Don't like international copyright law? Buy your own country!

[letsgoflyers81]

SOURCE

The Pirate Bay plans to buy island

Published: 12th January 2007 12:37 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/6076/

Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is planning to buy its own nation in an attempt to circumvent international copyright laws.

The group has set up a campaign to raise money to buy Sealand, a former British naval platform in the North Sea that has been designated a 'micronation', and claims to be outside the jurisdiction of the UK or any other country.

The Pirate Bay says it is the world's largest 'bit torrent tracker', and is a popular way of sharing music, films, software and other copyrighted material online. It has been under the scrutiny of authorities in Sweden and around the world for some time.

The site was briefly closed down after raids by the Swedish police last May. After initially moving to the Netherlands, the site returned to Sweden in June. Swedish authorities have been put under pressure to do more to stop the site. The Motion Picture Association of America, the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau and the US government have all lobbied for The Pirate Bay's closure.

According to a website set up to secure the purchase of Sealand, The Pirate Bay plans to give citizenship of the micronation to anyone willing to put money towards the purchase.

"It should be a great place for everybody, with high-speed Internet access, no copyright laws and VIP accounts to The Pirate Bay," the organisation claims on its website www.buysealand.com.

The "island" of Sealand, seven miles off the coast of southern England, was settled in 1967 by an English major, Paddy Roy Bates. Bates proclaimed Sealand a state, issuing passports and gold and silver Sealand dollars and declaring himself Prince Roy.

When the British Royal Navy tried to evict Prince Roy in 1968, a judge ruled that the platform was outside British territorial waters and therefore beyond government control.

The British government subsequently extended its territorial waters from three to twelve nautical miles from the coast, which would include Sealand, but Prince Roy simultaneously extended Sealand's waters, claimed that this guaranteed Sealand's sovereignty.

The island is now being put up for sale by Prince Roy's son, Prince Michael, who styles himself head of state. A firm of Spanish estate agents has valued the island at £504 million (about 7 billion kronor), although Prince Michael told The Times of London that it is hard to gauge how much it will fetch in reality.

The Pirate Bay says it is looking at alternatives to buying the former naval platform.

"If we do not get enough money required to buy the micronation of Sealand, we will try to buy another small island somwhere and claim it as our own country," the organization says on its website.

James Savage

I think this is great. They don't like the law, so they propose to buy a country so they can make their own law and not honor international copyrights. It's a fantastic idea, if they can pull it off. If you check out www.buysealand.com and read the forum, there's some funny stuff there. If it looks like it will happen, I might chip in a few bucks so I can get citizenship.

[ajrich]

I bet you could have some crazy parties on that island too!!!

[Fred S]

Ok well so far the island's "data minister" HavenCo has the following terms:

The Principality of Sealand is a non-DMCA country. However, it's information services are government regulated and specifically exclude activities such as:

* No pornography that would be considered illegal within the EU.
* No infringement of copyright. This includes warez sites and listing sites that index copyrighted material.
* No SPAM or unsolicited advertising, including opt-out e-mail lists.
* No hacking including port scans or network vulnerability testing, distributing viruses, phishing sites.
* No material that is obscene, threatening, abusive, libelous, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense.

[shipo]

Originally Posted by letsgoflyers81

I think this is great. They don't like the law, so they propose to buy a country so they can make their own law and not honor international copyrights. It's a fantastic idea, if they can pull it off. If you check out www.buysealand.com and read the forum, there's some funny stuff there. If it looks like it will happen, I might chip in a few bucks so I can get citizenship.

I have to take extreme exception with the "It's a fantastic idea" crap. Intellectual Property doesn't come cheap in either mental investment, calendar time or actual cost and supporting criminals who are too effing lazy to come up with their own creative ideas makes any who offer such support a criminal too.

FWIW, I am a patented inventor and own a fair amount of copyrighted material and know very well the high human and monetary cost associated with obtaining intellectual property rights. If the Pirate Bay weenies do actually succeed in buying Sealand (or any other island for that matter), they should be treated exactly like any other pirate and be bombed out of existence. Might as well put one of our Nukes to good use for a change.

[sk33ny]

So, this is a old post. What was the outcome?

[TheRumBucket]

i bought it. it's now known as bucketland

[Snake-eyes]

Originally Posted by TheRumBucket

i bought it. it's now known as bucketland

and I was named prime minister...with the help of bill gates and his money we are building a giant army to take over the world!!!!!!!!

[TheRumBucket]

^thank god you showed up, nobody would have believed me otherwise!

[Snake-eyes]

^they will some day... and GI joe wont stop us!!!

[TheRumBucket]

are you kidding me...they wont even be able to dl our pirated material...they're the only ones that aren't allowed to dl.

[galaxygrey13]

Can i join your Army? how much do you pay?

[Snake-eyes]

^you get access to the pirated interwebs...you will be assimulated and join our collective...resistence is futile

[TheRumBucket]

that and we take visa.