From the article:

"Of course, one major role of government is to provide security, which would seem to be an issue on the open sea. But Friedman's not worried about defense beyond simple firearms because he thinks pirates will lack the financial incentive to attack the seasteads.

"More sophisticated pirates will take entire container ships that have tens of millions of dollars of cargo and 10 crew [members]," he said. "On a seastead, there's a much different crew-to-movable assets ratio."

In fact, his only worry is that a government will try to come calling and force their jurisdiction upon them. Toward that end, they are planning to fly a "flag of convenience" from a country that sells them, like Panama, to provide them with protection from national navies. "

Also, you should check out the website (http://www.seasteading.org) and read the FAQ. The founders have thought of the obvious questions.

Tactical nukes hidden in the capitals of potentially aggressive countries should be a good enough deterrence from state actors. Robot Sharks with lasers should be enough to stop the pirates.

I'm sure the pirates will listen to "reason". Ultima Ratio Regum and all that.

That is probably the biggest problem. One thing we take for granted in our nation states is a military defense.

I, for one, plan to fire upon them with my trusty sonic cannon.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,385048,00...