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Wikileaks to move to Sealand?

As an fan of geopolitical anomalies, I was excited to see this Mashable item suggesting that WikiLeaks might move its servers to the Principality of Sealand, the 6,000 square foot former British military installation in the North Sea that since 1968 has been "ruled" as a sovereign nation by the highly entertaining Prince Roy Bates ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
631579_sealand_0.jpg
631579_sealand_0.jpg

As an fan of geopolitical anomalies, I was excited to see this Mashable item suggesting that WikiLeaks might move its servers to the Principality of Sealand, the 6,000 square foot former British military installation in the North Sea that since 1968 has been "ruled" as a sovereign nation by the highly entertaining Prince Roy Bates and his family. Unfortunately, the Fox News story the item is based on seems purely speculative. And a Sealand URL still wouldn't protect any of WikiLeaks' operators from prosecution.

As an fan of geopolitical anomalies, I was excited to see this Mashable item suggesting that WikiLeaks might move its servers to the Principality of Sealand, the 6,000 square foot former British military installation in the North Sea that since 1968 has been "ruled" as a sovereign nation by the highly entertaining Prince Roy Bates and his family. Unfortunately, the Fox News story the item is based on seems purely speculative. And a Sealand URL still wouldn’t protect any of WikiLeaks’ operators from prosecution.

But, as Mashable notes, this isn’t the first time Sealand has been discussed as a possible data haven: 

Sealand did house the data hosting company HavenCo between 2000 and 2008, before operations ceased for unknown reasons. In 2008, according to Security and the Net, the file-sharing site PirateBay campaigned for donations to purchase Sealand and live in a “copyright-free nation.”

In other news, Sealand is currently "in talks" about forming a national rugby team. It must be a pain to get the ball back if it goes out of bounds. 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

Tag: Cyber Security & Hacking

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