One of the world鈥檚 most popular websites for finding music, movies and software for illegal download could buy its own 鈥渋sland鈥� in a bid to avoid copyright laws.
The controversial website 鈥� www.thepiratebay.org 鈥� is currently based in Sweden. It was shut down by police in May 2006 but reopened using servers in the Netherlands before returning to Sweden in June 2006.
On Friday, those behind the Pirate Bay established a new website 鈥� www.buysealand.com. This hosts discussion forums and aims to secure donations in order to buy Sealand, a former British naval platform 10 kilometres from the eastern coast of Britain.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 not only about Pirate Bay, it鈥檚 more about having a nation with no copyright laws,鈥� says one of those behind the site, who gave his name only as Peter.
鈥極ld ideas鈥�
The owners of Sealand proclaimed it to be a principality in the 1960s, and claim that it operates its own rule of law. However, no other country recognises it as such.
Those behind the Pirate Bay are apparently undeterred by Sealand鈥檚 two-billion-dollar price tag, an amount described as a 鈥渟how price鈥� by the prospective purchasers. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 get enough money for Sealand we are going to try for a small island somewhere,鈥� Peter says. 鈥淎ll countries today are based on the old economy and old ideas and we want to do something new.鈥�
In 2000, the owners of Sealand established a company called HavenCo, to operate a private 鈥渄ata haven鈥� from the fort. This firm offered to host and protect any material apart from child pornography or information relating to spamming, computer hacking or international terrorism.
The Pirate Bay provides a way to search for BitTorrent files, which provide a quick and efficient way to download large files, including entire movies. Each downloader shares many pieces of the original file with other downloaders. The site claims to attract about 1.5 million users throughout the world every day.
In 2005, the Swedish government passed a law banning the sharing of copyrighted material online without the payment of royalties, in a bid to crack down on unrestricting downloading of music, films and software. Sharing copyrighted files carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison in Sweden.
