Web rebels profit from net controls

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2115000/2115887.stm

By Alfred Hermida 
BBC News Online technology staff 
9 July, 2002

A crumbling concrete anti-aircraft tower off the east coast of England 
is home to a dot.com venture with a difference. 

The military platform, dubbed Sealand, is the base of internet hosting 
company HavenCo which is bucking the downturn of the dot.com economy. 

The company has been exploiting Sealand's self-proclaimed sovereignty 
to offer an offshore data haven, free of government interference. 

"We believe that people have a right to communicate freely," said Ryan 
Lackey, co-founder of HavenCo. "If they want to operate certain kinds 
of business that don't hurt anybody else, they should be able to do 
so." 

The venture comes at a time when governments across the world are 
tightening controls on the internet. 

New laws both in the US and Europe are giving officials greater powers 
to snoop on online activities. 

Self-styled nation 

Mr Lackey came up with the idea for HavenCo two years ago and started 
looking for somewhere to create an electronic refuge. 

"We looked all around the world for somewhere that would have secure 
internet hosting, outside of government regulation and we could not 
really find any," Mr Lackey told the BBC programme Go Digital. 

In the end, he settled on the self-styled sovereign principality of 
Sealand. 

Britain built the anti-aircraft platform during the Second World War. 

It remained derelict until the 1960s when a retired Army major, Paddy 
Roy Bates, took over the 10,000 square foot platform and declared it 
the independent nation of Sealand. 

At the time, the platform was beyond the then three-mile limit of 
British territorial waters. All this changed in 1987, when the UK 
extended its territorial waters from three to 12 miles. 

Little regulation 

Britain does not recognise the sovereignty of Sealand but this has not 
deterred HavenCo. 

It has installed internet servers on the platform, linked to the 
outside world via satellite links. 

There are few controls on the kind of websites that HavenCo is 
prepared to host. 

"We have a strict policy of three things we prohibit here," explained 
Mr Lackey. "We prohibit child pornography, spamming and hacking from 
our machines to other machines." 

So far many of the sites are online gambling ventures. But a growing 
number of political groups banned in their own countries have turned 
to HavenCo, such as the website of the Tibetan Government in exile. 

"We also permit any sort of free debate about issues whereas a country 
or company might try to censor this or sue you," said Mr Lackey. 

Providing a service to companies or groups who want to keep their data 
secret or publish it on the web without censorship is proving a 
worthwhile enterprise. 

"We've been profitable since the summer of 2001 so from a commercial 
standpoint we can continue forever," said Mr Lackey. 

"Regulations in other countries simply increase demand." 

However, how long HavenCo will escape the attention of the authorities 
is uncertain, with officials insisting that any site hosted on Sealand 
will have to comply with British internet regulations. 



-
ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org

To unsubscribe email majordomo () attrition org with 'unsubscribe isn'
in the BODY of the mail.