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Comment by PoachedSausage | Hacker News Reader

It is surprising that there haven't been any more incursions by either government or privateers given that it seems its only guarded by one person at any time.

I wonder what state the concrete caissons are in. Maybe the sea will reclaim Sealand in the end as it probably will not be easy or cheap to repair.

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It isn't worth any government doing anything about so long as they don't do the types of things that a pirate would want to do. Thus it isn't interesting for pirates as it doesn't really give them anything more and a fixed location is a liability.

Indeed. And I imagine the political cost of taking it over is low, and as a starting place for an extralegal operation, the value of it is high.

Presuming Sealand continues to be understood as outside the UK's jurisdiction, I imagine the right motivated investor could actually expand Sealand into a larger artificial body.

A bit of "legal realism" here: if someone takes over Sealand and starts expanding it and doing anything the UK doesn't like, they will simply put a stop to it. International law only matters insofar as other nations are willing to use it, and nobody will care enough about Sealand.

Sure, but to what extent could they operate without upsetting the UK? Some tax-free tourism? Probably get away with it. Running some sort of Epcot/Sidewalk Labs-esque experimental town on "land" nobody cares about... probably also workable.

As long as it doesn't pose a danger to the UK and isn't distinctly criminal in nature, it's probably not going to get much attention.

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