hand of the most honest man,
I would find something in them to have him hanged."
--Cardinal Richelieu

You advocate making it easier on the persecutors
who go after individuals who haven't harmed anyone.[1]
Want to put a REAL dent in child porn?
Stop wasting resources on people who aren't hurting anyone.
Go after THE PRODUCERS .

...and It could easily be argued
that guys who are whacking off at their computers
are NOT a threat to any *actual* kids.
Charge a guy with possessing CP then put me on the jury
and he gets an acquittal.
I don't see anyone whom *he* victimized.
.
.
[1] The only thing more stupid
is the trend to consider possession of *drawings*
to be prosecutable.

All of you priggish blue noses can go to Hell.

No one wants to go with an ass like you.


--
What are you looking for, all the way down here?

 

On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:58:21 -0600, Jeffrey Angus
<jangus@suddenlink.net> wrote:

Customer brings in a lap top. "Won't boot"

So you do the usual amount of diagnostics
and knock a little sense back into the machine.

Being nosy of course, you check out the
pictures folder to see what their kinks are.

Oh, my definitely a bozo no no there.....

So what do you do?
(Some answers giving below are tongue in cheek
for the humor impaired.)

Act like nothing happened?

Congratulate them on their tastes?

Wipe the drive with something like bcwipe and
give it back to them?

Spin up the drive separately and bang it against
the desk repeatedly until you knock a head loose?

Make copies for yourself?

Hand it over to the local police?

Give it back to the customer and turn them in
after a few weeks?

Charge the customer extra and demand payment to
keep quiet?

The two things that bother me the most are the
police have a terrible track record on anonymous
and the lawyers like to claim that YOU put it
there.

So, what to do?

Jeff
Ethical as what? A businessman or a human being? The fact that you

were snooping 'of course' casts doubt upon your ethics as a
businessman. And it doesn't say much for your character either.

What was it? Hidden camera videos of the cutomer boffing a series of
adults of either gender? 'Snuff' porn, 'crush' porn, or some local
politician in drag? The same answer applies - give the computer back
to the customer, collect your usual fee (less 10% to remind yourself
to behave next time).

If it was genuine kiddie porn - an adult abusing a pre-teen, you have
a chance to prove your qualifications as a decent human being. Call
the police, show them what you found, and prepare to suffer the
fallout.

PlainBill

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:53:47 -0600, Jeffrey Angus
<jangus@suddenlink.net> wrote:

None of my customer will ever admit to downloading porno, even when
confronted with the evidence. There's also the problem of the friends
sending pornographic jokes and photos via email.

You really have only two options.
1. Deliver the laptop to the police and prepare to
have to testify in court as to who's laptop it is,
what you found on it, and why you had access to it.

In parts of the world, you never call of the police unless they have
someone to arrest to drag away to jail. Wasting a policemans time is
a bad idea. A neighbor called the police over some trivial matter
that was easily resolved before they arrived. Dissapointed, he walked
around the neighborhood, found some pot plants, and arrested everyone
in sight. In a different incident, a neighbor threw the building
inspector out of her house. So, we went around and ticketed me for
having an unregistered dead vehicle on the property. Unless you have
a clear cut complaint, that requires no decision making on the part of
the policeman, don't call.

2. Cause a physical failure to the drive and return
it to the customer, "Sorry, drive failed can't fix
it, unless you want a new hard drive. But you're
data is gone."

That's great. Scorched earth, computer style. If you can't have the
porno, nobody can. Be prepared for customer retribution. The devine
retribution will have to wait.

There's always a compromise, which doesn't quite make everyone happy,
but should be sufficient.

3. Move, not copy, the porno to a DVD and hand him the DVD. Clean
the stuff off the computer. He may even thank you for doing his
housekeeping for him. You can also sell him an external USB or eSATA
drive to keep his porno off the main machine, so his wife won't find
it.

I make image backups (Acronis 2011) of all my customers drives before
I start working on them. It's mostly to cover myself in case I erase
something important, or in case a virus removal goes awry. If he
wants his porno back, it's at least available.

Oh and to the other Jeff, thanks for the consult,
you're check's in the mail.

Yeah, sure. I'll believe it when I see it. If you can't get yourself
to filling out the amount, just send me a blank and signed check. I
can do the rest.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:53:47 -0600, Jeffrey Angus
<jangus@suddenlink.net> wrote:

(...)

Googling, I found a good start on a computer repair code of ethics.
<http://www.darn-computer.com/Ethics.htm>
I think I've broken all ten rules. As I recall, the original ten
commandments were only a subset of about 600 assorted ammendments,
rules, and regulations that arrived later, so there's plenty of room
for creativity.

A good start would be the gold (plated) rule. Do unto the customer as
you would have them do unto you. If you give your computer to me for
repair, I don't think you would be very happy if I gave it back to you
in pieces.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:53:47 -0600, Jeffrey Angus
<jangus@suddenlink.net> wrote:

Oh and to the other Jeff, thanks for the consult,
you're check's in the mail.

Ummm.... are you billing this customer for your time looking at his
photos? (Just curious).



--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[PeterD]

On Thu, 6 Jan 2011 18:59:37 +0000 (UTC), Meat Plow <mhywatt@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:58:21 -0600, Jeffrey Angus wrote:

Customer brings in a lap top. "Won't boot"

So you do the usual amount of diagnostics and knock a little sense back
into the machine.

Being nosy of course, you check out the pictures folder to see what
their kinks are.

Oh, my definitely a bozo no no there.....

So what do you do?
(Some answers giving below are tongue in cheek for the humor impaired.)

Act like nothing happened?

Congratulate them on their tastes?

Wipe the drive with something like bcwipe and give it back to them?

Spin up the drive separately and bang it against the desk repeatedly
until you knock a head loose?

Make copies for yourself?

Hand it over to the local police?

Give it back to the customer and turn them in after a few weeks?

Charge the customer extra and demand payment to keep quiet?

The two things that bother me the most are the police have a terrible
track record on anonymous and the lawyers like to claim that YOU put it
there.

So, what to do?

Jeff

I'll assume you found some child porn. If it were me I would hand it over
to the cops.

Assuming child porn, he may not have an option, but be required to
hand it over or face possible legal concequences. Consider this, a
week later, the guy is busted for something else, and the porn is
discovered... What are the odds that he will say "Wasn't on my
computer before I took it to ABC for service, they must have dropped
that suff on the drive, not me!" and when the authorities come to you,
what are you going to say? You didn't report it? That's a crime in
many places. You didn't do it? Try to prove it!

Can't say I really hate much about the world but child abuse
and those who do the abuse would be 1 of the few things I hate.

 

[PeterD]

On Thu, 6 Jan 2011 11:25:19 -0800, "William Sommerwerck"
<grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote:

The customer brought in the computer to be repaired -- not to be searched by
a nosy serviceman. You are obliged, if only by common courtesy, not to poke
your snout where it doesn't belong.

I will say that when I teach law and ethics in the university where I
teach, this is one thing we do cover. You don't snoop on anyone's
computer for any reason unless the owner has explicitly approved it.

Then again, I've seen some idiots with stuff like this on their
computers and still say something like "it is ok to look on my
drive..."

Not everyone has a brain and knows how to use it!

Unless you have good reason to believe someone's life is in danger, you
should keep your trap shut.

If this is kiddie porn, you might contact the police anonymously and ask
them what they recommend doing.

Excellent advice.

>

 

[D Yuniskis]

On 1/7/2011 2:44 PM, PeterD wrote:

On Thu, 6 Jan 2011 18:59:37 +0000 (UTC), Meat Plow<mhywatt@yahoo.com
wrote:

On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:58:21 -0600, Jeffrey Angus wrote:

Customer brings in a lap top. "Won't boot"

So you do the usual amount of diagnostics and knock a little sense back
into the machine.

Being nosy of course, you check out the pictures folder to see what
their kinks are.

Oh, my definitely a bozo no no there.....

So what do you do?
(Some answers giving below are tongue in cheek for the humor impaired.)

Act like nothing happened?

Congratulate them on their tastes?

Wipe the drive with something like bcwipe and give it back to them?

Spin up the drive separately and bang it against the desk repeatedly
until you knock a head loose?

Make copies for yourself?

Hand it over to the local police?

Give it back to the customer and turn them in after a few weeks?

Charge the customer extra and demand payment to keep quiet?

The two things that bother me the most are the police have a terrible
track record on anonymous and the lawyers like to claim that YOU put it
there.

So, what to do?

Jeff

I'll assume you found some child porn. If it were me I would hand it over
to the cops.

Assuming child porn, he may not have an option, but be required to
hand it over or face possible legal concequences. Consider this, a
week later, the guy is busted for something else, and the porn is
discovered... What are the odds that he will say "Wasn't on my
computer before I took it to ABC for service, they must have dropped
that suff on the drive, not me!" and when the authorities come to you,
what are you going to say? You didn't report it? That's a crime in
many places. You didn't do it? Try to prove it!

IANAL. But, ...

Technically, the burden of proof that you *did* it lies with
the authorities (though that doesn't mean to say you're not
going to be in for a lot of headache, etc.). E.g., you can
*kill* an intruder in your house, here -- but, be prepared
to spend a year in the court system defending your actions
(and who knows how much exposure to civil suits you might have!)

[note that you are still, potentially, in this predicament
even if you didn't *know* there was something "illegal" on
the machine]

Proving you were unaware of it can be tricky. Most systems
track accesses to files -- in several different ways. Some
filesystems track "last access time". Many applications
maintain MRU lists. And, presentation layers might also.

I.e., if you used *his* machine to view *his* files, the
machine can attest to the fact that "someone looked at this"
at some particular time (he can then claim you had physical
possession of the device at the time in question).

Of course, you can cook all of this data in the machine
and make it *claim* anything you want (i.e., last accessed
20 years ago -- before the laptop was even manufactured! :< ).
Though you then leave yourself open to suspicion for simply
*knowing* how to do these things!

However, if you have *told* anyone about this, then you (and
they!) are complicit.

I stand by my original comment: *looking* is your first mistake!
When you're in business, you are always at increased risk for
"problems" because you typically deal with a variety of people
about which you know very little (this is why I only service
computers of friends/neighbors/relatives).

Can't say I really hate much about the world but child abuse
and those who do the abuse would be 1 of the few things I hate.

 

[D Yuniskis]

On 1/7/2011 2:46 PM, PeterD wrote:

On Thu, 6 Jan 2011 11:25:19 -0800, "William Sommerwerck"
grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote:

The customer brought in the computer to be repaired -- not to be searched by
a nosy serviceman. You are obliged, if only by common courtesy, not to poke
your snout where it doesn't belong.

I will say that when I teach law and ethics in the university where I
teach, this is one thing we do cover. You don't snoop on anyone's
computer for any reason unless the owner has explicitly approved it.

That depends on how you define "snoop". Gratuitously poking around
at things you don't *need* to see vs. *innocently* using things that
are "on-hand" to test the machine's operations...

[BTW, I recommend Forester & Morrison's "Computer Ethics". A bit
dated but brings up lots of issues that are worth considering
wet the ubiquity of computers in our society]

Then again, I've seen some idiots with stuff like this on their
computers and still say something like "it is ok to look on my
drive..."

Not everyone has a brain and knows how to use it!

It is alarming how naive/ignorant most folks are re: technological
issues. Whether it is "personal privacy" or more insidious issues.

I have a friend who tends to be obsessive about privacy and takes
often extraordinary measures to safeguard his. Yet, was stunned
(decades ago) when I told him that his use of "800 numbers"
compromised his privacy. Nowadays, cell phones being *personal*
items (vs. *shared* items) makes this even moreso.

[I was able to document my (ex)brother-in-law's "philandering"
just by examining his cell phone and charge/banking records.
"How do you know that I wasn't at work on this date? And,
how can you claim that I was at the No-Tell Motel at that
time? *And*, that I was with that particular girl??"]

Unless you have good reason to believe someone's life is in danger, you
should keep your trap shut.

If this is kiddie porn, you might contact the police anonymously and ask
them what they recommend doing.

Excellent advice.

There is no "anonymously". Your call *will* be recorded.
If the information is "actionable", you can bet the "closest
squad" will be diverted to your location.

Someone used one of the computers at the local library to send
an "anonymous" (threatening) email to <mumblemumble>. Police
simply took the computer away as evidence. Guy was arrested
a few weeks later...

 

[mm]

On Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:35:36 -0700, D Yuniskis
<not.going.to.be@seen.com> wrote:

I have a friend who tends to be obsessive about privacy and takes
often extraordinary measures to safeguard his. Yet, was stunned
(decades ago) when I told him that his use of "800 numbers"
compromised his privacy.

In what way? Do you mean because *67 won't hide your phone number
from them? MOst people don't know that. They know it about 911 but
there is no organized method of telling anyone about 800 and 866
numbers and it's not surprising he didn't know.

Nowadays, cell phones being *personal*
items (vs. *shared* items) makes this even moreso.

[I was able to document my (ex)brother-in-law's "philandering"
just by examining his cell phone and charge/banking records.
"How do you know that I wasn't at work on this date? And,
how can you claim that I was at the No-Tell Motel at that
time? *And*, that I was with that particular girl??"]

Unless you have good reason to believe someone's life is in danger, you
should keep your trap shut.

If this is kiddie porn, you might contact the police anonymously and ask
them what they recommend doing.

If it's kiddie porn, they'll tell you to give them your address and
they'll come over that day, or they'll send someone, and not to return
the computer yet, and that is the right thing to do, subject maybe to
my distinction in another post.

Excellent advice.

There is no "anonymously". Your call *will* be recorded.
If the information is "actionable", you can bet the "closest
squad" will be diverted to your location.

Someone used one of the computers at the local library to send
an "anonymous" (threatening) email to <mumblemumble>. Police
simply took the computer away as evidence. Guy was arrested
a few weeks later...

You can still make a phone call from a pay phone. Or your
(ex)brother-in-law's phone, maybe.

 

[D Yuniskis]

On 1/7/2011 4:02 PM, mm wrote:

On Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:35:36 -0700, D Yuniskis
not.going.to.be@seen.com> wrote:

I have a friend who tends to be obsessive about privacy and takes
often extraordinary measures to safeguard his. Yet, was stunned
(decades ago) when I told him that his use of "800 numbers"
compromised his privacy.

In what way? Do you mean because *67 won't hide your phone number
from them? MOst people don't know that. They know it about 911 but
there is no organized method of telling anyone about 800 and 866
numbers and it's not surprising he didn't know.

The conversation in question happened in the early 80's.
I just told him that the called party gets a list of
phone numbers that placed calls *to* their number as
part of their billing arrangement. Nowadays, that
information is "live" -- e.g., call to "authorize"
your newly received credit card and the device on
the other end of the line is comparing the phone number
from which you are *currently* calling to the one that
they have on file for you.

The point of my comment is that there are lots of ways that
communications/transactions are "tagged" that even a "savvy"
user may not be aware of.

E.g., your IP address can be used to tie "who you are" to
"what you say (i.e., *post*/email/etc.).

"Ah, but I go to the local coffee bar and use their *wireless*
so the IP address isn't tied to *me*!" [Yes, but your MAC
is! :> )

"OK, so I'll change network cards. Or, hack the firmware
so that I can generate 'random' MACs (and rely on probability
to ensure I don't accidentally pick one that is in use)?
[yes, but your browser has a footprint that can be used
to narrow down "who you might be"]

"OK, so I will reload software each time and pick different
browsers, option configurations, etc." [yes, but you have a
certain "style of writing"...]

Etc.

I.e., don't do anything that you wouldn't do "non-anonymously".

Nowadays, cell phones being *personal*
items (vs. *shared* items) makes this even moreso.

[I was able to document my (ex)brother-in-law's "philandering"
just by examining his cell phone and charge/banking records.
"How do you know that I wasn't at work on this date? And,
how can you claim that I was at the No-Tell Motel at that
time? *And*, that I was with that particular girl??"]

Unless you have good reason to believe someone's life is in danger, you
should keep your trap shut.

If this is kiddie porn, you might contact the police anonymously and ask
them what they recommend doing.

If it's kiddie porn, they'll tell you to give them your address and
they'll come over that day, or they'll send someone, and not to return

I have no idea. I don't put myself in these sorts of situations
because I don't want to have to deal with them :> (I've got
enough stuff that I *must* do without looking for *other*
things to put on my plate! :> )

A friend had a *box* of cash delivered to her doorstep.
I recall talking with her at the time about what she
should do. Of course, she would have loved to just
*keep* it (~10K IIRC).

Aside from the moral issues, my advice to her was that
she *had* to report it to the police. It is no doubt
"dirty" money (how many folks ship boxes of cash??).
And, if someone sent it to your house intending it
for the previous resident -- or, perhaps transposed
two digits in the address -- what do you do when/if
they knock on your door (with a crowbar!) asking
for their money back??

the computer yet, and that is the right thing to do, subject maybe to
my distinction in another post.

Excellent advice.

There is no "anonymously". Your call *will* be recorded.
If the information is "actionable", you can bet the "closest
squad" will be diverted to your location.

Someone used one of the computers at the local library to send
an "anonymous" (threatening) email to<mumblemumble>. Police
simply took the computer away as evidence. Guy was arrested
a few weeks later...

You can still make a phone call from a pay phone. Or your
(ex)brother-in-law's phone, maybe.

Sure! Though the call is still recorded (so it could
be proven to be *your* voice) and can still be traced
to identify where *you* are at this moment.

As I said, don't do anything that you wouldn't do "non-anonymously".
If you don't have the cajones to do/say it when folks KNOW who
you are, relying on "anonymity" is eventually going to leave you
disappointed/surprised!