Comment by db48x

> and 99% of the time don't take them from people in the first place.

I agree with that part :)

But remember we are talking about times when the owner really is unknown. If you’re actually importing counterfeit goods then you probably aren’t putting your own name on the shipping label. Even if Louis exists, he’s probably just an unwitting participant. And to get the batteries back all he has to do is show up and assert under oath that they’re his and that they're not counterfeit.

Also, I don’t say that this is the only possible way to run things. It’s just the way that we solve certain problems, one that we decided upon long ago. It’s definitely being abused and certainly needs to be fixed, but Chesterton’s Fence is relevant. You must know why a thing exists and what problems it is solving before you’re allowed to tear something down. Those problems will not go away, so whatever changes we make we’ll still need to be able to solve them.

And it does have one very good feature: judicial oversight forces law enforcement to document everything that they take on the public record. Those records are kept by an independent branch of the government, too. In principle people ought to be using those records against elected officials to vote out incumbents who abuse asset forfeiture.