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Pirate Bay Will Not Buy Sealand - Goes to Plan B

buysealand.com — 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.

Bury
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  • IamBobX, on 10/12/2007, -13/+246You know I will laugh when the RIAA and the MPAA hire a bunch of Mercenaries to take over this country. Not like they don't have the money :P
    • viewtiful4ever, on 10/12/2007, -114/+7lol, the RIAA sued AllofMP3 for $1.65 trillion dollars! http://digg.com/tech_news/AllofMp3_com_Sued_for_1_65_Trillion
    • MAJORstrasser, on 10/12/2007, -7/+57Hell, they'll be hteir own country. Why couldn't they start a military of their own? After all, they are pirates, they're going to have their own island, and they're going to be their own country...naturally they should have some ships. You know, the Russian mob could probably hook them up. If I remember correctly, Soviet-era subs, with missiles + captain and crew for a year, go for $5-9million.

      While we're at it, why not toss in a few SAMMs, a couple hundred AKs, grenades, a few T-80 battle tanks, and a MIG? All in all, you've got yourself a pretty good miltary for $20,000,000 or so.
    • general13, on 10/12/2007, -8/+265Wait...isn't there a lot more to running a country than just buying an island??

      Some thoughts...

      1) Food/water/supplies.
      2) Electricity.
      3) Medical
      4) Avoiding that pesky "invasion" thing
      5) Internet line !?!?!? What, they're going to pay for their own submerged, ocean-bottom OC-45??!?
      6) Wal-Mart. Gotta have one.

      I may be crazy, but the last island *I* bought didn't come with those accommodation's. Did have lots of disease-carrying insects though.
    • ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -45/+7The executives behind these two entities are greedy businessmen, not murderers.

      Still, I'm reminded of Dick Cheney...
    • Sirocco, on 10/12/2007, -4/+26I don't see why he's being dug down. If they relocate to their own island, it's only a matter of time before someone decides to make a covert strike and wipe out their servers; perhaps the whole island if they drank too much Starbucks that morning.
    • cajungator2, on 10/12/2007, -23/+5i call shenanigans
    • dilbertmouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10That would royally suck. Not so much because it could happen, but because it would be impossible to retaliate. Good luck attacking an established corporation in any major country, as the best case scenario would be that you get the U.S. declaring war against your crappy old Russian sub. This is one case where the best offense is a good defense.
    • shokk, on 10/12/2007, -8/+84$20000? They're not even going to buy a closet in some backwater country for that. Geez, get a dose or reality and stop the games.
    • jblade, on 10/12/2007, -19/+6Like thepiratebay really needs donations. Besides server costs (which are huge of course) the site is basically pure profit.
    • kalleanka, on 10/12/2007, -7/+26Exactly, this is just ridiculous.
      I hope you guys know there actually is a market for buying selling islands, but that usually involves multi millionaires and the price is NOT $20k. Heck, for that price I would buy my own island too.
      Also, what do these morons think they can do with a island in the middle of nowhere? Put actual servers there? Drag fiber cables to the island?
      Sorry, this is never gonna happen. Never.
    • rderveloy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35"1) Food/water/supplies.
      2) Electricity.
      3) Medical
      4) Avoiding that pesky "invasion" thing
      5) Internet line !?!?!? What, they're going to pay for their own submerged, ocean-bottom OC-45??!?
      6) Wal-Mart. Gotta have one."

      1) Hunt, Gather, Farm, Supply Ships
      2) A combination of solar and wind power is very feasible. If more power is needed, and depending on the location, they can look into geothermal.
      3) Simply choose an island close to another with a hospital. Keep EMS teams on island and evac via helicopter. Or, once you obtain sovereign nation status, get global aid money to build and staff medical facilities.
      4) Form strategic alliance with another nation or simply buy equipment and crew from Russia.
      5) If no fiber connections are available, satellite uplink.
      6) You wouldn't want Walmart to ruin your new economy before you even had one. Best wait until your new country reaches superpower/glut status.

      Pitcarin Island is a near perfect example of how this can be set up. Although not a sovereign county, it is owned by the British, it is a semi-remote island near French Polynesia.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_Island
    • ZetaVu, on 10/12/2007, -4/+44You know what, forget the island, I say go for a hollowed out volcano, much cooler and easier to defend!

      Still, if they really want an island, wait another year or so, as the arctic ice sheet melts, discover one of the newly formed islands and claim it as your own.

      Oh, wait, it'll probably get engulfed as the sea levels rise. Ok, back to the volcano.
    • dcipjr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+42They should go for an island in the Carribean....you know....
    • WarPirate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+37http://www.privateislandsonline.com/davis-island.htm - $27,000 CAD
    • PaulOwen, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9I'm not sure we're understanding what Sealand is very well here. It's a man made island, unlike Pitcairn, and basically resembles a hut on two concrete columns.

      That's it - there's no sand or earth there at all.

      http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=sealand&btnG=Search+Images
    • championchap, on 10/12/2007, -27/+13$20.000?
      Hell, I raise $20 just looking under the sofa sometimes!
      Think you mean $20,000.. but iuno, do Sweden write their currency that differently? I live in the UK by the way.
    • flukexp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Why don't they just invest their money in an established, sovereign, island nation? Turn some place like Nieu into the new pirate bay.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niue
    • vhold, on 10/12/2007, -8/+7Heh.. you know the scary thing is that -real- pirates do still exist and occasionally attack cruise ships and stuff. It wouldn't be surprising in the least if they got attacked by such people.
    • TheCount, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2lol, well I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it takes more than just a claim to brand you as your own nation. So I'm interesting to see how they will manage this. Eitherway, they're going to have to spend that 20 grand on SOMETHING, if it just dissapears, a lot of people will be upset.
    • sagenumen, on 10/12/2007, -6/+14@ championchap:

      Do you ever leave your house? Please tell me people aren't this ignorant to the world around them. In many places outside of the US, the comma and the decimal are transposed.
    • jman8888, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Some sources say TPB brings in 40K in ads a day? Seriously TRUE.com is makin them some cash.,
    • putfourdown, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2I SHALL FIGHT AS A PIRATE. WHO IS WITH ME
    • LeeJunFan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+191) Hunt, Gather, Farm, Supply Ships
      2) A combination of solar and wind power is very feasible. If more power is needed, and depending on the location, they can look into geothermal.
      3) Simply choose an island close to another with a hospital. Keep EMS teams on island and evac via helicopter. Or, once you obtain sovereign nation status, get global aid money to build and staff medical facilities.
      4) Form strategic alliance with another nation or simply buy equipment and crew from Russia.
      5) If no fiber connections are available, satellite uplink.
      6) You wouldn't want Walmart to ruin your new economy before you even had one. Best wait until your new country reaches superpower/glut status.
      ------

      You must be on a deserted island yourself!
      1) These are network guys, not hunters/farmers
      2) Windmills cost more money than they currently have on hand
      3) Actually probably feasible, but not very economical - remember they are depending on other people to buy the island, how are they going to pay bills?
      4) Again - craploads of money, the RIAA will pressure other govt's to not deal with this country just like they are pressuring them to keep piratebay out.
      5) Are you f@cking serious? Have you ever seen satellite internet service? The intention of the move is to keep the site UP! Not go offline everytime it's cloudy and suffer from constant 1000ms+ latency.
      7) Wal-Mart wouldn't be able to go there because there's no enough cheap labor for them to hire.
    • Xageroth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20It speaks volumes that people would rather give their money to pirates than to the RIAA/MPAA.
      Declaring war over entertainment... what the hell?

      "They can take our lives... but they'll never take... our Directors Cut of X-Men 3!!!"

    • neonic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Oh my god, their pirates for christ sakes... So do what pirates do, and pillage and plunder an island... and set up an internet torrent tracking site :)
    • darkamster07, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3it really interests me: a small nation run by a select few that remains stable through political bribes and such, and who's only export is information, (It at least would make a cool story). Listen to the last TWiT, they discuss such an idea, good listen.
    • Nick22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3By the way guys, all the serious members from buysealand started their own group. The Free Naton Foundation. TPB also mentions it in that blog post.

      Dont even bother going on the buysealand forums, they are crap. All the good members left for the free nation foundaton, now its all just spam and such.

      http://forum.freenationfoundation.org
    • Soccer4786, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3maybe wikipedia will pitch-in... TPB/Wiki island. :-D
    • Ductapemaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They should just buy that MIG on eBay...The RIAA won't touch them if that have that around.
    • D3koy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They are ***** pirates they can steal whatever ***** they need...HOWEVER I a not suprised that the whole Sealand thing didn't go through....
    • TheFunnyDigger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@general13

      and whores. Don't forget island whores.
      They may not be in the budget but but the integrity of the show depends on it.
  • fastfood15, on 10/12/2007, -5/+31that would be an act of war. And subsequently the government computer would simultaneusly be hacked by the thousands of tech geeks world wide.


    plus the MPAA and the RIAA are only domestic, (US), organizations.
    • firefox15, on 10/12/2007, -5/+67They obviously don't think so. Allofmp3.com anyone?
    • IamBobX, on 10/12/2007, -4/+41@fastfood15

      If (Big if) the MPAA did decide to "declare war" against Sealand, they would just hire some Mercenaries, the Mercenaries would come in and do their job and disappear. It's not like they would say "We are the RIAA, we declare war." No one would ever see any of the Mercenaires. I don't think the Mercs would know officailly who was hiring them either.

      Just my 2 cents and you can have change. :P
    • DaveUK, on 10/12/2007, -20/+2@firefox15: You are an idiot. Allofmp3 is located in Russia and the last thing the US wants is to cause any kind of diplomatic incident with Russia. With a newly formed entity where there is nothing to lose, well you wouldnt catch me on that island :)
    • kuchino, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13"Hack the Planet!"
    • thefirstenemy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17It'd be a ironic twist of fate if the Pirate Bay island was plundered by pirates.
    • swiftekho, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5The irony is our country is probably willing to spend more money to stop them than pirate bay is willing to spend to buy a FREAKING COUNTRY!
    • hattable, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@thefirstenemy
      It's not ironic it's just coincidental. Now fork over those lady-fingers cookie!
  • pap3rw8, on 10/12/2007, -2/+69I'm still hoping for a pirate satellite. Or a TPB base on the moon.
    • wusupdoe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17I'm still not sure why they're not aiming for a satellite. The whole island thing is just a failure waiting to happen. They have to raise a metric assload of money just to get the island and find out that they're not going to be able to be their own country. As already mentioned, even if they did somehow get the world to recognize them as a country, the RIAA and MPAA have money to make things happen. The RIAA and MPAA, while both being US organizations, will certainly not take to kindly of this. These are the same organizations that sue dead people, old people, and little babies, all without making one apology. I just don't see them having a problem with having some downloaders/uploaders killed provided that it doesn't come back to them.
    • ABadInAlbany, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19Blocking a satellite's transmissions would be even easier than physically severing a cable connection to an island, or similar. Or China could just shoot it down. And actually testing a satellite and getting it into orbit is HUGELY expensive, especially when you're coming into the game with no background, no experience, no decades-old space program behind you. And if they had a single failure, 1) they have no means to repair a satellite, nor, 2) no financial means to duplicate the original costly process of putting a bird into orbit.
    • spyrochaete, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4China could shoot the satellite down with their new "laser".
    • All4not, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2They'll just shoot down a satellite and it'd be expensive to put one up there anyways.
    • Stirk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10No, they wouldnt shoot it down. There is an international agreement that there are to be no weapons in space. No doubt the world would take it lightly if a random missle pops out from the U.S. and takes down a satelite
    • bigred, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15China? Shoot down a pirate satellite? China where you can buy any app/game on any street corner for a dollar? That China? I have a feeling that China will not care too much about it.

      Regardless, satellites are not feasable for high bandwidth and low latency situations like that. To get a frequency band to use is very expensive and even then, the satellite still needs to connect to servers somewhere in the world. Satellites simply relay data from one ground based location to another. They definitely aren't server farms in space.
    • Anamith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10The whole pirates in space idea would be pretty cool.
    • Software2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There are no "weapons" allowed in space. But who's to say that a very small, very cheap satelite didn't "malfunction" and "accidentally" "collide" TPB satelite.
  • id34, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2BetCris.com are interested in Sealand and have the money to back a bid.
    http://digg.com/business_finance/BetCris_com_Interested_in_Sealand
  • onboleman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24I really don't care what they settle on, as long as I get a nobility title.
    It would be fun to be Duke Oscar of Pirateland.
    • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18thats a great idea, i've already been ordained online, i wonder if they'd knight me... i could be Lord Reverend Brett
    • TrueVox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Universal Life Church? Or how did you go about it?
    • incubusnb, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15to be completely honest, if they bought a big enough island and succeeded in declaring it a country, i would consider immigrating there, I could see it being a very open and free utopian country.

      granted they would have enemies, but they could could me in as militia if they got attacked, i would defend it.
    • greysky, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1could they become a religion, if so what protection would they get?
    • ROFLance, on 10/12/2007, -8/+8"but they could could me in as militia if they got attacked"

      I'm still trying to make sense of that.
    • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yup universal life church, i was almost disappointed in how easy it was.
    • bluesoul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Utopian societies fail. No exceptions. I'm not going into the myriad of reasons as to WHY they've failed every time they've been attempted but suffice it to say that a utopian society is typially set up as a communist state, and communism just doesn't work in the real world. On paper, great idea. In real life, not staying afloat.
    • Software2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@bluesoul
      Democracy doesn't work well in the real world either, but here we are.
  • leftfoot, on 10/12/2007, -3/+42When the RIAA or MPAA show up, stab em' in the eye, and give them an eyepatch and say "ARGHHH, your one of us now!"
    • FFpixel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14If only that's all it would take...
  • tralalaa, on 10/12/2007, -37/+6$20, great!

    You can buy a DVD with that!
  • tont0r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4i heard islands cost more than $20,000. not to mention, im sure the island will already belong to a government of some sort. and what happens when they dont let the 'president' of this island off the island? meaning they deny the president of TPB Island access to their country...
    • Pix869, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13You heard wrong.

      This will work.

      And when it does, I will be the Grand Judge of Pirate land, and sentence to death by drowning any secret agents or mercenaries. >:]
    • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6all islands are already owned by a country, there are no islands out there that they'd be able to buy. There was a guy in the 70's that tried to create a sovereign nation on a boat... it was called project atlantis
  • wbeavis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+64The current "government" on Sealand took it by force. Why doesn't Pirate Bay use the donations to get an army and take Sealand by force. They are PIRATES after all. arrrrr
    • treyuteee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+36Thats the single greatest idea I've ever heard.
    • tont0r, on 10/12/2007, -2/+70Because $20k buys you 4 part time employees at mcdonalnds, not an army.
    • duke_nate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Arrrrrrrrrgh, Where do i sign up!
    • orielbean, on 10/12/2007, -0/+29I can see it now...sweaty-palmed, overweight computer developers shooting off the first salvo of mentos & DC powered rockets...I smell a movie in the making.
    • vagabondgr, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@tont0r: boy you made me laugh. I can see it happening, an army of eye-patched delivery-boys attacking sealand with scooters, changing shifts every 4 hours. loool
    • knupso, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I have some unused vacation days.
      Get a ship and some guns, I'll join ye crew ARRRR!
    • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6$20,000? they could probably get some volunteers
    • ghaltmann, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3 I can see it now "President bush sends peacekeeping force to sealand" I can imagine the peacekeeping force too, it would be 2 zodiacs with like 14 SEALS.

      Hell, you could send chuck norris.

      *ducks*

  • Caboose101, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Okay, buying Sealand seemed feasible. But buying your own island declaring it a free country AND establishing stable internet, seems a little out of reach for the piratebay staff.
    Curses to sealand for not making an offer:
    http://www.netdisaster.com/go.php?mode=pee&url=http://www.sealandgov.org/
  • unloud, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Great. Sealand was overpriced for what you got anyway.
    • jonashwing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5how can being your own sovereign nation be overpriced? Sealand was never about what the physical plot of land (or concrete) looked like. It was about all the cool stuff you could do because you were the ruler of your own nation.

      Buying your own island is not the same as buying your own sovereign nation. Those islands are still apart of a country and that country's government. Think of it more like buying undeveloped land. If i go out in the middle of texas and find someone selling 14 acres of land out in the middle of nowhere, buying it won't make me my own nation, and neither will TBP buying an island from some country.
    • DeathBorn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sealand is not recognized as a nation, it just proclaims it is one. To other countries, it is just a bunch of crazy people on a rig in the ocean. It's not like you're buying a real nation here.
  • Enterprise8875, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9This is such a dumb idea. You cant just buy land and declare yourself a nation. This is usually and act of rebellion against the nation that owns the island. Also even if the nation of which the island is a part of allows its succession that doesn't mean its a country. To be a country other nations have to recognize your existence and no one will recognize this island as a country.

    In fact sealand is not a country. It is in British waters and it owned by the British government(they just dont want the public relations nightmare of sending troops to a worthless piece of concrete). And no other nation has ever recognized it.
    • RickyBennett, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1why not it worked for the pilgrims and the u.s.a. was born and it worked for bam off of viva la bam
    • Enterprise8875, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yes it worked for America after a huge war. With what troops do you think piratebay will use?

      And I have no idea what you are talking about with viva la bam but i can promise you that bam(i dont watch the show so i dont even know who he is) does not have his own country.
    • mcrosby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4You should watch "how to start your own country" - its a BBC programme regarding this subject. You CAN make your own country, and making an island its own country would be easier than buying Sealand, since Sealand is NOT officially a real country.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Start_Your_Own_Country
    • rderveloy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8"In fact sealand is not a country. It is in British waters and it owned by the British government(they just dont want the public relations nightmare of sending troops to a worthless piece of concrete). And no other nation has ever recognized it."

      When Sealand declared sovereignty in 1967, it was outside the 3 nautical mile territorial water boundary. It wasn't until 1987 that Britain's territorial waters were expanded to 12 nautical miles.
    • RickyBennett, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1viva la bam is a show that was on mtv 2 i dont know if it is stell on now or not

      o and i take that back he made his own state called State of Bam not country may bad i have int seen the show in a wile and it is just a spot of land that call State of Bam

      hare is the episode

      http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6513606686639444551&q=%22Viva+la+Bam%22+State+of+Bam&hl=en
  • Epyn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4All these comments about islands being 'much more' than 20k are pointless. Granted this movement won't keep the same momentum forever, the donations will keep trickling in and in the future they can make a land snatching. Even if it takes a few years it's better that people are trying to do something constructive.

    Also, they may not need the full purchase amount, a good portion of it upfront and loans would do nicely, further donations, ad revenue, and I would imagine profits from owning the land would allow them to make payments and eventually pay it off.
    • tont0r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Did you even bother thinking before posting that? profits from owning the island??? you think just because you buy a lump of land you get free money??

      "Hey, I bought this land, so im going to get profits from it to pay off the island".
      and im pretty sure they arent going to setup a tourist trap on there with their pirate themed theme part.

      Loans?? Who the hell is going to give these people, who's soul purpose is to host pirated software, a loan??? I might as well go to the bank and ask them to give me some money so I can get a kilo of coke for my drug dealing business. On top of all that, they are STILL going to belong to someone elses government.
    • Malshew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8But they COULD rent out space to other websites looking for a safe haven from their government.
  • squirrelza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5As cool as this is, it just isint going to happen
  • brewyet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3http://thepiratebay.org/

    It Says Pirates of Sealand on the site
    • empyreal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ouch, now its an image of a sinking ship and says they are experiencing database problems.
    • Hamsterpotpies, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No *****.
  • Maku, on 10/12/2007, -15/+4They broke the $20.000 barrier? Do you mean the $20,000 barrier?
    • macaddct1984, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8In a lot of non-US countries, a period '.' is often used instead of a comma ',' to separate the thousands place.

      see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator
    • glasgowm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5no. Not every country uses the same numerical formatting as the US.

      20.000 is Swedish for 20,000
    • TerriSchiavo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No we mean the $20'000 barrier
    • incubusnb, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8then how do you recognise decimal places? with a comma?

      20.000,00?
    • SleepJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6incubusnb:

      yes, actually. 25,000.49 would be 25.000,49
    • ZekeSulastin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Yes they do, actually.
  • acumenprobitas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Piratebay would be better off using the money to decentralize themselves, that way they are harder to take down. If all of the piratebay servers are in one place, it's easier to take them out!
    • mcrosby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They are already decentralised like this. Watch their film.
    • thespanielator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8By the time Pirate Bay became self-aware it had spread into millions of computer servers across the planet. Ordinary computers in office buildings, dorm rooms; everywhere. It was software; in cyberspace. There was no system core; it could not be shutdown.
    • darkamster07, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah I do think it would be a good idea to set up a bunch of secret server locations that are constantly being updated from other locations to be exact duplicates of their current servers, so that if they get taken down,they can just move to one of their secret locations and be back up in a few days.
  • duhblow7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Is it just me or does it seem like setting up your own country or island is like centralizing yourself. Something that bittorrent is the opposite of. The reason it isn't centralized and is indeed p2p was because that was how it evolved to survive. By centralizing yourself on an island or nation, you are leaving yourself vulnerable. For instance, somebody must be your ISP. What if the country that your "pipeline" comes in from is sued by the RIAA to disconnect you, or filter you?

    edit: acumenprobitas, we think alike.
    • tont0r, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Thats called logical thinking and people dont want to look at that. They would rather say 'ZOMG THE PIRATE BAY GUYS ARE A BUNCH OF GENIUSES!!!! BUY AN ISLAND! PISS IN THE FACE OF THE RIAA!!!! ROFLCOPTERZZZ ATTACK!'
    • joelito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If they manage to get themselves declared as an independent nation, they could place servers in their embassies.

  • nobuz, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0f*ck

    gonna be funny watching MPAA invading piratebay's country

    hope united nation would help
  • IEatHamburgers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Uh, why not just buy a yacht, get a powerful satellite uplink and cruise into international waters? I'm sure you can put some home-made depth charges on it if the RIAA gets an old Soviet sub.

    Oh, and you gotta name the yacht "Queen Anne's Revenge." After all, you're pirates...
    • incubusnb, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3or better yet

      The Black Pearl...
    • eclectro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4One has to question how much bandwidth they will get from a satt uplink. Also, which satt service is going to want to be sued by the RIAA?
    • IEatHamburgers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Well, if you can hack a card for your receiver and get free satellite access, it probably won't be hard to pirate satellite internet. Not legally, of course, but it can't be easy to stop them if they're on a yacht...

      Bandwidth is an issue but probably less of one for The Pirate Bay, as they don't host the files themselves. Maybe they can rig a bunch of dishes together on the boat.
  • nightstrm, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Seriously, this is the dumbest idea ever, and I can't believe it is still making its way into the news.
    • xaque, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The dumbest ideas are always the most awesome.
  • rooskie, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5has anyone pointed out that they could just buy the software for that amount of money? And maybe, just maybe, compensating a software company will allow future versions of said software to be developed?

    Don't argue about free software principles. There's a reason Photoshop sells for $800 and The GIMP is free. There's also a reason pirates trade Photoshop torrents and not GIMP ones.
    • AlanLivingston, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@rooskie:

      "There's also a reason pirates trade Photoshop torrents and not GIMP ones."

      I'm not sure why pirates trade Photoshop torrents but I can tell you why they don't trade GIMP torrents. It's already mirrored all over the world. See http://www.gimp.org/downloads/#mirrors
    • dilbertmouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"There's also a reason pirates trade Photoshop torrents and not GIMP ones."

      Is it because, then, they wouldn't be called pirates?
  • garretro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This could indeed work. The island does not have to be very large so the cost might not be all that high. If this island were purchased from a country, it could be written into the contract that the selling country will immediately recognize the newly sold island as an independent nation.
  • mandarin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well you dont have to buy Sealand outright. Just go over there, put up a McDonalds and you're in business. Do it the economic way!
  • mrmatchgame, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I hope they don't go to Plan X if all the others fail.
  • crex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Right so they buy an island and declare themselves to be their own country. The parent country will likely refuse to acknowledge the claim, as will most other countries, but no one will really see the issue to be worth the monetary cost and PR blacklash of sending some soldiers in to teargas the "rebels" until they vacate. No country is going to recongize the island is its own nation. The entire precedent is too dangerous, because then anyone could buy an island from any country and declare themselves to be their own nation. Ownership of the land will be acknowledged, but the right of political control will not.

    Now lets move on a year or so in the future. The Pirate Island is set up, has a server farm an an internet connection. The RIAA and/or MPAA sue the Pirate Island people in their parent nation's court. Now we can assume the Pirates want an island because they know they'd lose and legal battles in most established countries. Otherwise they'd have have already moved their servers to any country whose laws might protect them from the MPAA/RIAA. For that matter the Pirate People might refuse to appear when summoned in court claiming that they are their own nation and not subject to the parent nation's courts. So the Pirate Island loses their case. Now to get internet on an island you either have a fiber cable running out to it or a sat uplink. The police take the court injunction over to whichever company runs Pirate Island's internet link and shows them orders from the proper legal authority to shut that connection now. The ISP will comply and the Pirate People are left stranded on some dinky little island with no internet uplink and out the cost of the island. Great plan.
  • WarPirate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually you can buy an island for about 20k.

    http://www.privateislandsonline.com/davis-island.htm
    • coollettuce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1delete delete! must think of clever comment.... ugh i cant!!
  • Gatesophile, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Haha, I took that as $20 instead of $20,000. Silly European numbers. :P
    • coollettuce, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Oh, it's okay you're dumb. You're a girl and you're on digg.
    • Gatesophile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just because I'm a girl you HAVE to go and make it a sexist thing, huh?

      Excuuuuuse me for being American and being used to 20,000 and not 20.000
    • coollettuce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh come on I was just kidding. The fact that you're a girl on digg was the real punchline of the joke. I hope there's no hard feelings. Oh, I am also American.
  • mosesconspiracy, on 10/12/2007, -13/+8*****, digg this down
  • somabc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Why not use that money to change the law?
  • biiscit, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3people at tpb are dumber than rocks.
  • Jonjonr6, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7It'd be like Castaway with Tom Hanks, but instead of Wilson the volleyball, he'd have Scuzzy the NAS server.
  • nextlevel233, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm digging this, i hope it gets to the frontpage
  • ReverendRodger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1OK, I must be out of the loop here. Think what you will, the whole creating their own nation thing is cool, if not very ambitious. One thing I keep asking myself is why they want to buy an island? I thought Sweden offered protection from the companies that try to take legal action against them? Is it because of the police raid?
  • clyde2801, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Were their plans thwarted by ninjas?
  • coollettuce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3this is what i think. theres so many people supporting the whole "buy sealand" campaign i say we just go over there with some glocks maybe ak's and takeover sealand. its not like they'll be able to stop us. aren't countries taken over all the time? i dont think it would be hard to do.
  • MrMet5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Does anyone think that the Pirate Bay could survive on a "country" like Sealand or vene by buying their own island? Does anyone remember that using Sealand to be outside of the regulation of other countries has been tried and failed? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HavenCo
    HavenCo tried to provide hosting services not governed by other countries laws. I bet all that Pirate Bay doing something like that would just put a larger target on their back. It wouldn't surprise me that US and other friends of the **AA's would take action against intermediaries, such as ISP's, which provide access to the content. This has been a strategy used by the US, like with internet gambling. If there are no banks willing to make transactions with the gambling sites, then the sites run into trouble. A similar approach could be used here.
  • TheLD, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Sealand isn't even a country anyway. It is part of the UK and has the same laws. The only possible difference could be in tax, items under £18 can be bought without VAT, that's all.

    The only reason that those people are allowed to live there is because they are looking after HM's property
  • Jammerdelray, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They'd be better off building a underwater building in neutral waters
  • justice7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2A pirate needs no island!

    A ship! A grand ol ship! Mate'y!
  • Jinx..., on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Duh!! No way they could have raised that much cash.
  • naonao, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1When I grow up, I'm gonna live their and be a pirate with them.
  • protocol0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't care if its $20.000,00 or $20,000.00 . It ain't gonna buy squat.
  • ClaiE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They should think social web service... a kind of user powered website in a peer to peer way...
    No reason to be afraid of RIAA in that way... how can it goes against every TPB's user...

    I don't think sealand or own island is a serious and reliable idea.
  • djepik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2$20 to five significant figures! you guys are exact!
  • SilenceBroken, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Pirate Bay wants to rip people off and sell stuff that doesn't belong to them. They are amoral thieves, plain and simple. I still believe that there's something to ethics and morality, and stealing is wrong. I don't care how rich the copyright holders are, it doesn't matter. I cannot respect an organization of thieves like that any more than I respect the endeavors of that rich Nigerian heiress who wants my PIN number.
    • coollettuce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2what do you expect from pirates?
    • akinder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I say more power to them, they're taking money from these dumbass teenagers that think they're in some sort of 'revolution' against TEH EVAL CORPORATION OMG.

      I guess they enjoy working behind a fast food counter.
  • Ragnar0k, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You know, for a year out, I'd happily live on TPB island. I'd happily bring my own firearms collection to help defense, and as a I'm currently heading for a Masters in Physics degree, I think I could help out with general technical aspects, such as energy conservation and trasnferral from natural sources. Would I want to be paid? Not really. It's an adventure! Sure, mostly it'll be sitting on the damn island looking at foliage, it'll be hard work, but the incredible challenge of the project can't be resisted by true geeks. Hell I'm even trained in survival skills and armed combat to an extent.

    If TPB wanted volunteers, and I could take one friendly person with me, at least, to keep me sane, I'd go in a heartbeat. How many people will be able to say they've survived on an island for a year while fighitng the government oppression of your country? Yep.

    ``Ragnarok
    • ModernGeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Tell me more about your survival and combat skillz.
  • stang4783, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Maybe I am making this up, but I swear I read an article a few weeks ago on pirate bay, and they have already claimed to be making $75,000 (or 75.000 LOL) PER MONTH on google adds alone.

    Anyone else read this?
  • stang4783, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"They hereby contribute to the estimated $75,000 in ad revenues the Pirate Bay generates every month."

    Why are they now saying they made only $20,000?!

    http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-sponsored-by-wall-mart/
    • empyreal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thats what they received in donations i do beleive sir.
  • madskjaer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Wait for the Hawaii hotspot to move and make another volcanic island. Claim it before the U.S. Government does it?
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