From: Vincent Cate <vince@offshore.com.ai>
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 23:08:00 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Anguilla - legal action or lack thereof
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.91.960814072543.12056A-100000@offshore>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.960814075142.12075B-100000@offshore>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM <dlv@bwalk.dm.com>
> 
> "Greg Kucharo" <sophi@best.com> writes:
> >   While Tim may be right that nobility is lost when backing down to the
> > authorities, the fact is that this game has little to do with noble
> > purposes. ...
> 
> Nor was there any activity from the authorities.

There were activity from the authorities.  They had copies of the article
and were very concerned about it and calling around asking people who knew
me about this.  They have not started any legal action about this. 
However, my work permit is up for renewal.  They would not ever have to
take legal action to shut me down, just decide not to renew my work
permit, and I would have to leave the island. 

My lawyer says it is illegal to sell fake passports in Anguilla. So
defending this guy could easily have been a fight to my death as an
Anguilla ISP.  Not defending him means he relocates to another ISP. This
is the Internet guys, relocating a domain is not such a big deal. 
Taxbomber is using it as a reason for publicity, but he lost no email and
his web pages were not down long.  Remember regulatory arbitrage.  If one
country does not want something, there are other countries. 

I am going to apply for a 3 year work permit next time (they only gave out
1 year ones till very recently - since I applied).  Assuming I get this,
I will be in a somewhat more secure position.

   --  Vince

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Vincent Cate   vince@offshore.com.ai  http://www.offshore.com.ai/vince/
Offshore Information Services         http://www.offshore.com.ai/