Fight Fire With Fire - Fight Pirates With Pirates

      The first thing that I thought when I heard about pirates attacking people in the western Indian Ocean was "Wha?  Is this story coming from WTF Radio?"  Then I thought things like, "Today?  Now?  Really?  Are you serious?  In our modern world - pirates."  Then of course a whole string of bad pirate talk went through my head.  "Argh matey (it always has to start with the - it's kind of a rule) 'ang 'im from the yard arm!  Stick 'is 'ead in the scuppers.  Arrgh!"  Then I got serious long enough to learn more about the phenomena. 
      I read and heard about how big a problem it has become for people trying to sail in that area.  I also learned that it is a problem in the east Indian Ocean too.  The area around Indonesia is rife with them as well.  Various governments don't know what they can do to combat this situation.  Sending out extra patrols would cost too much and they wouldn't want to raise taxes (except in third world dictatorships - if they were going to raise taxes it wouldn't be for fighting pirates - it would to build a new palatial estate). 
      Then my knowledge of history kicked in.  Back in the "good old days" a government could issue a "Letter of Marque" to individuals who owned a ship.  The ship with this letter became a part of the issuing government's navy, but didn't cost them anything.  This ship got "paid" in whatever prizes they could collect from enemy ships.  In other words it was like legalized piracy.  They were known as privateers. 

      This is could be the solution to the Indian Ocean pirates.  The governments to whom this is a problem could issue Letters of Marque, and these new privateers could clear the seas of these modern pirates.  they could use whatever weapons they could get their hands on, and whatever tactics they liked (for instance, they could bait them by posing as tourists in distress).