Homeland Security Stole Michael Arrington's Boat

An anonymous reader writes "Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch, lives near Seattle and bought a boat there. He ordered it from a company based near him, but across the border in Canada. Yesterday, the company tried to deliver it to him, and it had to clear customs. An agent for the Department of Homeland Security asked him to sign a form. The form contained information about the boat, including its cost. The price was correct, but it was in U.S. dollars rather than Canadian dollars. Since the form contained legal warnings about making sure everything on it is true and accurate, Arrington suggested to the agent that they correct the error. She responded by seizing the boat. 'As in, demanded that we get off the boat, demanded the keys and took physical control of it. What struck me the most about the situation is how excited she got about seizing the boat. Like she was just itching for something like this to happen. This was a very happy day for her. ... A person with a gun and a government badge asked me to swear in writing that a lie was true today. And when I didn't do what she wanted she simply took my boat and asked me to leave.'"

Comments

No way...

[The Living Fractal]

A person in a position of power abused that power? Well color me surprised! I'm sure this has everything to do with DHS and nothing at all to do with the fact that every imaginable authority organization has had people who abuse their power since the dawn of time. Why is this news? Pursue your problem, get it resolved... But this is not "news for nerds" by any reasonable stretch of the imagination.

Re:Would you like some cheese with that?

[tehcyder]

It sounds to me like either he deliberately provoked the DHS agent, or else he's got some sort of autism. Any normal person would just have signed the fucking paperwork and got their boat.

If I got stopped by the police and they said "we won't give you a speeding ticket if you just sign this piece of paper saying you admit you were doing 10 mph over the limit" I would sign the piece of paper, not make a big deal about it if I had in fact been going 12 mph over the limit.

Re:so what?

[CanHasDIY]

That's true, the first thing the United States of America did was get rid of slavery, then they restored all the stolen land to the natives, proving that the War of Independence was about the rights of men everywhere.

1) We did, eventually, get rid of slavery, and it was, again, the blood of free men who made it possible. Your attempt at refutation only serves to further cement my point.

2) Manifest Destiny was not and is not part of the Constitution, and thus, non sequitur.

3) Nobody likes a douchebag pedant, you know.