Dear Robert, Thanks for this post on Seagold.net.
It happens that I met a gentleman at this year's Eris Society conference in Aspen who was promoting a very similar service. Based on my review of both web sites, it looks like the same guy. While my acquaintance with him was brief, and I don't have his permission to use his name on public lists, he comported himself as a gentleman. The interesting point that Seagold.net offers secure web-mail from Sealand is not to be overlooked. I believe the first mover advantage in this industry is held by Hushmail.com which operates from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, I think. As Canada cooperates in the UKUSA treaty organization which, among other things manages the ECHELON database system and the ELINT/SIGINT sysems which collect for that database, there is a bit of a worry there. Another competitor of which I've heard mostly good things is MailVault.com. It was one of the software projects which grew out of the Laissez Faire City project. My only direct experience of secure e-mail with an early version of MailVault was a bad one. My business associate Michael van Notten had set up an account with them when he was at the LF City headquarters in Costa Rica in 1999. To my shock, then City Clerk "Jack Freeman" not only read Michael's e-mails, but actually had the temerity to reply to one of the messages I had sent Michael, putting his comments over his own name and .sig. When I confronted "Freeman" on this matter, he was not apologetic.
the Principality of Sealand, outside the jurisdiction of any government on earth!
Technically false. Sealand has its own government, which is principled and well-conceived. However, much depends on the future princes who rule there. While I have utmost respect for Prince Roy and his son Crown Prince Michael, it is certainly in the realm of possibility that a future prince might be a tyrant.
* Encrypt messages with pass phrases using PGP or GPG
Has the matter of keyboarding passwords been addressed? I think the Secure Keyboard found on the use.e-gold.com log-in page and similar techniques (see 1MDC.com and Pecunix.com) to safeguard against keystroke loggers are well conceived.
where there will never be a Carnivore
Never, as mentioned above, is a very long time.
* Chat securely using 128-bit SSL encryption
Cool.
* Secure Message Boards
Cool. I've seen exactly one implementation of a PGP encrypted e-mail discussion list. Very well done by Randall of Randallsquared.com.
* Protect your privacy with 100% anonymous accounts
Intriguing.
* Seagold accepts e-gold for payment and pays commissions in e-gold.
Well, that sort of blows the anonymity function. We know of Securities Exchange Commission agents eating bagels in the e-gold offices in Melbourne, Florida while reviewing account histories gathered under subpoena from a Julian Dibbell essay in Wired magazine. Jan 2002, I think.
the Principality of Sealand near London,
It is much closer to Felixstowe. It is fair to point out that Sealand has been conquered three times in recent history. Two adults (Prince Roy and a friend) and one fourteen year old youth (Crown Prince Michael) went aboard the abandoned anti-aircraft platform in 1967 or so, and took it from a couple of squatters for use as a "pirate" radio transmitting station during the height of the free market radio operations. (Since shut down by the 1982 Law of the Sea.) According to Erwin "Filthy Pierre" Strauss's book _How to Start Your Own Country_, Sealand was conquered in the late 1970s by a group from Germany who were recently maintaining a web site claiming ownership. This German group kidnapped Crown Prince Michael and held him hostage on the platform. Not long after, Prince Roy organized and implemented a counter-attack, seizing the platform and kidnappers. I gather from the accounts I've read that there were no deaths on any of these occasions. While I think very highly of Sealand as a location, and a place to do business, and am involved in finding ways to expand its physical structure, it does seem fair to point out that a commando team of Her Majesty's Special Air Service would make short work of taking the platform. I believe that the servers there would be destroyed in the attack, but that's not necessarily best for the data haven's users.
Seagold is run by an international business company, BRHS, Ltd., domiciled in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Nifty. It would be fun to know who the creative minds behind it are, and whether they have a background working for any 3-letter agencies in Washington, DC.
It is 100% Microsoft-free.
Excellent.
Seagold is a completely international operation, of the Internet, by the Internet, and for the Internet.
The free market rules!
Wishing you Peace, Prosperity and Privacy,
Which necessarily require private property. Regards, Jim http://cambist.net/ --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
