Information Warfare and Just War Theory

Abstract

This article is devoted to developing an ethical analysis of information warfare, the warfare waged in the cyber domain. It has the twofold goal of filling the theoretical vacuum surrounding this phenomenon and of providing the grounding for the definition of new ethical regulations for information warfare. The article maintains that Just War Theory is a necessary but not sufficient instrument for considering the ethical implications of information warfare and argues that a suitable ethical analysis of this kind of warfare is developed when Just War theory is merged with Information Ethics. The initial part of the article describes information warfare and its main features, and highlights the problems that arise when Just War Theory is endorsed as a means of addressing ethical problems engendered by information warfare. The final part introduces the main aspects of Information Ethics and defines three principles for a just information warfare.