Is DRM getting you down? Sick and tired of the entertainment industry telling you what you can or can’t download and upload? Do you feel that all information should be free? Well, then, maybe the solution is to buy your own “island”, create your own country and set up a server farm not beholden to the restrictive copyright laws of virutally every nation on the globe.
Yes, this does sound like a rip-off of a core plot line of Cryptonomicon, but the wackos from The Pirate Bay are actually fronting a movement to purchase the Check out the amazing real estate:
Sound loony? Yep, but it’s also entirely true. Apparently Sealand, otherwise known as HM Fort Roughs and located about 10km off the coast of Suffolk, England in the North Sea, was purchased in 1967 by Paddy Roy Bates with the intention of creating his own sovereign nation. Despite the long-held anarchist/libertarian notion that communities sited in international waters exist outside the purview of other countries, in the case of Sealand, international courts haven’t agreed.
This hasn’t stopped our favorite digital pirates at the ‘Bay, however. Apparently they are pretty keen on recruiting “citizens” to virtually populate their new digital haven:
With the help of all the kopimists on Internets, we want to buy Sealand. Donate money and you will become a citizien. It should be a great place for everybody. With high-speed Internets access, no copyright laws and vip accounts to The Pirate Bay, press officer of ACFI says.
I’m not sure what a kopimist is, but there is a forum where you can partipate in the dicussion about how this new county is going to be run. This might sound kookier than the actual idea of purchasing an old military outpust to form a new country, but is quite fascinating. I’ll leave you with one poster’s idea for the “One Law” that would only be necessary: “The freedoms of others shall not be infringed upon.”
Actually some pretty thought-provoking stuff. Good luck, Pirate Bay!
Filed under: Technology, The Globe, sealand
