A combination of the Internet and BitTorrent technology is being used in an attempt to found an entirely new Nation in an effort to get around the significant increase in governmental and even international regulation designed to hamper file sharing.
Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is planning to buy its own nation in an attempt to circumvent international copyright laws.
BitTorrent is an ever more widely used technology allowing individuals to download movies, CD's and basically anything else which can be transformed into data at much lower costs than the products the data represents.
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution protocol, and a free software implementation of that protocol. The protocol was originally designed and created by programmer Bram Cohen, and is now maintained by BitTorrent, Inc.. BitTorrent is designed to distribute large amounts of data widely without incurring the corresponding consumption in costly server and bandwidth resources.
If you haven't experienced the technology, you can basically pick out a movie or CD and, provided you can find a torrent to access the appropriate data for the item available through a growing network of file sharers, you can download and watch or listen to it at your convenience for no more than the cost of the technology and any monthly user fee you might pay to subscribe to a network. A growing number of files are also available through free and donation funded networks.
MPAA, RIAA Disclaimer: Not that I personally have any experience with it, you understand.
The implications of the technology are huge for the music and film industries, who have yet to come up with a truly effective means of combating copyright theft. Now The Pirate Bay appears to be looking to stay one step ahead of International regulations.
Should they succeed, the new nation may be the very first time the EU and UN come together and beg the United States to militarily invade and subdue a nation.
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.
Go Sealand!....I declare my property independent!!!
Posted by: Darth Malice | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 04:21 PM
Torrents are used for lots of legit purposes...like Linux distros.
Posted by: Purple Avenger | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 04:25 PM
Purple Avenger I am not a Libertarian,but there something to be said by "Prince Roy"setting up his own shop.It's better than the clowns we have now.
Posted by: Darth Malice | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 04:29 PM
Torrents are used for lots of legit purposes
True and open source media distributions, and bascially anything else, too. But they don't require a new nation. Si it's really only regulated or currently illegal content that's fueling the effort.
Posted by: Dan Riehl | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 04:36 PM
Dan I have seen stories on Sealand and it seems to have a big impact on the net.
Posted by: Darth Malice | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 04:39 PM
I've been watching these guys for years, they consistently thumb their noses at every one that tries to tell them what they can and cant do... they are always entertaining to watch and even more entertaining to talk to...I hope they succeed at pulling it off...
Posted by: chris | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 04:39 PM
Chris I admire that.Like I said it is a nice fantasy to run your own outpost.No rules,but your own.
Posted by: Darth Malice | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 04:41 PM
I love it in theory - mixed feelings on the concept of copyright though. People do deserve to get paid for their work. There are a lot of complex issues wrapped up in it.
Posted by: Dan Riehl | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 05:05 PM
fair compensation for work produced i have no problem with... the problem... lets take music for example... most musicians make little to no income from music production and album sales, they make most of their money from concert ticket sales and merchandise sales at said concerts... so having said that... how do the record companies justify charging $18 for a product that cost them literally pennies to produce? the other types of products are just as bad... the biggest thing that keeps it happening is that no one has enough money to file a price gouging suit against them.
Posted by: chris | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 05:12 PM
I understand what you're saying. I generally don't buy music for instance. And whether I can download it from the Internet, or not makes no difference in that decision at all. I might listen to it for a free download, otherwise, I either hear it about somewhere, or I don't.
Posted by: Dan Riehl | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 05:15 PM
Music will have to adapt .Cassett tapes where you could record your music over the stereo did not kill the recording business.Neither will the net.
Posted by: Darth Malice | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 05:22 PM
im the same way, mainly I listen to talk radio anyways, but if its music i want to hear, ill buy it... but i rarely listen to anything but my old classic rock albums anyways and ive had those forever
Posted by: chris | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 05:38 PM
Getting back Sealand I hope they stay independent and win.Heck I think I will buy an oil platform 13 miles off the coast and declare independence.
Posted by: Darth Malice | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 05:45 PM
and declare independence
Presidente Darth Malice? Hasn't that already been done somewhere, if not everywhere to our south? lol
Posted by: Dan Riehl | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 06:30 PM
Hey Dan it's a dream:) .....Besides I do like the sound of LORD MALICE.....Radical Islam beware of my little nation!
Posted by: Darth Malice | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 06:52 PM
There used to be (maybe still are) pirate radio stations operating off ships anchored in the English channel. This isn't a new concept.
The big problem, assuming they get the island, is the bandwidth pipe. The music industry will start a legal squeeze on that pipe where it comes in at the edge routers. Having a pirate playground that's blacklisted at the major edge routers is a Pyhrric victory.
Posted by: Purple Avenger | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 11:07 PM
no need to have any economic or legal squeeze on them at all, the RIAA/MPAA would just hire about a dozen mercs and the place would mysteriously blow up one night with no explanation... and that would be a whole lot cheaper than trying to sue them in court anyways... i wonder what the rules are about American organizations sanctioning the invasion of a sovereign country?
Posted by: chris | Monday, January 15, 2007 at 10:24 AM