Code of conduct

Everyone: the person who owns a tagged item, the stranger who scans it, and anyone browsing the public lost-and-found board. Most people using HII are doing something kind — returning something that is not theirs. This page exists for the few who are not.

• Stay on the subject. A conversation exists because of one item. Use it to sort that out.
• Be honest about the item. Do not claim to have found something you have not, and do not report an item lost that is not yours.
• Respect the other person’s privacy. Neither of you can see the other’s number, and that is deliberate. Do not press someone for a phone number, an address, or their name.
• Only tag what is yours. Do not put a HII tag on an item, a vehicle or a place you do not own or manage.
• Keep rewards real. If you offer a reward, honour it. If you are returning something, do not demand a bigger one.

• Harassment, threats, intimidation, or abuse of any kind.
• Sexual content, or contacting someone for anything other than the item.
• Demanding money to return an item, beyond a reward the owner freely offered. Holding something hostage is extortion, and we treat it that way.
• Advertising, spam, scams, phishing, or links to anything of the sort.
• Impersonating someone else, including impersonating HII.
• Using a scan or a plate lookup to work out where someone lives, works, or is at a given moment.
• Automated scanning, bulk plate lookups, or scraping the lost-and-found board.
• Anything illegal, and anything involving a child.

The lost-and-found board and vehicle lookup by number plate both let you reach an owner without holding their tag. They exist so someone who cannot scan can still help.

Using either to build a picture of a person — where they park, what they own, when they are out — is a serious breach of this code, and both are rate limited and logged for that reason. Neither reveals anything about an owner, and neither is a lookup service.

Every conversation has a Report link. Use it — it sends us the conversation as context, which an email cannot. You can also write to abuse@hii.cx.

Owners can block a conversation at any time, which immediately stops that finder from sending anything further. You never have to justify blocking someone to us.

If someone is in immediate danger, contact the local emergency services first. HII is a message channel and cannot respond to an emergency.

We look at reports individually rather than acting automatically, and we act within 2 working days of a report. If we get it wrong, write to our Grievance Officer at grievance@hii.cx — an appeal is answered by a person, not by the same decision again.

We will not give an owner a finder’s identity, or a finder an owner’s contact details, on request from the other — including when a conversation has gone badly. We hold almost nothing about a finder by design, and what we do hold we disclose only against a valid legal order.