On Pirates and Assassins

Implausible as it may sound, I’m currently researching an essay on offshore finance, sovereignty, and data piracy. I’m talking HavenCo, Pirate Bay, and the RBN. And while trawling through some essays and pamphlets, I came across the following nuggets in Hakim Bey‘s pamphlet on The Temporary Autonomous Zone:

‘The sea-rovers and corsairs of the 18th century created an “information network” that spanned the globe: primitive and devoted primarily to grim business, the net nevertheless functioned admirably.’ (link)

‘The medieval Assasains founded a “State” which consisted of a network of remote mountain valleys and castle, separated by thousands of mile, strategically invulnerable to invasion, connected by the information flow of secret agents, at war with all governments, and devoted only to knowledge.’ (ibid)

I love it when people draw unexpected links between historical entities and contemporary theory. As another example, see William Gibson‘s musings on the medieval Church.