At 15:57 +0000 2/3/07, Julius No wrote:
>I wonder if utility bills are available as a public record in his
>state utility commission?
>
>Use postal police: put a postage stamp on each bag of bills and
>address it to the garbage company. Steal mail, go to jail. If cops
>can't open a letter in a mobster's car if it is addressed and has a
>stamp on it???
>
>If the garbage can is on my property and under my control as long as I
>pay the bill. until I let the container dump into the truck, it IS my
>property. If the can is in a public alley, that is another thing.
>
Julius,
I will consider that a billing between a private citizen and
whatever company/agency - whether publicly or privately held/operated -
will be a matter of the privileged/confidential, insofar as it follows under
the heading of private/personal affairs.
As an anecdote, when I purchased my house back in 1995,
I asked the electrical utility if they would provide me with the average
usage over the past three years, so that I could get an idea of what my
billings would be, and prepare accordingly.
Their reply was that they could not, as such was privileged
information. So, I will think that all states treat private information
accordingly.
In the matter of the mails?
I will consider that some equivocating jurist somewhere will
make all the exceptions needed, in order to screw over a suspect.
Regarding trash cans? I will refer to a USSC decision on
the matter (I don't recall the case at present, it having been made over
10 years ago), which stated that since most garbage containers are
placed on public property for pickup, that even though the garbage is
in a private container, the trash is considered abandoned by dint of the
fact that the container is not secured (locked) to prevent access, and
therefor has no ownership.
However, in my particular instance, where I live at the end of
a 130 foot driveway, I merely place the garbage outside the garage,
and the garbage company sends one of its scooters by to collect it.
In my case, the garbage is still on private property, and no
one has any right to rifle through it.
How anyone got hold of that information is a good question,
and might well have been someone who indeed did a dumpster dive,
or someone at the garbage company decided to peruse the refuse.
For those still concerned, even after having shredded those
sensitive documents, the solution is: Buy a can of the least expensive
paint, and stir it into the trash bag with the shredded paper just before
placing it out for pickup. Cheap latex works just fine.
I say that because, when I was in the USN and stationed
aboard a ship, we were assessed of the fact that a Soviet trawler had
been spotted picking up those plastic trash bags that were still afloat.
The trash chute on the fantail had raised knife edge to cut
the bags open on the way out, but I will consider that it had long been
dulled, and never maintained.
I was astonish to hear that they had a cadre of puzzle
solvers working aboard, who would go through and attempt to piece
together the strips of paper!
Now mind you, the shredders we used produced strips of
less than an 8th inch wide (probably about 1/16 inch), while the
standard commercial ones usually cut to about a quarter inch wide.
A pint of paint will suffice in most cases.
--
Bureaucracy: That aspect of whatever organization, which seeks to
increase its size and importance in direct proportion to its
irrelevance.
