Lecture Abstract:

Cyber operations raise complex legal questions. The answers will in part depend on whether the particular cyber event takes place during an armed conflict or in peacetime, and humanitarian assistance can of course be conducted in both of those contexts. However, some characteristics of cyber activity render the traditional distinction between those states of affairs decidedly less clear, which necessarily clouds the issue of which legal regime applies. To add to the complexity, there is disagreement between strategically important States as to the rules that apply and, even, as to the approach to adopt in determining such rules. The seminar will seek to explain some of these differences of approach, and will show how they reflect perspectives that pre-date the cyber age. The Tallinn Manual process, in which the speaker participated, will be assessed. The reports issued by the UN General Assembly-mandated Groups of Governmental Experts will be considered and an initiative from Russia, China and certain other States for a Code of Conduct will be mentioned. The Internet of Things also presents challenges in the peacetime context that will receive appropriate mention. The exploitation of the Internet of Things to secure national security goals raises complex questions about the relationship between privacy rights and collective security. The questions and challenges exposed by this seminar apply across the spectrum of activity from humanitarian activities and disaster relief in a peacetime environment to bringing aid to war torn communities. So at the end of the presentation an attempt will be made to draw some useful conclusions.