"We pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of Piracy, and to the torrent files for which it stands, one Nation under grog, barely visible, with free movies and music for aarrrr." Sound crazy? Well this may be the very vow that children of a future island nation recite in unison every morning, if an organization called the FreeNation Foundation achieves its ultimate goal of statehood. Originally established as sort of a political wing for Swedish torrent tracker The Pirate Bay during its brief attempt to purchase the micronation of Sealand, the FNF has branched off to become an independent body bent on founding "a new society based on the ideals of freedom, equality and sustainable growth." Although the Sealand takeover plan quickly went south due to a lack of interest by its current owners and the fact that it is "too small and aesthetically displeasing to support such a goal," the FNF membership's taste for a country to call their own remained. It all sounds very romantic and American Revolution-esque, but what really seems to be going on here is that a group of disaffected netizens want to create their own socialist state wherein laws of intellectual property protection don't apply -- a digital utopia for some, a potential nightmare for others. According to the site Zeropaid, the most likely candidate for purchase at the moment is an island called Ile de Caille off the northern coast of Grenada, whose 400 tropical acres would presumably provide a safe haven for proponents of communal property. To their credit, the founding members of FNF do seem to be concerned with more than just the ability to download "Baby Geniuses 2" without repercussions; in fact, forums have been set up to discuss every aspect of building a real nation-state, from law to politics to economic policies. All well and good, and we're glad that these people have more on their minds than just watching Entourage day in and day out, but it seems that this whole effort is somewhat of a waste of time; after all -- as we saw earlier today -- there's already at least one pirate-friendly country in existence which is quite proud of the fact that its burgeoning IT industry was built on a foundation of bootleg floppies and Windows 95 CD's.

Read- Zeropaid [Via Digg]
Read- FNF website

While Sweden (and Russia, to name a few) has long been a country of choice when it came to hosting less-than-upstanding websites, the head honchos around the globe looking out for their precious content have somehow reached The Pirate Bay, and now the popular torrent tracking site is eying the micronation of Sealand as a safe haven for its dubious hosting needs. Sealand, which is loosely claimed as a principality, features its own flag, coat of arms, currency, stamps, passports, and most importantly, a quasi-coat of armor from any nation's laws. Although the background of 5,920-square foot man-made installation off the shore of Suffolk, England is quite remarkable, TPB sees its two massive columns as a perfect place for future hosting duties. Formerly the home of HavenCo, an off-shore hosting company that housed gambling sites, money transferring liaisons, and any other operation looking for internet freedom, Sealand could be a potential sanctuary from the claws of the RIAA, MPAA, and other content "owners." Although a principality can't legally (saywha?) be "sold," the family in possession of it recently began accepting offers "upwards of eight figures" for a transfer of ownership after (quite literally) holding down the fort since 1967, and while we highly doubt a fundraiser can scrape up that kind of loot anytime soon, nor do we believe it'd stop the barrage of content guardians, we must say the location looks like an excellent place to just get away from it all (including lawyers) -- if only for awhile.

[Thanks, iamsoinsane, photo courtesy Kim Gilmour]