HavenCo, founded in 1999, is a company which operates secure data havens and supporting services. HavenCo is best known for establishing a secure colocation facility on an artificial fortress which was called Roughs Tower constructed by the UK military in the North Sea during World War II. After the war the tower was abandoned by the British, and was later occupied by Paddy Roy Bates, who called it Sealand and claimed it to be an independent principality. Sealand has not been formally recognized by any government in the world, but has been largely left alone by neighboring countries, and the legal status of Sealand continues to be under debate. However, HavenCo Ltd. itself is registered in Cyprus.
HavenCo has been featured on several news programs, the cover of Wired Magazine, and over 200 articles around the world. HavenCo's founders include Ryan Lackey, who left the company in 2003, Sean and Jo Hastings, Avi Freedman (a well-known networking expert), and several others, as well as a close partnership with the royal family of Sealand, especially Prince Michael of Sealand, who is also HavenCo's COO.
HavenCo believes in freedom of information and commerce. HavenCo's Acceptable Use Policy prohibits child pornography, spamming, and malicious hacking. All other content is acceptable. HavenCo has no restrictions on copyright or intellectual property on their servers, arguing that since Sealand is not a member of the World Trade Organization or WIPO, international intellectual property law does not apply to it. Nevertheless, Lackey revealed that after 9/11, the Royal Family avoids appearing as possible supporters of terrorism and blocks initiatives "contrary to international custom and practice" which would devoid HavenCo of its target market. HavenCo has been operational since December 2000, and to date has experienced few difficulties with any foreign government or organization.
In addition to commercial services such as colocation, consulting, and systems administration, HavenCo operates an offshore software development host (similar to Sourceforge), and electronic mail services.
HavenCo bears a great degree of resemblance to Neal Stephenson's fictional datahaven in the novel Cryptonomicon, and various details match up as well -- an investor named Avi, location on an island, affiliation with cypherpunks, impacted wisdom teeth, use of cryptography, etc. However, HavenCo was well underway before the book was public, and the concept of a data haven is a far older idea. The use of small islands as tax havens and flags of convenience is perhaps a hundred years old, and data havens are a logical evolution of that.
HavenCo claims to be one of the few profitable cypherpunk startups. This is primarily due to HavenCo's focus on business clients, rather than services for individuals. In spite of that, as of 2003 its future is unsure.
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