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BitTorrent Pirates Want Own Country

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

January 16, 2007, 1:34 PM

In what could be seen as both marketing stunt and ploy for donations, popular Swedish BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay has announced intentions to raise money to purchase Sealand, a claimed "sovereign Principality" founded in international waters, six miles off the eastern shores of Britain.

The idea is to establish The Pirate Bay in a location where international copyright laws do not apply. The service, easily the most popular site hosting torrent files for downloading illicit content such as movies and television shows, has faced increasing pressure since being raided and forced to relocate from Sweden last May.

Although The Pirate Bay, like other torrent sites, hosts no copyrighted material itself, it plays a central role in facilitating the searching for and downloading of such content. Its operators have openly mocked and taunted those who threaten it with legal action.

If it does not raise enough money to buy Sealand, which is not much more than an offshore oil platform, the group says it will look into purchasing a small island and declaring it an independent nation.

"To make sure the owners [of Sealand] will be kopimistic and that the country won’t be governed by people that do not care about it’s future, we have come up with a plan. With the help of all the kopimists on Internets, we want to buy Sealand. Donate money and you will become a citizien," The Pirate Bay wrote on a Web site setup for the effort.

"It should be a great place for everybody. With high-speed Internets access, no copyright laws and vip accounts to The Pirate Bay." Thus far, the group has raised over $17,000.

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By dan105

edited Jan 19, 2007 - 12:46 PM

У меня нету своего дома, могу я рассчитывать на проживание в княжестве, если внесу 1000-2000 долларов, и буду помогать в обслуживании серверов?
I`m no have house, but I`m can donate $1000-2000, and can help you service for servers. can I have place for live in Sealand?

Score: 0

By ingram091

edited Jan 19, 2007 - 3:31 AM

You know this is just getting sick now. Lets just have a freaking surcharge added to our ISP bills to allow fair use rights in the dam copyright laws... 80% of the stuff they b**** about is Television feeds for crying out loud, the same thing I pay a fortune for in Cable fees to watch already, but I want the Availability and ease of use to time shift it to when I want to watch the thing.

I agree that the First run movies are a problem and I can understand wanting to take those down. But Still that is easily only 10% of what is downloaded with torrents. The rest is other stuff that in many cases has Legitimate FAIR USE conditions on it, such as time shifting.

I edited this to curb my ANGER at the industry for the injustices they have put on their consumers, and been allowed to get away with it for decades now, because they have DEEP pockets for lobbyist. Yet they are always pictured as the victims. I'm sorry but the so called losses that they have are unrealized projections that are so blown out of proportion that its ridiculous. Those projected fees would never be realized even if the internet was never invented. Because the people that downloaded them would not have seen them anyway to be a fan in the first place. Thus no revenue. AND no eyeballs watching their product. And ultimately No revenue from DVDs of the shows either. No one can be that naive...

Score: 0

By cousinkix1953

posted Jan 18, 2007 - 2:32 AM

Six miles off the coast of the UK is still within it's territorial waters. The British Navy went after a pirate station called "Radio Caroline" located even further out in the ocean, and trashed their transmitter.

They'll go after the Pirate Bay and prosecute them under the British copyright laws. Setting up a server on an oil platform is no refuge unless it's in recognized international water which belong to no one country...

Score: 0

By thecleaner

posted Jan 18, 2007 - 3:01 AM

you are wrong on that part
here is som info from wikioedia
"That the independence of Sealand from the UK was upheld in a 1968 British court decision in which the judge held that Roughs Tower was in international waters, and therefore was not under the jurisdiction of the UK."

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 7:28 PM

And then two weeks after Sealand is acquired...

ICANN bans them.

I would laugh so hard.

Score: 0

By TurningWorm

edited Jan 17, 2007 - 2:08 PM

Depite the complete ridiculousness of this entire idea, I have to admit the notion of software pirates ACTUALLY taking to the high seas just sounds hilarious. There is definately a movie in there someplace.

Score: 0

By GS5

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 12:51 PM

I wonder how long it will take for the U.S. to liberate Sealand and spread democracy:-)

Score: 0

By Scary Guy

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 1:52 PM

We've invaded bigger countries for less. I give it a week or perhaps two at the most.

After all it is on an OIL platform right?

Score: 0

By kashin

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 11:03 PM

Damn, there's oil there? Better wait with this idea until Dubya is out of office then.

Score: 0

By Scary Guy

posted Jan 18, 2007 - 4:48 AM

I didn't say there was oil there, just that it was an oil platform.

Point is they'd invade at the prospect of it. "The oil is life, the oil must flow".... or something like that anyhow.

Or they'll just claim intelligence of WMDs lol.

Score: 0

By tiefel

posted Jan 18, 2007 - 6:24 AM

Scary, you need to do some more research. It's not even an oil platform, it was built during WWII as an artillery platform to guard the port of Harwich, Essex.

As a point you alway use the term, "invade". Now here's your homework, name one country that the Unites States has invaded taken by force and kept.

Well let me count them for you, zero, zip, nada! All countries we have invaded have been given back to the government of that country. Of course the government is friendly to the U.S. The U.S. would be an idiot not too.

Score: 0

By Scary Guy

posted Jan 18, 2007 - 10:33 AM

Invading doesn't mean keeping

M-W.com defines it as:

"Main Entry: in·vade
Pronunciation: in-'vAd
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): in·vad·ed; in·vad·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin invadere, from in- + vadere to go -- more at WADE
1 : to enter for conquest or plunder
2 : to encroach upon : INFRINGE
3 a : to spread over or into as if invading : PERMEATE b : to affect injuriously and progressively
synonym see TRESPASS
- in·vad·er noun"

So just because someone is invading doesn't mean they're staying there. Maybe you should go (back) to college and take some (more) English classes. Wait, make that elementary school which is where I learned that.

Score: 0

By Dev3lop3

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 9:53 AM

AWSOME. You guys own.

Score: 0

By Scary Guy

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 9:34 AM

And in a "might makes right" move the US will invade and claim it, then everyone becomes a political prisoner and they're all shipped off to Guantanamo bay.

Hey that's where they should set up the servers! Apparently the constitution doesn't apply there so why should copyright laws?

Score: 0

By tiefel

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 12:15 PM

Scary you have to be U.S. citizen in order for the Constitution to apply. Typical liberal, wanting to apply rules and rights to people who don't deserve the oxygen they breathe.

Score: 0

By Scary Guy

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 1:49 PM

First off I'm a fence rider (though I do tend to lean a little to the left usually) and secondly the American record industry thinks that American law should apply to copy written works everywhere (see http://thepiratebay.org/legal for examples) then my train of thought went to "well why not take it to where there is no law". Although the constitution is just an inconvenient hurdle to the Bush administration these days anyway and it might as well not even exist these days.

But you're right, if the U.S. invaded "sealand" then the constitution wouldn't apply since it would be a U.S. teritory and not a state. The Geneva conventions would, and they'd probably figure out some way around those as well.

Score: 0

By tiefel

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 2:31 PM

Scary take the blinders off and maybe you can see the real world with the rest of us grown ups.

Score: 0

By Scary Guy

posted Jan 18, 2007 - 4:50 AM

That's your major come back to that? Don't just tell me I'm wrong, tell me WHY I'm wrong. As far as I can see I've made logical points and all you've done is blow some hot air in my general direction.

Score: 0

By Grazer

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 1:09 PM

Yeah, the rest of the world is guilty until proven innocent.

/sarcasm

Score: 0

By Arakiel

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 8:35 AM

LOL awesome, get them all into a single, known, confined location. Surrounded by water with no where to run...Much easier to find them that way.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 12:26 AM

s***, I'll donate. I will expect all inclusive treatment when I vacation there.

It will be like lord of the flies.

Score: 0

By extremely well

edited Jan 16, 2007 - 10:23 PM

I venture to guess that it'll be much cheaper to prepare in advance 5 currently hidden locations for the servers so whenever one location gets shut down, the others pop up into activity. Mirroring the data should be simple enough, as it's nothing but a bunch of tiny text files (.torrent)... which can be compressed to 99% with RAR maximum compression+solid hehehehe

That's probably closer to the REAL plan on what to do with the few thousand bucks... And if they don't collect enough money, charging $5 a year via snail mail - cash only - will do the trick...

Score: 0

By Archangel.Zealot

edited Jan 16, 2007 - 10:11 PM

I'd prefer to call Sealand a "sea-based bunker".

Score: 0

By jgra

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 10:00 PM

Okay I do not know where to start, what if they do buy it, what if we do go to war with sealand, do they have a army, do they import nintendo wii's man I can not live in a place without collard greens... so what is your economic profit engine please reply and I will donate .0000001% of my brothers income actually I will donate all my brothers income he's unemployed in the Michigan.

Score: 0

By sjc001

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 6:44 AM

That depends. Do they have any oil reserves under the place? They're certainly defenseless enough to invade....

Score: 0

By jbaltz69

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 9:01 PM

The US is going to wait until they buy it and then bomb them and take over the island.

Score: 0

By uberfly

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 11:01 PM

Lets hope so.

Score: 0

By raveen69

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 9:15 PM

I'm sorry, but that is AMAZINGLY Funny, yet somehow realistic.

Score: 0

By imafurby

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 8:57 PM

How does this work without some connection to the (legal) outside world?

Score: 0

By alphatrigon

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 7:43 PM

lol, pirates want the right to steal. Amazing.

debonair - people who would agree to provide them I'm sure are the same people who suppot piracy. Including the people who think it's ok to rip off music/movies and distro it all over the net.

That'll be funny though. Anyone could then rob, bombard, arson, overrun that place and they MAY not get any support/defense. Might get funded by some militant islamic groups though....or commies

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 9:24 PM

Sealand was a weapons platform. They could still defend themselves. ;)

And regarding the 'right to steal', I can only imagine they've been brainwashed with the American way of thinking: "You think, therefore your are impinging my rights."

Score: 0

By debonair

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 7:22 PM

I just wonder who would agree to provide them with internet access.

Score: 0

By MMPD

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 5:47 PM

here we go again...

Score: 0

By Daddy_Spank

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 4:15 PM

Awesome. Long live The Pirate Bay!!

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 3:15 PM

The flip side is that if they are able to do it, in some manner, does the US declare it a "rouge state", put it on the Axis of Evil, and then occupy it? Lately, we could use a pushover...

Score: 0

By Paul Skinner

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 5:42 PM

Remember this is a country of geeks we are talking about.

I'm not sure who would win in a fight, they have all those servers to protect them from the bullets.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 2:27 PM

Do these folks donating realize that they can get damn near any software they want,a s illegal as they want it, from the Usenet for a paltry $10 a month?

*shhhh*

Don't tell 'em if they don't. It'll be *our* little secret.

Score: 0

By mjm01010101

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 4:22 PM

why pay $10/month when private trackers are free, and faster than any newsgroup.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 8:46 AM

Yeah..

Point me to *one* that has the variety and speed (700K/sec) of my current Usenet provider.

Didn't think so.

Score: 0

By debonair

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 6:52 PM

I've yet to find any trackers of such mythical capabilities.

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 9:25 PM

Don't have the right friends. ;)

Score: 0

By Martin Blank

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 2:11 PM

$17,000 raised, only a few hundred million more to go, based on the estimated value.

And at least one gambling company is also looking to buy. Guess who will be able to come up with more money?

Further, such action will push the British government to define the status of the platform within its own courts. Germany and the US have already seen court cases declaring that Sealand is not a country and can never be under international law. Britain will end up either severing the data cables, taking the platform back, or both. If the platform is taken, it will almost certainly be destroyed shortly thereafter.

Score: 0

By ds0934

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 12:39 PM

A moon base! :)

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jan 17, 2007 - 12:53 PM

Right next to Google?

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 2:26 PM

It's funny, really.

Wouldn't it just be easier to buy a cruise ship, launch a few satellites, make some peering arrangements, and...

Oh, I guess not.

*shrug*

I'm sure they could find hosting in Syria somewhere.

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 2:07 PM

lol, Sealand is not recognized by anyone as a sovereign country. It's nothing more than a small rusting WWII relic that is still owned by the Royal Navy. Just because some nut and his family live on it and call themselves royalty doesn't make it a country.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jan 16, 2007 - 2:04 PM

Sealand is less than an offshore oil platform. After a recent fire, it's barely habitable.

As I understand it, they recently offered tenancy, but failed utterly to name a price.

This has publicity stunt (for Sealand) written all over it. I'd feel sorry for the idiots donating, but a fool and his money...

Score: 0

By Registered

posted Jan 18, 2007 - 8:39 PM

i find it hard to read all this about invading, for starters it has nothing to do with US, if this so called platform is near UK's terriotry it is near 0% chance the US will do anything about it, in doing so would cause massive reprocutions, and would indeed cause a huge political disaster,

turn the situation around, and uk wanted to invade a small platform (sealand) of US shores, but not in US territory, oh yeah i can see US accepting that,

so please no more talk about invades,

as mentioned above, there communications would be severed, and a international embargo would be sanctioned, I.E. all supplies would be disallowed, and UK would probably setup some kind of communication jammer, to hinder all communication,

and electricity would be cut of (and no they wouldn't be allowed to get fuel in to power any kind of generator)

2nd problem for them would be how would they get there, as they wouldn't be allowed to get there from UK,,

all in all, the whole thing would be sorrted with out the mention of arms, and forces, and please no more talk about invading, this wouldn't be allowed by the public from UK, ecspecially when there is a thousand other things that UK could do, and would most likely be more effective any way,

invading could lead to lost of life, ecspecially if they put up a fire, i can see it now "CNN broadcast UK invades off line Sealand to shutdown pirate bay, and sixteen people are dead, and 12 others seriously injured" hehehe,

Score: 0

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