Dilemma

[Ted]

Because I use a Micro BR, I tend to snatch up 1 GB SD cards whenever I find them. Often this is at our local used bookstore.

Several months ago, I bought one for $5, and stuck it in a drawer. Tonight I thought I'd give it a try because the card I've been using was giving me "Card Read Errors."

So, before I initialized it, I was curious to see if the previous owner had left anything on it. They had: About 180 photographs.

So the dilemma:

Is it okay for me to look at these photos?



Should I just delete them?

Can I assume that the previous owner sold this card having first copied the photos off the card?

Or perhaps the previous owner was one of those technology-challenged people who never learned how to get their photos off of their camera. Should I maybe try to locate this person and give them the photos -- which include many pictures of children on Christmas?

Should I stop thinking about it, plug in the MBR and make some music?

[Tony W]

Is it ok for you to look at the photos? You already have, that question is answered.

Should you try to find the previous owner..... that seems like a daunting task, If the photos give some viable clues as to who or where they are, such as license plates, street names, house numbers, then sure, give it a crack. If you're going by that eyeball.... you may as well wipe it and enjoy the card.

[Ted]

There are some photos of a little girl, probably about six years old, with no shirt on.

It makes me sad to think that some people would be turned on, and others would assume the worst. I just see a little girl.

It also makes me paranoid that having these on my hard drive might be a liability.

Some of the photos were obviously taken by children, and are kind of eerily, beautifully dadaesque.

I think I'll just zap em.

[IanR]

zap them

or perhaps just ditch the card and pretend it never happened.

Ian

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

I agree with Ian, the most innocent inquiry could turn out to be the biggest crock of sh%t you could imagine. Zap them..............Willie

[AndyR]

Don't even bother asking yourself the question... zap them

(unless, of course they're nude pictures of famous people when they were younger... in that case, try to sell them to the newspapers! )

[Ted]

I zapped them.

A few years ago, my mother moved from one house to another. About a month later, I got a call from someone whose parents bought my mother's house. He had found a photo album in a storage shed. He looked through the album for clues as to who it might belong. All he found were first names. With some clever Googling, he found me, found my phone number, and called me to ask if I wanted this photo album.

I thought it was very kind, and I'm glad those photos weren't trashed.

I do see a difference, though, between a memory card with a bunch of blurry throwaway photos, and a photo album where the photos have been selected placed carefully in pages.

But there's something eery about deleting these digital photos -- almost as though I'm deleting memories -- if they were the only copies. I'm wondering what memories they might have stirred in the people who were in the photos, their friends and family.

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

Right decision Ted, but I know what you mean............Willie

[Ted]

This a song idea, if nothing else.

[IanR]

But there's something eery about deleting these digital photos -- almost as though I'm deleting memories -- if they were the only copies. I'm wondering what memories they might have stirred in the people who were in the photos, their friends and family.

Digital photos are so ubiquitous that they don't really have the same sentimental value as the old fashioned types.  I think you did the right thing.