In the Market for a Lawless Man-Made Island?

• By Liam Eagle on January 12, 2007

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Never a dull moment in Sealand, it seems.

The Times reported this week that the 6,000 square-foot abandoned gun tower located in Europe's North Sea, occupied and declared sovereign in 1967 by British war veteran Roy Bates - was for sale.

No doubt it's the nature of the thing that invites dramatic results. A lawless "nation" the size of a very large house located outside the jurisdiction of any larger, more established country is the kind of thing that gets outlaws salivating over the devious possibilities.

One possibility was the "offshore data haven," which was realized by the company HavenCo in 2000. HavenCo set up a colocation facility on the platform, suggesting that international copyright and intellectual property laws did not apply, or were not enforced, in this particular country. Legal problems, uptime issues and other complications plagued the company, which appeared by 2003 to be coming apart.

HavenCo appeared to be in operation as recently as July, when a fire on the platform required one security guard to be rescued by the Royal Air Force. Presumably, he was guarding something.

This morning, BoingBoing.net pointed out that Pirate Bay, a torrent tracking site that, judging by the name, just might be up to some illicit activity of its own, is working on a plan to buy Sealand. It set up the BuySealand.com site, and is offering citizenship to anyone who donates money to the cause.

If it fails to raise the Sealand asking price, Pirate Bay has other plans:

"Plan B: If we do not get enough money required to buy the micronation of Sealand, we will try to buy another small island somwhere and claim it as our own country (prices start from USD 50 000)."

It's probably worth pointing out that the reason Sealand's sovereignty has never really been challenged is the fact that it operates well under the British government's radar. I'm sure in the 60s, letting a crazy man live on an abandoned platform and refer to himself as a "prince" probably seemed a lot easier than, you know, going to get him.

And by the sounds of it, HavenCo was so poorly and unreliably run that it never mounted much of a credible threat to liberty and justice around the world.

I'm sure the day somebody sets up a noticeably illegal operation on Sealand, the British government will pretty quickly demonstrate the extent of Sealand's "sovereignty" (note: the extent is zero).

Anyhow, I'd better spend all these Sealand dollars before the country closes down.

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