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Sealand Evolves From Offshore Platform to High-Tech Haven

Aired June 12, 2000 - 6:27 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: A new country has emerged that is small in size and short on Internet regulations, which may make it a big hit in cyberspace.

CNN's Tom Mintier reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From above, the principality of Sealand looks like an oil platform bobbing in the North Sea. It does not look like an independent nation. But it certainly acts like one.

After you make the six-mile helicopter flight to Sealand, you are searched and your passport is stamped. Sealand served as a World War II anti-aircraft platform for the British.

PRINCE ROY BATES, PRINCIPALITY OF SEALAND: This used to house 200 men during the war, you know.

MINTIER (on camera): Two hundred?

(voice-over): The guns are still here, rusted bits of steel, but the owners of the platform and self-proclaimed royal family are 78- year-old Roy Bates and his wife Joan, prince and princess of Sealand. This is the Sealand flag. Here's the currency, Sealand dollars, on par with the U.S. dollar.

Prince Roy, a retired British army major, says it's all legal. He says he's English after all, and believes in the rule of law.

BATES: A lot of rather illegal ideas were put forward to me with illegal money, too, because there is quite a lot of that in the world, isn't there?

MINTIER: Everything from money laundering to drug-running, says Bates. He has not, however, ruled out gambling or a casino. The Bates lived here for more than 30 years, raised a family, and are now retired. The rusting offshore platform has recently been reborn as an offshore computer platform.

(on camera): The main attraction of the principality of Sealand is not so much its location, but its simplicity. The fact that it has a very small government in a very small location. SEAN HASTINGS, CEO, HAVENCO: I wanted to have a situation where I could sit down with the whole government, the people that could make the decisions for a whole jurisdiction, and say, this is what we need to do to attract electronic business.

MINTIER (voice-over): Here on Sealand, this is the government -- Prince Roy and Princess Joan. There are few rules here, but they do exist. No bulk e-mailers allowed. No child pornography.

Sealand is claimed by the Bates to be sovereign territory. For decades, when the Bates lived here, there was no electricity, no telephone. The Bates no longer live here. It is now the high-tech residence for computers linked by satellite, a place where some companies who depend on computer power have chosen to hide.

Tom Mintier, CNN, on the principality of Sealand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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