28 ms·

Actually this idea sounds to good to be true. Almost like a geek "The Boat That Rocked", but at the end, immigration or customs could be the pain in the ass for

by cicloid 15y ago

Actually this idea sounds to good to be true. Almost like a geek "The Boat That Rocked", but at the end, immigration or customs could be the pain in the ass for the residents of this ship. Not so much on how feasible it is, but more on the "they will make life hell for the residents on some kind of blacklist". It all depends on the mood of third parties. But actually this is the greatest hack to the immigration laws available.

stcredzero 15y ago
Not so much on how feasible it is, but more on the "they will make life hell for the residents on some kind of blacklist". How so? Wouldn't this be the same as any other cruise ship?
rdl 15y ago
I strongly suspect the ICE people will be relatively favorable toward this -- it's not skirting any of the laws they care about (drugs, terrorism). You can EASILY win the PR battle to say this is creating wealth in the USA. All the ship administrators need to do is run a law abiding California-registered corp on shore which pays all costs for a private dock, etc., and to comply fully with SOLAS, USCG, and such -- allowing inspections freely, and generally being respectful toward the local maritime community. The big issue is going to be whether existing customs/immigration facilities have the kind of hours the blueseed people want; if not, they have to pay for extra federal service. I ran tech ops on Sealand 2000-2002 (which is basically "The Platform That Rocked"), and due to a great relationship with the local pilots and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, there were zero problems with them. This wasn't the case in the 60s/70s, which is why they got treated badly.
- _exec 15y ago
  (Offtopic) Out of curiosity, do you think SeaLand's goal of becoming a datahaven was ever realistic? do you think other datahavens will come up in the future?
  - rdl 15y ago
    Physical datahavens only really have meaning if it gets you associated legal services (payment processing, incorp, legal); once banking is fully virtualized, you can do purely online entities too. So yes, datahavens will happen -- they will just be a mix of strongly-associated-with-physical-jurisdiction things, and virtualized things. The USA is basically a datahaven today for many things, and has been for a while.
    - mrb 15y ago
      Fully virtualized payment processing exists: Bitcoin. In fact, the decentralized and independent currency fits very well the philosophy of micronations like Sealand: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=8475.0 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=8475.0
    - bobds 15y ago
      I would love to read more about Sealand. Any sources you would recommend? Most articles I've stumbled upon weren't very informative.
      - rdl 15y ago
        slashdot had a bunch of things; I did a Q&A there, and maybe 10 other articles got posted. That, the wikipedia article, and the wired article are probably the best overall information.

by cicloid 15y ago

stcredzero 15y ago

Not so much on how feasible it is, but more on the "they will make life hell for the residents on some kind of blacklist". How so? Wouldn't this be the same as any other cruise ship?

rdl 15y ago

I strongly suspect the ICE people will be relatively favorable toward this -- it's not skirting any of the laws they care about (drugs, terrorism). You can EASILY win the PR battle to say this is creating wealth in the USA. All the ship administrators need to do is run a law abiding California-registered corp on shore which pays all costs for a private dock, etc., and to comply fully with SOLAS, USCG, and such -- allowing inspections freely, and generally being respectful toward the local maritime community. The big issue is going to be whether existing customs/immigration facilities have the kind of hours the blueseed people want; if not, they have to pay for extra federal service. I ran tech ops on Sealand 2000-2002 (which is basically "The Platform That Rocked"), and due to a great relationship with the local pilots and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, there were zero problems with them. This wasn't the case in the 60s/70s, which is why they got treated badly.

_exec 15y ago
(Offtopic) Out of curiosity, do you think SeaLand's goal of becoming a datahaven was ever realistic? do you think other datahavens will come up in the future?
- rdl 15y ago
  Physical datahavens only really have meaning if it gets you associated legal services (payment processing, incorp, legal); once banking is fully virtualized, you can do purely online entities too. So yes, datahavens will happen -- they will just be a mix of strongly-associated-with-physical-jurisdiction things, and virtualized things. The USA is basically a datahaven today for many things, and has been for a while.
  - mrb 15y ago
    Fully virtualized payment processing exists: Bitcoin. In fact, the decentralized and independent currency fits very well the philosophy of micronations like Sealand: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=8475.0 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=8475.0
  - bobds 15y ago
    I would love to read more about Sealand. Any sources you would recommend? Most articles I've stumbled upon weren't very informative.
    - rdl 15y ago
      slashdot had a bunch of things; I did a Q&A there, and maybe 10 other articles got posted. That, the wikipedia article, and the wired article are probably the best overall information.