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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.'"
FTFA, "My point in writing this isn’t to whine."
No, clearly your point was to whine. Otherwise you wouldn't have been an asshole about the whole thing. Make the correction, initial it, and sign the bottom. Ask to have the paperwork re-done and make an appointment to come back when it's ready. Better yet, hire a real importer and have them process the paperwork for you. Don't go bitch and complain about it.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Little rich boy Mikey couldn't get his boat right away and was made to feel bad.
Fuck him.
---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.
But the president supports same-sex marriage, so really, abuse of power in different areas can be overlooked.
The customs paperwork on a shipment was screwed up.
The Customs department impounded the shipment until the paperwork gets straightened out.
WTF did you expect to happen?
Sounds to me like a whiny rich asshole didn't get his way when importing an expensive toy. Cry me a fscking river. (And maybe buy American next time, dude, then you won't have to worry about Customs.)
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
If he was being an incredible dick toward the agent, I'm sure she was excited to seize property from an asshole who thinks his money makes him the coolest thing since the last ice age.
I'm just sayin'... There are always two sides to a story. Unfortunately, since this agent is an official government employee, her TRUE side can't be heard; only the legal facts (the numbers did not match, etc).
If I were being a real prick toward someone and they relieved their vengeance toward me, I would sensationalize the story about it to try and one-up them, just like this story sounds. If I would, millions of others would, too.
Again, just sayin'.
Next time? Buy American...
Yep. It's a paper SNAFU... it happens all the time, and routinely gets quietly resolved with no lawyers and very little fuss. Unless you're a jackass with a case of self-entitlement and widely followed blog who decides that the proper response to a minor incident is to use his influence to 'spin' the event as some vast government conspiracy.
Seriously - what the eff did he think would happen if he refused to sign the form? They'd just be all smiles and sunshine and hand the boat over? You can't hold them to the letter of one part of the law (ensuring the paperwork is correct) and then be upset when they follow the rest of the law (requiring the boat be impounded until the paperwork is cleared up). Grow the eff up and deal with the consequences of your choices.
It would usually have been just a couple of weeks - until he clicked the 'publish' button on his blog. Now, they're going to ensure that every box is ticked, every procedure punctiliously followed to the very letter - precisely as he insisted they do... so, a couple of months at least.