Weekend Fun: Become A Citizen Of WaterWorld!

This is so insane that we had to let you guys in on it…

It appears the “owners” of this independent “country”, that looks more like it was part of the WaterWorld movie set than a full fledged country, have offered it up for sale via Inmonaranja, a concern from Spain that specializes in selling islands.


The former anti-aircraft platform, built by Britain during World War II, lies seven miles off the Essex coast. It was abandoned until the 1960s when retired Army major Paddy Roy Bates took over the 10,000 sq ft platform and declared it the independent nation of Sealand. It now has its own flag, passports, currency and stamps.


At the time of Bate’s declaration, the platform was beyond the then three-mile limit of British territorial waters. However, all this changed in 1987, when the UK extended its territorial waters from three to 12 miles, and now the legitimacy of Sealand is up for discussion. The UK does not recognize the sovereignty of Sealand.


Now Here’s The Kicker: An internet firm called Pirate Bay wants to buy it! They want to set up their own pirate country where torrent file-sharing, porn and other “freedoms” can exist “without being hassled by The Man.” They are seeking donations to buy the “country” – each donator automatically becomes a citizen – so together they can liberate the Internet. Inmonaranja, has put a price tag of €750 Million (£504m) on Sealand. It is not known what happens to the donations, if they don’t reach the asking price. In addition, just because you illegally file-share via Sealand, it does not make you immune from copyright infringement lawsuits.


To date, Head of State Michael Bates, son of Paddy, has weathered an attempt by the Royal Navy to evict them, and a mission by a group of German and Dutch businessmen to seize control of the platform by force. However, I think the staff at Futuremusic can take them with a little help from Head Smoker, Dennis Hopper…Arrrrrgh!!

If we takeover, we promise to throw a Wild Angels Theme Party, and put all the morons who donated cash to Pirate Bay on the Comp List. Here’s our credo:

“We want to be free! We want to be free to do what we want to do! We want to be free to ride. And we want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by The Man. And we want to get loaded. And we want to have a good time! And that’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna have a good time. We’re gonna have a party!”

Author: FutureMusic

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