the Principality of Sealand
regrettably, the server-hosting company in the Principality of Sealand was forced to close down. the entire story of this fascinating "unrecognised entity" is chronicled here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealand
it's basically an abandoned WW2 platform known as Roughs Tower: "approximately six miles from the coast of Suffolk, outside the then three-mile territorial water claim of the United Kingdom and therefore in international waters." things got interesting in the 60s: "On 2 September 1967, the fort was occupied by Major Paddy Roy Bates, a British subject and pirate radio broadcaster, who ejected a competing group of pirate broadcasters."
but Bates wanted to do more than play bootleg Hendrix tapes--he declared the platform a sovereign state: "The claim that Sealand is an independent sovereign state is based on the contention that a 1968 decision of an English court, in which it was held that Roughs Tower was in international waters and thus outside the jurisdiction of the domestic courts, is a further de facto recognition of Sealand's sovereignty."
as the platform can only be reached by boat or helicopter, it makes it a legally interesting place to store data, right? according to the BBC: "In January 2007, The Pirate Bay attempted to buy Sealand after harsher copyright measures in Sweden forced them to look for a base of operations elsewhere. The deal fell through."
Sealand produced passports, stamps and coins, and at one point even had a government-in-exile! seriously, read the Wiki entry. u can't make this stuff up.
oh and BTW: all u Twitter fans, who like to shorten URLS using the "bit.ly" technique? ever wonder what the '.ly" stands for?
wait for it...
that's right.
Libya.
JtB
[ Last edited by JackTheBat at 21-2-2011 22:30 ] | |
