I don't know if anyone has been following this, but, The Pirate Bay (Torrent search engine) is trying to buy its own country to get away from copyright laws.
Their initial plan was to buy the nation of Sealand which is this big metal thingy out in the ocean. That didn't work out so now they're going to buy an island somewhere and claim independence.
Read more here:
http://buysealand.com/
It was also featured on FOX News:
LINK
(Link edited by Mod Team to keep the page on screen) This is pretty funny, though besides the obvious issue with doing this is that the island is probably already claimed by some country(and they probably won't be too happy about losing it) how would they get hooked up to the internet on some remote island(with their bandwidth consumption, the cost would be really high), not to mention other utilities. I think it's just a new gimmick to pay for their legal fees.
for more info on sealand, http://www.sealandgov.org/ HOw about satellite conection, expensive but speedy. How about an excentrinc government who might donate an island for this proyect like Venezuela who is always against the stablished regime and is always trying to hit the US. Or maybe they will be lucky and find an uncharted island, thought the odds of finding it are really low. I think it is a utopic proyect but if they do it that will be a milestone in human freedom.
Quite interesting ... although i do use this site for torrent search more frequently , but i'm wondering why they want to buy the country ?? Just to avoid copyright law or anything else ?
They don't have enough money and the UK would never accept it. They also need an internet connection and satellite is too expensive and wouldn't solve the problem as it would be blocked anyway. Besides if you outrule all copyright rules/ip property rules in a country, it's still illegal to distribute it to other countries.
hehe... Well, someone might know what to do. But the money problem is an issue, then the ones using it would have to pay. And I don’t think anyone would sponsor a pirate 
I didn’t know that there were still islands or land that can be bought, so that is what I’m surprised over, and that someone would sell it., I don't think the users would have to pay. The Pirate Bay makes a lot of money (thousands a month) already. I think their biggest problem would be keeping an internet connection. I'm sure the RIAA and MPAA will put a lot of pressure on their ISP to cut them off. That happened recently to isohunt.com but they're back up now.
its another way of evading the law:d
but i guess it wont work , think they wont allow it. i think its seen as a revolution , and international help can come
Sealand is not recognized by any other country as a real country. It's simply a micronation that exists in the water. Vanatuu is a much more real place in terms of hiding information and disappearing trails. Furthermore, the whole thing is just a publicity stunt because Pirate Bay has no where near the money that such a place is asking for.
It's not a real country, it's a micronation. It will be impossible for them to do anything with Sealand.
But then again, their plan B was to buy an Island in Grenada, costing something like 2 million or something.
But you're right, there is no way they'll get internet from there. I don't see why they just don't stay in Sweden where they're safe.
Or they could come to Canada... w00t.
Yeah, this whole thing seems like it's going to be very hard if not impossible to pull off. But who knows, they may find a way to make it work.
One thing's for sure though. They're probably making some serious bank off those Google ads on buysealand.com
instead of buying islands etc, better sponsor some party to pass a bill limiting copyright only to comercial copying (as it was originally meant).
initiate a referendum or something: personal copying should be allowed in any instances... as oppposed to companies who should pay for copyright.
Reminds me of an article I read on Quatloos!. It was talking about how people would find pictures of small, remote islands, and create websites claiming the territory as their own. They just so happen to be asking for money, and promise you various benefits (i.e. a place in the seat of government) and whatnot.
None have delivered.
I find it quite interesting.
(Regardless of whether BuySealand is fake or not, it made me think of this)
The Quatloos! article is:
http://www.quatloos.com/fake-nations.htm I'm sure these guys realize the problems involved in buying and managing a country, and while it might be considered a scam by some, they are probably sincere in their efforts. It would take a lot to achieve their goals however.
They are not too worried about the legality or illegality of providing the service, what they are concerned about though, is the ability to provide the service without being sued or getting cut off by their ISP.
Anyone who wants to provide pirate software would face the same problems. These guys are probably the first to publicize possible ways around the problems - i.e. an independent country.
In some places in the world, you can walk into a store, buy pirated software for 50 cents US, and walk out with a legitimate receipt. Since the governments concerned are still receiving tax from the sale, the business and the business owner, they aren't too worried about copyright issues either.
In third world countries where the legal price is too high, "legally" purchased copies are more affordable and also help boost the economy, since a business that cannot afford the legal copy can start working with a "legally" purchased pirate copy immediately, which in turn boosts the economy.
If these guys do get their own country, they will use it to enrich themselves. Maybe other people will benefit too. Whatever happens, there's sure to be a lot of debate on the subject.
Sealand ! - I thought it was too far-fetched. But look !
| Quote: |
The latest update is that we’ve broken the $20.000 barrier! It’s amazing! Also, we’re hereby officially telling you all that we have to go for plan B - buying our own island and trying to claim it as our own nation. The Sealand goverment has not been answering e-mails lately and we take that as a sign of not being willing to discuss our venture. |
They've crossed the $20,000 barrier and have planned on an island nation too ...
That is something ...
It is very interesting anyway. Let's keep watching. If all government is against the pirates they try to get their own contry. It's like ETA who tries to make their own contry.
It's importent that they try to change the world. to a better place.
| southy wrote: |
It's not a real country, it's a micronation. It will be impossible for them to do anything with Sealand.
... |
That got me a bit curious and I did a little searching about micronations. Can someone explain why a micronation is not considered a "real" country? Looking at sites on international law, I found reference to the Montevideo Conference as being the source for the definition of what a state (country) is legally.
| Quote: |
ARTICLE 1
The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a ) a permanent population; b ) a defined territory; c ) government; and d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.
|
Whether the territory is land, a platform or a man-made island, as long as there is always someone there and it has a government, it sounds like it is legally a country. The capacity to enter in to relations with other countries is pretty vague and should be easy to satisfy.
| Quote: |
ARTICLE 3
The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states. Even before recognition the state has the right to defend its integrity and independence, to provide for its conservation and prosperity, and consequently to organize itself as it sees fit, to legislate upon its interests, administer its services, and to define the jurisdiction and competence of its courts. |
The fact that they are not recognized by other countries does not have any bearing on their being legitimate. Article 3 clearly states the the political basis of a country is not tied to recognition.
So why is a "micronation" differentiated from states like The Vatican and Paulu.I dont know how far is this true..
But if they seriously manage to buy their own country..then its gonna be heaven for piracy...!!
OMG..!! Dont hate me for this..but piracy is a part of everyone's life...it just makes stuff so easy...!!
Copyright (and other) laws wouldn't be a problem if everyone just ignored them, just like they ignore the neighborhood bore. Now that's real democracy!
The thing about them is they don't really end up giving much money to the artists involved, instead most goes to the distributors and the sponsers.
Why should we pay for theese people? I think there will come a time when we will have internet distribution quick enough to be able to download films direct from the artists involved in making them. Jhonny Depp and his friends get together and make a film, we but it for $4 online, that kind of thing. Cut out the middle men. Untill then I am all in favour of piracy.
I really hope they manage to do it, it would make them a huge figurehead for independant social networkers world wide.
| simp wrote: |
| Copyright (and other) laws wouldn't be a problem if everyone just ignored them, just like they ignore the neighborhood bore. Now that's real democracy! |
Problem is that neighbohood bore might decide to stop working long and hard producing the products you want to steal in the future.
Thus making the world a suckier place for us all - even those who are willing to pay a fair price for a quality product!I support them. They will be my dream country.... ha ha ha.,....
Farking brilliant. I still think time and money are better spent breaking down the RIAA, but it's a great statement nonetheless.
Its sort of funny how I was reading about micro nations a little while ago. If this works for them then they should go for it. They have been having problems for awhile now.
From what I have read, they cannot legally buy Sea land; they would be renting it from the current owner as these sorts of things cannot be traded for money.
I also understand its current owner has rejected all offers from TPB as he does not want to condone piracy in the land that he him self stole... He’s nothing more then a squatter with a legal loophole.
I think in a world of decentralized file sharing the entire concept of copyright laws are becoming increasingly more irrelevant because its becoming more difficult to enforce, but its hard to tell which way the wind will blow. I can see a couple of options though, the first of which is what we currently see in which the establishment such as RIAA continues to sue people to bankruptcy. The second is making increasingly stringent copyright laws. The third is making D.R.M technologies even more complicated than they are today using such tools as Trusted Computing Chips that will soon be in most computers. My favorite option is that some sort of middle ground is realized where the industry is able to get mutual benefits. What Pirate Bay represents is the birth pangs of a new distribution channel much like the VHS and DVD's were in the 1980's, they cried foul then and they're still crying foul today despite the fact that they only made a fraction of the money then as they do now, so the stakes are now much higher.
If they made their own country, I'd think a lot of game-company websites would immediately start blocking the IP ranges, and onlines games too. If I were a game developer trying to get my paycheck, that's what I'd do :/
How would that be useful exactly? If the pirate bay ran a vpn service from sealand?
that would be so funny if they actually got it - even if only to see the look on riaa's etc faces. the mpaa are getting slammed by torrentspy, and piratebay are trying to evade them as well.....i find it funny 
| simp wrote: |
| Copyright (and other) laws wouldn't be a problem if everyone just ignored them, just like they ignore the neighborhood bore. Now that's real democracy! |
Actually that would be anarchy, with no government regulation. However, this is quite interesting, a bittorrent site trying to buy a country simply to avoid the copyright laws.eventually they will stop securing programs i think they are just wasting time and money
Wow...that's pretty....extreme.
