That got really annoying in Fallout 3, when even looking at something owned caused those comments. Oh well, it's better than in Oblivion, where moving an owned, worthless object caused people to call you a psychopath and got you jail time :rofl:
Yeah :sadvaultboy:
They could maybe assume that the PC is staring at something owned if they loiter around one area or don't move at all for several seconds. :shrug:
(They might also have a "last action" record that could be used to define the severity of the offense ~and do away with exclamations of psychosis for stealing carrots).