On May 16, 2018, the
Lauterpacht Centre for International Law will hold a
workshop on "International Law and Cyber Security." Here's the idea:
Does international law apply to cyberspace, preserving cybersecurity, ensuring the free flow of information, and protecting the rights of users? For many, a positive answer is self-evident. As the experts who produced the Tallinn Manuals 1.0 and 2.0 have explained, “Cyberspace” is located in cyber infrastructure located on states’ territory and is operated by individuals subject to state authority and responsibility. There are several examples of states that can and do control cyberspace when it suits them. But what may seem self-evident appears to have been challenged recently by key state actors who refuse to acknowledge this premise and instead promote the assertion that cyberspace is a dimension that is not governed by international law. The June 2017 meeting of the UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security exposed a fundamental disagreement on the question of international law’s applicability to states’ use of cyberspace.
