Sovereignty in cyberspace: lex lata vel non?

Globalization has not conquered sovereignty. Instead, the notion of sovereignty occupies center stage in discussions concerning the normative architecture of cyberspace. On the diplomatic level, the term is generally cast in its broadest sense, one that signifies freedom from external control and influence. For instance, when western States raise the issue of human rights in cyberspace, those occupying the opposite side of the negotiating table fall back on sovereignty-based arguments. Mention of sovereignty in consensus documents is consequently often the price that liberal democracies pay for recognition of their policy priorities, such as individual freedoms and the availability of self-help measures in response to hostile cyber operations Unfettered by the constraints of political agendas and negotiating tactics, the international law academy has tended to approach the notion from a normatively analytical perspective. For legal scholars, the question of how the principle of sovereignty, as well as its derivate rules, govern cyber activities by and against States has become a dominant topic on the research agenda. This article assesses a recent controversy over whether sovereignty is a primary rule of international law, sets forth the authors’ views on sovereignty violations in cyberspace, and highlights several resultant policy issues

The nature of international law cyber norms

The special expanded issue of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence's Tallinn Papers examines the nature, formation and evolution of international legal norms governing cyber activities. The inquiry’s foundational premise is that the rules of international law governing cyber activities are identical to those applicable to other types of conduct. Any differences in their explication and application are the product of the unique nature of cyber activities, not a variation in the legal strictures that shape their content and usage. It conducts the examination by genre of legal norm: treaty, customary law and general principles

Proxy wars in cyber space: the evolving international law of attribution

The article examines the use of non-State actors by States to conduct cyber operations against other States. In doing so, it examines attribution of a non-State actor’s cyber operations to a State pursuant to the law of State responsibility, attribution of a non-State actor’s cyber armed attack to a State for the purposes of a self-defense analysis, and attribution of cyber military operations to a State in the context of determining whether an international armed conflict has been initiated. These three very different legal inquiries are often confused with each other. The article seeks to deconstruct the issue of attribution into its various normative components