At 1:00 AM 9/19/95, Jim Choate wrote:
ObCypherpunks Relevance: A couple of past or current list members have nascent Internet plans in some of these islands. (I think one of them is way south, just off Venezuela.)
I suspect "Caribbean Data Havens" and "Internet Sites" are further off than they were a few months ago.
Satellite dishes and a steady supply of gasoline via a couple of tankers would make such an operation completely portable. A more ideal solution would be to moore a ship in international waters (wasn't some group wanting to do this for 'humanitarian' reasons or somesuch?).
Sure, there are possible fixes to the various problems. I'm not saying the Caribbean will shut down, only that this will likely increase operating costs, in at least some of the areas, and will frighten off some investors. Human nature. The model need not be physical sites in these locales, of course. But even maintaining a business office in some of these locales will be a hassle. (This is where I expect the usual folks will jump in and shout "On the contrary!" Note however, how few of them actually live in St. Barts, or Anguilla, or Curacao, or the Bahamas.) --Tim May ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."