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The Pirate Bay plans to buy island


From: Alexander Terekhov
Subject: The Pirate Bay plans to buy island
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 13:02:08 +0100

and Eben will relocate. :-)

------
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
------

regards,
alexander.

-- 
"So now they're going to try the hard work of cracking 'Freedom'. Free, 
well that means stuff you don't pay for" 

 -- Eben Moglen ("one of the world's leading experts on copyright law")


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