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Domain: principality-sealand.net

Stories and comments across the archive that link to principality-sealand.net.

Comments · 10

  1. Re:Eat fish or die by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2 · on Sealand Looking For Partners

    No nosy neighbors, no traffic jams, no wasted time spent looking for a parking space, free fish, swimming in summer, and best of all, the natives speak English - what's not to like about Sealand?

    What's not to like?! Here's what's not to like. The place makes a US trailer park look scenic! It's a frickin' eyesore! And NO ESCAPE!!

  2. It's already started: HavenCo? by mr.ska · · Score: 1 · on Merchant Republics of Cyberspace
    Their idea is that cyberspace will generate free zones apart from traditional government laws on speech or other control, policing or taxation. Like the residents of the march regions, residents and businesspeople in these new cyber-zones will go largely untaxed, because taxes will be almost impossible to tabulate and collect.

    Does this sound like Sealand (more info here) and HavenCo? It sure does to me.

    I was pondering at length on this a while back, and had a disturbing though:

    What would happen if instead of HavenCo operating on Sealand, suddenly Microsoft picked up from Redmond and plunked itself down on Sealand? What would happen if Microsoft was its own COUNTRY?

  3. Fake site ! by dingbat_hp · · Score: 1 · on Answers From Sealand: CTO Ryan Lackey Responds

    You have the web sites the wrong way around.

    The real Sealand site is at: http://www.fruitsofthesea.demon.co.uk/sealand/

    The site at http://www.principality-sealand.net/ is a bunch of evil Spanish passport scamsters (alhough it's generally a more informative site on the history).

  4. more Sealand info by Tiro · · Score: 1 · on Answers From Sealand: CTO Ryan Lackey Responds
    For backround and photos visit The official Web site of the Principality of Sealand or this other page about Sealand.

    As shown in the photographs at these sites, Sealand is just a tiny platform high over the open sea. Smallest damn principality I've ever seen...

  5. LA Times article; organized crime by bcrowell · · Score: 1 · on Ask Havenco's CTO Anything You'd Like
    The LA Times had an interesting article today on Sealand. The photo shows that the whole thing is just a small house on stilts, and the "prince and princess" don't even live there full time -- they have a house on the mainland. They've had problems with a Spanish/German organized crime group that stole their identity for money laundering. The imposters have their own web page, which was referred to in some previous postings as if it was the real one.

    I think you really have to be a little humor-impaired to take the whole thing seriously...

  6. Are they pulling our leg? by Gunzour · · Score: 1 · on Data Haven To Open For Business - Today
    I'm suspicious.

    www.havenco.net, ns1.havenco.net, and www.sealandgov.com are all the same server at the same IP address which, according to a traceroute, appears to be in Pennsylvania, several thousand miles from the Principality of Sealand.

    http://www.fruitsofthesea.demon.co.uk/sealand/ is cited as the "real" website for Sealand in this article which exposes the fake website which sells fake passports. But the FruitsOfTheSea site and the Sealandgov.com sites, which both claim to be official, don't link to each other at all.

    sealandgov.com claims you can know it is the 'real' website because they are not selling anything. (See their FAQ, second to last question.) Umm.. what about all that colocate space you're pushing??

    sealandgov.com and havenco.net were both registered on the same day, *less than a week ago*.

    Although http://www.principality-sealand.net/540.htm is pretty clearly a fake, the pictures seem to be legit. Check out the pictures of the "island". Where exactly do you place a server farm? According to the Guardian article (link above) it is under 1000 square yards in size. That's smaller than a football field.

    As someone else mentioned, the cast of characters is rather.. odd. Did The NY Times contact any of these people to verify this story?

  7. "Diplomacy" by 1010011010 · · Score: 2 · on Data Haven To Open For Business - Today
    According to their "Diplomacy" section:
    The principality of SEALAND has been in existence as an undisputed sovereign state with a liberal democratic constitutional system for more than 30 years. The government never intended to assume an official role within the framework of the community of nations. This is why the principality does not intend to win other states over for official (de jure) recognition of the principality. This would be tantamount to renouncing or limiting sovereign rights. EU countries have already raised objections against the possibility of SEALAND becoming a European tax haven in the event of de jure recognition!

    De facto, SEALAND is recognised by many countries even without special agreement. One indicator to this fact is extensive correspondence between SEALAND and other states on a government level. The interest other states show in SEALAND is, however, based on purely commercial grounds due to the extraordinary credit worthiness of its citizens a majority of whom is organised in the SEALAND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS FOUNDATION (SIBF).

    The government of the Principality of Sealand supports the activities of the SIBF members inter alia by issuing diplomatic passports. The beneficiaries of these diplomatic passports should not be considered as diplomats in the usual sense but they should rather be considered honourable representatives of a small state the primary task of whom is to boost the esteem of the government on a high level. These passports are not yet considered to be travelling documents.
    ... they sound like more of a business club than a country. With their own clubhouse and membership cards. But not really a nation, per se.
  8. more info on Sealand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5 · on Data Haven To Open For Business - Today

    http://www.principality-sealand.net/en 00.htm
    http://www.fruitsofthes ea.demon.co.uk/sealand/factfile.html

    Sealand exists because it was "captured" in 1967, before the UK extended the range of its offshore authority. As a result, a British judge ruled that the UK govt. had no authority on the "island". The previous business deals which have involved the prinicipality (it's a principality due to an odd regulation stating that no one may be convicted of treason for aiding a prince in gaining his land, much like the Hutt River Province in Australia) have been a little shady, and the platform was once attacked by helicoptors sent by a business associate of "Prince" Roy.

    Sealand exists in a bizarre position: I don't think the UK considers it independent, but they cannot legally do a damn thing about it.

  9. Re:Offshore ISP? by DaveHowe · · Score: 2 · on Can Web Sites Go Offshore For Free Speech?
    Hmm. well, Sealand is given at least official overlooking, if not actual recognition - Apparently, they are even considering adding additional material to the seabed to bring an actual area of "land" into existence, as currently they are an abandoned seafort.

    However, they couldn't be considered to be in any shape or form "floating" - they are solidly attached to the seabed that is only a few meters deep at that point :+)
    --

  10. Re:offshore? by acb · · Score: 2 · on Can Web Sites Go Offshore For Free Speech?

    Once upon a time, it was possible to occupy unclaimed land offshore and found a sovereign nation; that's how the Principality of Sealand was founded, on an abandoned defense platform off the coast of England.

    They closed this loophole in 1978 or so, though; now claims must be approved by the nearest neighbour, even if the land is in international waters.