I think Jim's talking about The Principality of Sealand - http://www.sealandgov.com/. It was an old weapons platform during WWII (built in international waters by the British and then abandoned after the war). English major Paddy Roy Bates occupied it in late 1967 and declared it The Principality of Sealand.
A friend of mine pointed this guy out to me a while back. I hope the international powers that be eventually recognize his little kingdom as a sovereign state. A few things I find interesting are 1) Sealand has a national bank and currency (a buddy actually gave me a Sealand Half Dollar for Christmas a few years ago), 2) England's court system recognizes his kingdom (warning shots were fired at a British Navy ship when they came to take back the platform, Roy was charged with firing on the British military as a British citizen - the court basically ruled they had no jurisdiction on the platform and threw out the charges - legitimizing Roy's claim of sovereignty), 2) Sealand issues passports (fewer than 300 have been issued, but they exist), 3) taken German and Dutch POW's (a work force tried to take over the platform, the Dutch were kept as POW's the German was charged with treason since he had accepted Sealand citizenship). The site is a very interesting read... Like I said, I'm rooting for this guy :-) James > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of michael dolan > Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 6:51 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [brlug-general] your tax dollars at work: > Ashcroft Declares Waron Piracy: AAARRR!!! > > I don't know anything about this, what are you talking about? > Is it something like William Gibson's Data Havens? > > Michael > > Jim Carter wrote: > > > > >Time to move to that oil rig platform data haven thingie off > the coast > >of Scotland. > > > > > >Jim > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net >
