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Pirate Parties Plan To Shoot Site Into Orbit

palmerj3 writes "It is almost four years ago that The Pirate Bay announced they wanted to buy the micronation of Sealand, so they could host their site without having to bother about copyright law — an ambitious plan that turned out to be unaffordable. This week, Pirate Parties worldwide started brainstorming about a similarly ambitious plan. Instead of founding their own nation, they want to shoot a torrent site into orbit."

15 of 301 comments (clear)

  1. Great idea! by Pojut · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear Pirate Party,

    Thank you for donating targets to us. We've been meaning to test our Space Object Destruction Laser®, but haven't found any suitable object to target. Because of your charity, we can now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operation system.

    Sincerely,

    The United States of America

    1. Re:Great idea! by snowraver1 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wait... are you saying that there are SPACE PIRATES!?!?!?!

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    2. Re:Great idea! by bluie- · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, I recall seeing something about drone pilots (either a youtube or discover channel documentary or something like that, I can't remember the exact source), and they talked about observing suspected targets 24/7, and how they occasionally witness bestiality while watching targets at night.

      --
      life is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think
  2. Destroying copyright from orbit by MRe_nl · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's the only way to be sure...

    --
    "Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
  3. How long will this last? by StayFrosty · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Assuming they can actually come up with the money to launch it, I wonder how long it will be up there before it "accidentally" gets hit with a "stray" surface-to-air or air-to-air missile. It'll either be that or incentive to clean up some space "junk." Maybe this is what it will take to get NASA a bigger budget.

    --
    "Frequently wrong, never in doubt."
    1. Re:How long will this last? by BitZtream · · Score: 4, Informative

      Probably only slightly longer than it would have taken for them to get overthrown had they bought Sealand ... which is actually under British rule, regardless of how much they want to pretend its not.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    2. Re:How long will this last? by Eivind · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Here's the thing: every territory is under the rule of whomever shows up with the most guns.

      Laws are only tangentially relevant.

      A satelite, or a territory is dumb anyway, because to be any use, either one would need a link to the rest of the internet -- and they'd need to get that from some nation -- at which point the LINK is subject to the jurisdiction of that nation.

  4. Uhhhhh. by rotide · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Isn't this all just ignoring the real problem? It doesn't matter if you buy a nation, or buy an island, or buy a satellite. You have to get your internet pipe from some external source of which isn't in your "bubble of safety". You could setup a pirate planet, but if you want to connect back to earth you still need a transceiver based in a country not owned and operated by you. Great! You can't be prosecuted for doing what you want to do, but no one can access it.

    1. Re:Uhhhhh. by MoonBuggy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or the people on the ground could, y'know, point a dish at the satellite themselves...

      I'm sure this is more a publicity stunt than a practical idea, but it doesn't fail quite that easily.

    2. Re:Uhhhhh. by ian_from_brisbane · · Score: 5, Funny

      what's the country code for space?

      %20

  5. Outer Space Treaty by goodmanj · · Score: 5, Informative

    Won't work. Read the Outer Space Treaty, specifically Article VI. (full text: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty_of_1967#Article_VI)

    In short: if it's launched from Country X, Country X has responsibility for it, whether it was launched by the Country X government or just by some wacky idealists who live there. In practice, this means that spacecraft are no more outside of national laws than seagoing ships are.

  6. Re:Fuck yes! by slick7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Space Pirates!

    Space Pirates in Arrrrbit. It had to be said.

    --
    The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
  7. Take Fallout 3 by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Exactly. Take Fallout 3, PC, Collectors Edition. Good deal? Yes. Did I want to buy it? Yes. Did I try to order it? Yes. Can I? No.

    Why not? Benelux distributor does not carry it. It does for the PS3 and the 360 but NOT the PC version. Why? Other CE's are carried but not this on.

    So, I am going to pirate the game. That way I get all the extra's, all the special packs from various shops, and zero cost and zero hassle to me.

    FUCK YOU content industry, when you actually make it impossible to buy products, my limit is reached.

    And yes, it is the game companies that are to blame for the distributor. Who on earth thought it was a good idea to give exclusivity for a region? How are market forces supposed to act with monopolies? No competition, single supplier, no choice. My hard earned money should support this? Nope.

    Stop fucking up your customers and maybe people like me would actually buy stuff. But if you don't even put it in the stuff, what am I supposed to do?

    And if you claim I should import, you just don't get it do you, why should I jump through hoops, to give someone else money? It would be like the supermarket putting up a moat, daring me to come in and spend anything at pain of death.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  8. SneakerNet by tekrat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Someone else pointed out that if you're this far gone, it's time to stop using the internet then for your traffic.

    Not to mention that for the millions of dollars needed, as well as manpower, to put something like this into orbit you could instead "AOL" it, by sending every human on earth a CDROM (or DVD) with pirated warez on it.

    Want to make a statement? Use the postal system. Make every human a "evil hacker" by giving them a DVD full of stuff the MAFFIA don't want you to have.

    Think: If during prohibition, if Al Capone had given away liquor, Amendment 18 would have been repealed a lot quicker.

    There is no police force large enough to arrest every man, woman and child on planet earth.

    --
    If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
  9. Wouldn't it be simpler... by TaleSpinner · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...and cheaper to just set up their own micronation platform using something like http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Making_an_Island/Construction_Guides? All they'd need is a relatively shallow site not in territorial waters. A (largely) unmanned site could be left sealed tight when heavy weather is coming, and could otherwise be maintained by a couple of guys. Armed guys, copyright law being what it is. But, hey, machine guns would be legal! http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle551-20100103-03.html