iPod Ethics
Here's a Sunday morning ethical issue to chew on based on a true story. A women comes into a busy drugstore in downtown Toronto to ask the pharmacist a question. After she leaves without buying anything (no customer information is collected through a credit card transaction), the pharmacist discovers the woman has left behind her 60GB video iPod with music and family photos on it. Several weeks have past and the iPod remains unclaimed - perhaps because the women is unable to remember where she left it. So, what do you do? Do you take over “ownership” of the iPod given it's unlikely it will ever be reclaimed? And, if so, what do you do with the 12GB of music and photos on the iPod that belonged to the woman who lost it? Do you just use the other 48GB just in case the iPod owners shows up one day?
I'm not sure but the ownership issue could be resolved if the iPod owner registered it with Apple/iTunes. If I remember the process correctly, you need to provide a serial number located on the back of iPod during the registration process. Perhaps the pharmacist could send an e-mail to Apple, which could then track down the owner and re-unite her with the iPod. If anyone has any suggestions, pass them along.
August 6th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Mark, http://lostipods.com is a fee-based service ($5 or so to register) that lets iPod owners register their iPods. Stickers are also sent out that can be affixed to the back of the IPOD. Presuming the Pharmacist genuinely wanted to return the iPod to its owner, all he/she would have to do is enter the serial number of the lostipods.com website. It's up to the owner how much reward is offered too. As for the ethics of it all, I'd say hold it for a week (no sense in holding it for longer than that), then assume ownership. If it were me, I'd backup the files to DVD/CD in the event the owner did show up looking for it.
Good call on the iTunes music store, maybe they could offer that as a service too… the more iPods that are out there, the more useful the service would be.
August 6th, 2006 at 3:19 pm
Mark,
The iPod ethics can go for anything lost, after a certain period of time you either turn it in or claim ownership. If I found an iPod Video, I would do everything publicly available to find the owner. As for the pictures, look through them, there might be a picture of a vehicle with a license plate you can call in and find the owner. If you really want to return a lost item there are many ways to locate people. It's just up to how long you want to wait before claiming the $700+ piece of electronics for yourself. Also, when you start up your iPod for the first time, you are asked to name your iPod, I entered my name, I figured why not, personalize it.
August 6th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
An iPod is both expensive and holds much emotional currency (all the owner's favourite songs, pictures, and videos). Like a digicam or a cellphone, I would hope one would try everything in their power to relocate the owner.
That said, I own an iPod and I placed a e-note in the Notes section with my name and address on it just in case I ever lose it.
August 6th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
The pharmacist could try posting one of the family photos on local community websites, like http://toronto.craigslist.org/laf/ for example, and hope someone recognizes the photo.
August 7th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
If the user has ever sync'd the iPod with their Mac's Address Book (or with Outlook in Windows), the Contacts section of the iPod should have an address and/or phone number for the owner.