Pirates are not just featured in Johnny Depp movies these days, nor is high tech piracy limited to software. There really are still pirates some places in the world where real life pirates reside.

From the Independent:

A luxury three-masted cruise ship seized off the Gulf of Aden last week is in the hands of the Somali “marines”, a loose network of fishermen-turned-pirates armed with satellite telephones and hand-held missiles.

The “marines”, to paraphrase the words of The Pirates of Penzance, are the very model of a modern pirate enterprise. They use converted fishing vessels as “mother ships”, from which small boats are directed by satellite telephone to menace targets.

They are believed by Somali and international officials to be responsible for many of the estimated 150 attacks on ships off the Horn of Africa last year. Captured ships and their crews are then ransomed back to their owners. Contacts are in progress between the French owner of the 88-metre yacht Le Ponant, seized last Friday and representatives of the pirates. The French government has refused to rule out the payment of a ransom for the vessel and its mostly French crew of 30. On past experience, officials warn, the negotiations are likely to take several weeks.

In more positive news, piracy seems to be on the decrease off the coast of Malaysia because of patrols from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

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