If You Can't Beat 'Em, Start Your Own Country!
Well, don't those darn multimedia pirates just think of everything?
Just after the death of Napster, the file-sharing network destroyed by the recording industry and Lars Ulrich of the band Metallica, people were predicting a death in the world of music and movie pirating. Not so.
Soon after, programs like Limewire and other BitTorrent sites sprung up around the world, and the recording industry waged a war against them. Now, the pirates are striking back: they want to buy an ancient off-shore fortress to establish their own copyright-free nation.
If Pirate Bay can buy the principality of Sealand, they could set up the first copyright-free nation in the entire world, legalizing file-sharing now considered "pirating." OK, so the off-shore fortress in question isn't actually ancient, it's an old World War II floating pontoon base located six miles off the southern coast of England.
Formerly named the H.M. Fort Roughs, it saw little action after the surrenders of Germany and Japan, and in 1956 Major Paddy Roy Bates of the Royal British Navy claimed Sealand's independence, introducing a constitution, flag, national anthem, currency, and passports.
The history of the principality of Sealand is rather long and convoluted, but all you really need to know is that the actual location of the sea fortress is in international waters, and thus is outside of any European jurisdiction. Pirate Bay, a file-sharing site run by Swedes, was created in 2004, and has already been run out of Sweden, relocating to the Netherlands. As of right now, they have to abide by international copyright laws since their file-sharing technology resides under the jurisdiction of another country; however, if Pirate Bay is able to buy the principality of Sealand, they could set up the first copyright-free nation in the entire world, legalizing file-sharing now considered "pirating."
If you can't steal songs legally in other people's countries, why not start your own? Bates did much of the same in the 1950s, and has even had to deal with mutinies amongst his own people, but, if Pirate Bay finalizes this deal, we may have a new ugly monster rearing its head. Record sales are down exponentially, and many industry executives blame file-sharing networks like Pirate Bay for this drop-off. What are these guys going to do when and if this type of web-site is considered "legal?" Is America going to launch yet another war throughout the world to protect our valuable resources: hip-hop, R&B, indie-rock, and rap?
And that's the bad news. The good news is that, technically, it is not lawful to "purchase" a principality, but Pirate Bay might only have to offer a substantial sum to the Bates family in order for them to transfer their power. Also, no nation in the entire world recognizes Sealand as an independent country.
But what will happen whenever these computer geeks who refuse to pay for songs set up their own lawless land? Oh the lengths people will go to not have to pay for something.
Photo credit: Sealand Fortress [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Sealand_fortress.jpg]
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