Floating DataHaven
William Knowles <erehwon@c2.org>
Something that I thought would make an excellent data haven would be older offshore oil platforms, [...] You have to wonder how cheap these could sell for just to get them off the oil companies hands?
A floating DataHaven is probably the way to get the ultimate in freedom. There is someone on Anguilla that bought a used floating oil platform for $1 million. It is big enough for 200 people to live on. It is not here, so I have not seen it. There is someone else here who says that there are some really old ones that you can get just for hauling them away. Some countries will not let owners just sink them. You can get Internet via radio links for reasonable prices. And via satellite for almost affordable prices. When Bill Gates 900 satellites get up there it should be very affordable. -- Vince ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Vincent Cate vince@offshore.com.ai http://www.offshore.com.ai/vince/ Offshore Information Services http://www.offshore.com.ai/
In the September 1996 Yahoo! Internet Life, page 11, Spencer Reiss writes of Vince Cate:
But his true dream is to take his whole set-up really offshore. "It would be interesting to have a nice big boat to travel around on," he says. "You know, the prices for satellite transmitters are really coming down. There's no real reason to be anywhere, anymore."
-- Vince ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Vincent Cate vince@offshore.com.ai http://www.offshore.com.ai/vince/ Offshore Information Services http://www.offshore.com.ai/
What about pirate attacks, acts of war from hostile countries etc.? Actually, also being a sovereign state won't help much if you are small, and I'm not referring to obvious dope-smuggling fronts like Noriega's Panama: in the fifties, the 700-year old Republic of San Marino cancelled plans of opening a casino after Italy sealed its border (the only border San Marino has). Enzo On Thu, 15 Aug 1996, Vincent Cate wrote:
William Knowles <erehwon@c2.org>
Something that I thought would make an excellent data haven would be older offshore oil platforms, [...] You have to wonder how cheap these could sell for just to get them off the oil companies hands?
A floating DataHaven is probably the way to get the ultimate in freedom.
There is someone on Anguilla that bought a used floating oil platform for $1 million. It is big enough for 200 people to live on. It is not here, so I have not seen it.
There is someone else here who says that there are some really old ones that you can get just for hauling them away. Some countries will not let owners just sink them.
You can get Internet via radio links for reasonable prices. And via satellite for almost affordable prices. When Bill Gates 900 satellites get up there it should be very affordable.
-- Vince
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Vincent Cate vince@offshore.com.ai http://www.offshore.com.ai/vince/ Offshore Information Services http://www.offshore.com.ai/
Vincent Cate wrote:
You can get Internet via radio links for reasonable prices. And via satellite for almost affordable prices. When Bill Gates 900 satellites get up there it should be very affordable.
... if a tad unrealiable? The thought of 900 satelites in low orbit, all running NT, makes me shudder. Brings a new meaning to the expression "OS crash". What are cypherpunks thoughts on this? Who really believes it'll work? Doesn't the low orbit part mean that the satellites will have a low life expectancy, meaning a new launch every couple of days? (where's Gerald Bull when you need him - oh yes, now I remember ...) Gary -- pub 1024/C001D00D 1996/01/22 Gary Howland <gary@systemics.com> Key fingerprint = 0C FB 60 61 4D 3B 24 7D 1C 89 1D BE 1F EE 09 06 ^S ^A^Aoft FAT filesytem is extremely robust, ^Mrarely suffering from^T^T
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, On Fri, 16 Aug 1996, Gary Howland wrote:
Doesn't the low orbit part mean that the satellites will have a low life expectancy, meaning a new launch every couple of days?
"Low orbit" is used in a relative sense as compared to satellites in geosynchronous orbit. The Teledesic satellites will orbit in the 700km range--hundreds of kilometers above the wispy highest reaches of earth's astmosphere. At that height, there will be virtually no difference in orbital decay from that of geosynchronous birds. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vincent Cate wrote:
You can get Internet via radio links for reasonable prices. And via satellite for almost affordable prices. When Bill Gates 900 satellites get up there it should be very affordable.
... if a tad unrealiable?
The thought of 900 satelites in low orbit, all running NT, makes me shudder. Brings a new meaning to the expression "OS crash".
What are cypherpunks thoughts on this? Who really believes it'll work?
Doesn't the low orbit part mean that the satellites will have a low life expectancy, meaning a new launch every couple of days? (where's Gerald Bull when you need him - oh yes, now I remember ...)
The Iridium Project was pretty neat in this respect. I don't know what is happenning with it as of now. It had some 230+ satellites, and some smart routing techniques, if a satellite goes down. Vipul vipul@pobox.com
On Thu, 15 Aug 1996, Vincent Cate wrote:
William Knowles <erehwon@c2.org>
Something that I thought would make an excellent data haven would be older offshore oil platforms, [...] You have to wonder how cheap these could sell for just to get them off the oil companies hands?
A floating DataHaven is probably the way to get the ultimate in freedom.
Disagree strongly. Unless you were willing to arm the platfom (a proposition which aproaches the feasibility of say SPECTER in James Bond films) you are much more vulnerable.
There is someone on Anguilla that bought a used floating oil platform for $1 million. It is big enough for 200 people to live on. It is not here, so I have not seen it.
There is someone else here who says that there are some really old ones that you can get just for hauling them away. Some countries will not let owners just sink them.
You can get Internet via radio links for reasonable prices. And via satellite for almost affordable prices. When Bill Gates 900 satellites get up there it should be very affordable.
-- Vince
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Vincent Cate vince@offshore.com.ai http://www.offshore.com.ai/vince/ Offshore Information Services http://www.offshore.com.ai/
-- I hate lightning - finger for public key - Vote Monarchist unicorn@schloss.li
participants (6)
-
Black Unicorn -
Enzo Michelangeli -
Gary Howland -
Sandy Sandfort -
Vincent Cate -
Vipul Ved Prakash