Entrepreneur proposes offshore Napster clone

In this story: Sealand sought as refuge RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Richard Stenger
CNN.com Writer

(CNN) -- A young Canadian entrepreneur hopes to circumvent U.S. litigation that threatens to kill the Napster song-sharing system by setting up a version of the service offshore.

A series of federal court orders all but doomed Napster last week in its legal battle against the music recording industry.

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But Matt Goyer thinks a clone of the popular Internet service based in a quasi-independent "principality" would allow Napster users to continue free song trading without restrictions.

"I think there are enough irate Napster users out to chip in to fund an offshore Napster that couldn't be touched by the U.S. government," Goyer said.

Napster, hoping to stop a federal judge from closing it down, attempted over the weekend to install filters to prevent users from swapping copyrighted songs on its service.

"I think Napster has caved in, but from a business point it was the right decision. It would have been a long and hard battle to the Supreme Court," said Goyer, a student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

Sealand sought as refuge

Goyer, 21, has his sights set on Sealand, a deserted military base in the North Sea. The self-proclaimed Prince Roy founded the Principality of Sealand in 1967 after a litigious revolution from Britain.

His princedom is a World War II gun fortress that resembles an oil platform. His raison d'Ítre: to establish the first "data haven" for corporations seeking a safe place to harbor their digital secrets from snooping governments.

Goyer will appeal to Internet users to raise a $15,000 investment fund so he can set up shop in Sealand.

Last year the computer science major and some partners started FairTunes.com, an online "tip cup" where Napster users can voluntarily leave money for musicians whose songs they digitally copied.

So far guilt-ridden Napsterites have sent in $7,000. FairTunes.com sends the money to various artists.

"We sent Metallica a check for only $3, but they cashed it," Goyer said.

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