If you don't get a response within a normal time span, you can't know their consent. So, taking the coins is as stealing as it isn't.
I don't agree with that at all. The default position is that people do not consent to you taking their possessions. If I find your car keys, but hear no response from you after a month of phoning you, then it is not 50/50 that you are consenting to me taking your car.
Do I consider member easternklaas who found this paper wallet is a thief?
- NO, I don't.
OK, end of discussion, but I also don't think OP is a thief for finding a paper wallet. The act of moving those coins in to his own wallet and depriving the true owner of those funds is what would make him a thief.