The Right to Indetection at Sea, an Endangered Concept

IRIS

Factuality

Ownership

Is the sea a free space? Are those who sail there entitled to be forgotten? This is in any case what Hugo Grotius suggested when he forged the concept of Mare Liberum, "the freedom of the seas", in an eponymous work that remained famous, published in 1609. At the time, the Dutch lawyer and philosopher sought to counter the logic of Mare Clausum, "the closed sea", then defended by Portugal to protect its monopoly on trade with India. Half a mille…