Zan replied to me:
This starship is obviously an ELINT gathering platform, hiding behind
technicalities of interstellar law -- any starship needs communications
and sensors, and not every voyage has to turn a profit.
Neat idea.
I wonder what the rules are, and what actually happens in practice?
Note that it is unstreamlined, and depdendent on shuttles to get down to
the planet. Is high orbit within the "territorial waters" (see below)?
Much like how a police officer can get away with knocking out a tail
light, then citing the driver for driving without a tail light.
If that happens regularly where you live, you should elect another
government ASAP.
And Roger replied to Zan:
I wonder what the rules are, and what actually happens in practice?
Well, back in the day, the Soviets would keep their "trawlers" on the
high seas to avoid any question of this - no navy gets to board
foreign ships outside its own territorial waters. The only question is
what counts as "territorial waters" for a specific campaign.
Not just the Soviets. Did you notice the recent news reports about
Russian bombers near the UK airspace? Compare this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_navigation#United_States_.22Freedom_of_Navigation.22_program
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alster_%28A_50%29
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan_Island_incident
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