{"id":1601,"date":"2013-04-03T15:12:40","date_gmt":"2013-04-03T15:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=1601"},"modified":"2020-06-04T20:54:02","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T20:54:02","slug":"silicon-valleys-floating-counterpart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/silicon-valleys-floating-counterpart\/","title":{"rendered":"Silicon Valley\u2019s Floating Counterpart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, April 3, 2013, by Tasneem Dharamsi<br \/>\nNot only is the United States is a desirable place to be for individuals, but it is also a desirable place for companies to take root.\u00a0 In the tech world, Silicon Valley is the place to be for entrepreneurs attempting to make their fortunes.\u00a0 Interestingly, some of the world\u2019s most influential companies like Google, Intel, and Yahoo! were founded by immigrants in Silicon Valley.\u00a0 Indeed, as Vivek Wadhwa, author of \u201cThe Immigrant Exodus: Why America Is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent\u201d stated in a recent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/la-fi-high-seas-immigration-20130313,0,4462254.story\">article<\/a> in the LA Times, immigrants have historically been considered the \u201clifeblood of Silicon Valley.\u201d\u00a0 Unfortunately for these entrepreneurs and for a country whose economy depends on growth of the high-tech industry, it may be difficult for these innovative immigrants to get visas.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif\">Marty and Mutbdzija believe that by founding Blueseed, they will be able to reduce the hindrance caused by the difficult-to-procure work visa while also providing foreign and domestic entrepreneurs with a unique environment where they can exchange ideas and information with other entrepreneurs with whom they live and work.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To solve the problem, Max Marty and Dario Mutabdzija created <a href=\"http:\/\/blueseed.co\/\">Blueseed<\/a>.\u00a0 Blueseed is a large ship that will provide office and living space to foreign and American entrepreneurs seeking to pioneer successful high-tech startup companies.\u00a0 Marty and Mutbdzija believe that by founding Blueseed, they will be able to reduce the hindrance caused by the difficult-to-procure work visa while also providing foreign and domestic entrepreneurs with a unique environment where they can exchange ideas and information with other entrepreneurs with whom they live and work.<br \/>\nAccording to the Blueseed website, the ship will be parked <a href=\"http:\/\/blueseed.co\/faq\/#location\">12 nautical miles<\/a> off the coast of Northern California.\u00a0 The basic living space and office space package is estimated to start at a reasonable $1,200\/person\/month.\u00a0 This price, as Blueseed <a href=\"http:\/\/blueseed.co\/faq\/#cost\">points out<\/a>, is much cheaper than living in San Francisco, where a studio apartment and an office space for one might cost around $3000.\u00a0 \u00a0Blueseed also guarantees, among other accommodations, internet access, a full service 24-hour gym, and transport to mainland at least once a day.<br \/>\nMarty and Mutabdzija met while at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seasteading.org\/\">The Seasteading Institute<\/a>.\u00a0 Seasteading, the idea of creating sovereign nations in the form of floating platforms on which people can live and work, is promoted by those at the Institute.\u00a0 The Institute states that it\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seasteading.org\/about\/visionstrategy\/\">goal<\/a> is to \u201cenable seasteading communities\u2014floating cities\u2014which will allow the next generation of pioneers to peacefully test new ideas for government.\u201d<br \/>\nWhile The Seasteading Institute and Blueseed might be on to something, parking a large vessel off the coast of a country might raise some legal issues.\u00a0 Although Blueseed states that the United States Convention on the Law of the Sea Part II allows vessels to be located or move through a state\u2019s Contiguous Zone, 12 to 24 miles off the coast, with a few conditions, nuanced legal issues will undoubtedly be raised after Blueseed is launched.\u00a0 But Blueseed and other seasteaders might have the foundation of Supreme Court jurisprudence protecting them. The Court found in Lozman v. The City of Riviera Beach that the definition of a vessel does not include residential structures and are not subject to all admiralty laws.\u00a0 This may be a win for seasteaders and for Blueseed, as their floating platforms or ships may not be considered vessels either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, April 3, 2013, by Tasneem Dharamsi Not only is the United States is a desirable place to be for individuals, but it is also a desirable place for companies to take root.\u00a0 In the tech world, Silicon Valley is the place to be for entrepreneurs attempting to make their fortunes.\u00a0 Interestingly, some of the <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/silicon-valleys-floating-counterpart\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7604,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1601\/revisions\/7604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}