Those clever dudes at (the ever amusing) Pirate Bay - the Swedish file sharing website - have had some bitter legal encounters with the record industry, including being closed down by Swedish authorities.

Those clever dudes at (the ever amusing) Pirate Bay - the Swedish file sharing website - have had some bitter legal encounters with the record industry, including being closed down by Swedish authorities.

But the Pirates have also had some amusing victories, for example by registering the domain www.ifpi.com   (apparently the International Federation of Pirate Industries NOT the International Federation of Phonographic Industries according to the Pirates) and claiming that they hadn't received any take down notices from Prince for alleged piracy as their "spam filters dealt with such matters".

The Pirates have now turned to the declaration of an independent state in order to escape further legal troubles. This appears to be a rather hopeless attempt to avoid further criminal and civil liabilities particularly as the site they wish to base their 'state' in is Sealand, an old British sea fort twelve miles off the coast. The basic criteria for a sovereign state are under the principles of international law (the Montevideo Convention) it must meet with four conditions: (i) territory (ii) a regular population (iii) a government and (iv) international relations with other countries.

The Pirates have yet to acquire Sealand but face a rather daunting prospect as the seafort is basically (a) uninhabited and (b) within UK territorial waters and (c) not recognised by any other state.