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A Floating Home For Tech Start-ups
JoeMerchant writes "Max Marty, founder of Blueseed, thinks immigration laws in the U.S. make it too difficult for entrepreneurs from other countries to come to the U.S. and develop new technologies. In order to solve this, he's trying to buy a large ship he can anchor off the coast of California, in international waters, which he can then turn into a start-up incubator, fostering a 'year-long hack-a-thon.' From the article: 'With a B-1 visa, visitors can freely travel to the United States for meetings, conferences, and even training seminars. B-1 visas are relatively easy to get, and can be valid for as long as 10 years. Blueseed plans to provide regular ferry service between the ship to the United States. While Blueseed residents would need to do their actual work—such as writing code—on the ship, Marty envisions them making regular trips to Silicon Valley to meet with clients, investors, and business partners. With the ship only 12 miles offshore, it should be practical to make a day trip to the mainland and return in the evening. A B-1 visa also permits overnight stays.'"
FTA: "Some of the Silicon Valley's most important companies, including Intel, Google, and Yahoo, were cofounded by immigrants."
Intel wasn't.
"Yet America's creaky immigration system makes it difficult for talented young people born outside of the United States to come to the Bay Area"
Riiiight, that's where there aren't any young people born outside of the United States in the Bay Area. Sure.
It sounds like this would be an irresistible target for someone with a boat or a plane packed with explosives. Sadly, that's the type of world we live in. You would need anti-aircraft turrets and security boat patrols. Actually, that sounds kind of cool.
Why would this be a more attractive target than say, Apple or Google headquarters? A truck (or even motorcycle) filled with explosives driving into the corporate cafeteria at lunchtime would do much more economic damage and garner much more news coverage than taking out some unknown up-and-coming startup executives on a ship. It would take more than a cessna filled with explosives to take out a sturdy oceangoing vessel. Likewise, a small boat filled with explosives will only take out a watertight compartment or two on the large ship, presumably on the less desirable lower decks where you won't find the high valued targets doing deals up on the lido deck.
If the terrorists could procure a torpedo, then they might have a chance at sinking the vessel.
Legalities aside, that can be a pretty nasty hunk of ocean. There will be considerable periods of time when that ship will either be maneuvering to ride out a storm, or going someplace else to avoid a storm. A big share of the year it will need to underway just to provide a reasonable amount of stability.
It sounds like someone read the last half of Snow Crash and thought that this was somehow a good idea. Either that, or the Wikipedia article on L. Ron Hubbard, and figured he could get a lot of underage girls that way.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Since they are hacking US immigration law, I can see the Coast Guard taking a dim view on rescuing such people.
My Coast Guard friends would take that as quite an insult. These people risk their lives to help others on a regular basis--they don't deserve to have such petty motives attributed to them.
Wonderful. We have relatively loose and liberal immigration laws, and already have tons of foreigners coming into the country to take jobs. Not just farming or service job labor, but even taking technical jobs and thus keeping wages low for Americans. Not to mention the job shortages of a weak economy. Now we have someone announcing plans to further erode what little imagined protection American workers have.
I'm sure I've offended someone who thinks that the United States just has to open its boarders to everything even though other nations protect themselves from the same problems, and thus will soon be modded down so my voice is silenced. After all, even the governor of Texas wants to charge lower tuition to illegal aliens (meaning criminals, look up illegal) than to honest tax paying Americans from other states, even though the illegals couldn't legally work in his state after getting an education! But consider that there just might be some valid reasons for a sound and balanced immigration and work visa program and don't applaud everyone who wants to circumvent it.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Because it is in international waters, which means the US is not obligated to take care of them. Since they are hacking US immigration law, I can see the Coast Guard taking a dim view on rescuing such people.
They aren't hacking US immigration law, they are working within the law. The USA wouldn't care one way or another if 100 rich entrepreneurs want to take up residence in a cruise ship 15 miles off the coast as long as they follow their visa restrictions.
The USCG is going to rescue them no matter what. Do you really think that the USA will turn a blind eye while pirates attack a ship off our shores? The bad publicity alone would make that politically impossible. Can you imagine news helicopters circling around the sinking ship, filming passengers crying out for help, while a coast guard cutter floats nearby, only there to mop up any oil leaks and pick up debris before it hits the US coast?
I suspect the OP meant coding gulag, where you won't own anything you develop, essentially a code sweatshop.
Good luck getting off that boat for the promised visits to the US if the US authorities decide they don't like the
activities going on out there, or simply become suspicious of the place being uses a an industrial espionage platform
with all the trips back and forth to "conferences" etc.
Just because its 12 miles off shore doesn't put it outside of the US Economic Exclusion Zone, which covers far more than fisheries and oil production these days.
Then there is the maintenance issue. A boat is a hole in the water into which you throw money. A big boat is a big hole.
It has to be maintained, generators must run, bilges must be pumped. Laundry, kitchens, telecoms. Its expensive.
A captain and crew must be onboard 24/7 in case of the emergency, storms, or whatever.
Since the developers are cooped up on board 24/7 you would be occasionally entertained, exercised as well. I can't see this being
a fun place to work. The possibility of abuse, is high, and who do you appeal to? How do you get paid?
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
The navy spent years figuring out how to refuel and transfer high-value parts between two ships at sea. But they don't transfer large cargo containers, which these people would need to do in order to feed 600+ developers, staff and crew.
And then there's the garbage issue. You can't just dump garbage over the side any more. You need to package it up and bring it back to port when you return. Oh. Wait. These people can't dock the ship anywhere, because hardly anyone on board will have a visa. So they need to move a container full of trash across to the resupply ship, too.
This was a dumb idea in 2005, and it's still dumb today.