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Sealand says "No Pirates"
Author: Brett ThomasPublished: 23rd January 2007
Next week on "As The World Turns"...Prince Michael of Sealand rejects the pirate's love.
This week, on the dramatic in-conclusion of "The Misadventures of The Pirate Bay and Sealand," Prince Michael says "No thanks."
Apparently, the current prince of the little-platform-that-could has said that he would refuse to sell Sealand to anyone who would violate international treaties. This flatly rules out The Pirate Bay, whom he named specifically. According to the prince's recent interview on the CBC, he is a very firm believer that file-sharing is a violation of intellectual property rights and should be strictly prohibited.
It is rather funny that the prince of Sealand would refuse sale to anyone violating international treaties, being as the nation started out (after the military base) its sovereign life by being a pirate radio broadcast locality. Since then, it's had a very illustrious history - kidnappings, a military coup, gunfights...but apparently Prince Michael wants that to change.
Of course, the entire thing might be a rather moot point anyhow - since the sale, there have been several groups looking into whether or not Sealand can truly be considered sovereign, as it sits within 12 miles of the British coast. Back in 1987, the UK expanded its territory to include 12 miles of waters offshore in all directions, a move which was accepted by the international community as a whole. Therefore, any would-be buyer might end up falling under UK rule anyhow.
Have you got a thought on the latest twists and turns of Sealand? Let us hear about it in our forums.
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Comments (17)
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maybe get a big ship, anchor it in the middle of nowhere, put up broadband satellite internet and voala, instant pirate island in a place that has no copyright law.
I suppose there will be an island somewhere that will allow them to do what they want...
Monkeybone
Sadly, there are still real pirates out there (link)
L J
With an arse like that, you should be :P
I dislike TPB anyway, it's nowhere near as good as it used to be, the trackers don't give out enough data.
I prefer other places like Mininova and BTJunkie for my legal downloads.
And The Pirate Bay may seem like a cool thing for neo-revolutionaries who want to redefine laws for their own benefit. I don't like the way MPAA and RIAA hold up with their DMCA. It removes consumers rights and offers to sell it back in small quantities which is totally wrong. But just by continuing software piracy "in your face" like that doesn't do any good. One should get an agreement on how to let consumers keep their rights while still making sure the intellectual property owners get their fair share.
But that is outside the scope of this debate really.
I would like for Sealand to be independent. Why should it not be?
Nah, I suspect you wouldn't look that good in a dress and wearing a tiara (unless you are actually female in which case I apologize and officially petition my government to invade Norway). :D
The UK doesn't recognise it as a sovereign nation. Nobody does, it simply tolerates its activities because it is a very small tadpole in a very large pond.