[olympus]

I suspect there is some nuance here that needs to be considered and was probably brought up in the numerous court cases regarding dumpster diving.

While it's okay to be nervous about cops stealing your DNA from your trash, it's fine for someone to pick up my unwanted microwave that I put on the curb. The hard part is where to draw the line in between these cases, and it seems like right now the courts have decided it's just easier not to draw a line at all.

The classic "think about the children" case: What if we find kiddy porn in someone's trash? Should we convict that person or should they be allowed to go free because the courts decided that personal pictures are protected?

Another mitigating factor is that the cops are going through someone's trash because they suspect the person of a crime. The cops aren't going through people's trash on whims. There is a possibility that corrupt cops are going through someone's trash to ruin their life, but this is pretty uncommon. And if they find something, then the outcome is a dirty person taken down by dirty cops.

For citizens and generic criminals going through someone's trash, how much is the original owner's fault if their identity gets stolen because they didn't shred their paper info? Sure, it's still illegal to steal my identity even if I don't shred, but now I bear some of the responsibility myself. This is similar to if my house gets robbed because I left my front door open. The criminals are still at fault but now I bear some responsibility by leaving my door open.