The havens were bootstrapping their way up to Big Brother
status, trading for scattered bits of information, then collating
it and selling it back-as a new and sinister whole.
They made a business of abstracting, condensing, index-
ing, and verifying-like any other modern commercial database.
Except, of course, that the pirates were carnivorous. They ate
other databases when they could, blithely ignoring copyrights
and simply storing everything they could filch. This didn't
require state-of-the-art computer expertise. Just memory by
the ton, and plenty of cast-iron gall.
Unlike old-fashioned smugglers, the haven pirates never
had to physically touch their booty. Data had no substance.