Somali pirates are becoming more brazen in their attacks on commercial and passenger ships off the coast of Africa, and -- thanks to international law -- there is little that can be done to stop them. Pirates... You just can't hang 'em anymore. In the 18th century, the British government made a "great show of how wicked pirates were" by hanging them in public, said David Cordingly, author of "Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates." "Often their bodies were coated in tar and wrapped up in chains and then hung from a gallows at the entrance of a port or harbor," Cordingly said. "The idea was to make it seem that it wasn't a very good career option to become a pirate." But now, three centuries later, pirates sail the high seas with near impunity -- stealing, blackmailing and intimidating commercial ships. And it's not clear who can or should be the pirate police. read more