Almost wish the guy would find it so this non-news story would stop making the rounds every few weeks with no new details. Doesn’t even tickle my sense of schadenfreude anymore.
this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
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That thumbdrive is probably rusty beyond repair.
For months over and over again with this story. 🕳
Is this the guy?
A few years ago I had a virus on my computer(Windows)(the virus was definitely my fault) and decided to put a wallet with almost 1k USD on it. It got sucked straight out and through a mixer, never to be seen again. Some lessons you have to learn the hard way :(
It takes a couple of clicks through to BBC articles, but it turns out that even if he were to find it, he has no legal right to it and also would have no legal right to mine the landfill.
But James Goudie KC, for the council, argued that existing laws meant the hard drive had become its property when it entered the landfill site. It also said that its environmental permits would forbid any attempt to excavate the site to search for the hard drive.
Not to mention the fact the drive is almost certainly dead.
Plot twist, he does get exemption to dig it up, causing mass damage all around. He finds it. The board is completely busted, but it seems the platters are fine, so he pays some very expensive data recovery team to access the data. They manage to do it! Now he got all the files from the drive, in a safe place. He just have to find where the wallet is stored. Easy enough, he lucked out using a common software for it, so it's well documented, and he retrieve the files. It costs an inordinate amount of money to get the rights to the landfill, to "convince" local authorities to allow the digging, to actually do the digging, to put the drive in a recoverable state, but finally, his wallet is in his hands! He inputs his password… which doesn't work.
That would be hilarious.
(note: this is a fantasy scenario. I never bothered actually reading these articles, as it sounds like a stupid story, so there may be approximations there)
Damn, cursing this man with a Twilight Zone existence.
If there was a chance of recovering a hard drive worth around $750mil, you bet your ass I'd exhaust every option possible.
That said, there's a pretty good chance the landfill owner and all their employees have been ransacking that place to beat him to it.
I mean, that's the kind of money you and your entire family for generations don't have to do shit.
I mean, there’s a chance you can win big at casinos too.
That said, there’s a pretty good chance the landfill owner and all their employees have been ransacking that place to beat him to it.
They aren't because, as I said, they can't do it. And even if they found it, they couldn't keep it.
And the landfill owner is the local government.
That's assuming they're following the letter of the law. If I worked there and happened upon that drive, and it turned out to be viable, I'd disappear very quickly.
It's assuming people would notice a landfill being dug up. Since, again, that isn't legal to do.
Aye, but I'm talking about those working at said landfill, and I do believe there's a huge predication within this conversation that all participants are fully law abiding folks, even marginally. Not saying you're wrong in any sense, but I'm just on about the gray area of individuals employed by said landfill just keeping a keen eye open for a potentially valuable little box and then running off into the sunset should they happen on it. Pure speculation, of course.
almost certainly
You mean there is a chance 🤑 💰 /s
He'll probably find it then be surprised that he's prosecuted for it. Play stupid games...
Is this loss?