I posted this as a response to the Space settlement initiative post a few pages back, but under this proposal nobody would ever own the Sun: (Sorry if you've seen it before)

I think with space, every surface acre on which your footprints were the first to be placed should be yours (If you choose to file a claim for it). If there are no footprints, then there should be no claim to ownership.

In this way, The United States of America would only have a claim to a few hundred acres of the moon at best (Until new missions are launched). To establish ownership, an individual or country must truely go where no man has gone before.

Think about it! That way, the UN (and the United States) can never tax us for solar energy usage. Unless they develop a way to set foot on a star, no human could rightfully claim ownership of a star.

The system wouldn't need to be any more complicated than that. If the UN wants to be the enforcer, then so be it.

Scott
(Wondering when there will be calls to set aside vast tracks of the unspoild lunar north slope as a permenant wildlife refuge.)