Geography, territory and sovereignty in cyber warfare

Abstract

Cyberspace is a vital part of the modern world with much of our current economic prosperity relying on continued access to the internet. Cyberspace is also a place where conflict can occur, but where international law could be applied to control that conflict. Unlike other domains cyberspace is not exclusively physical and it does not have the same tangible properties of geography as land, sea and air. These differences lead to some difficulties in the application of the law of armed conflict to cyberspace. However, a pragmatic approach to interpretation allows the law of armed conflict to be applied to the ethereal geography of cyberspace. In particular, laws, such as neutrality and those controlling the use of force, that place geographic limits on international and non-international armed conflicts can be applied to limit the extent of these conflicts in cyberspace. Likewise, laws that govern naval blockade can, in some circumstances, usefully guide application of international law to a 'cyber blockade'. These laws can be applied because, while cyberspace is not an entirely physical domain, actions within cyberspace will still have effects on people, places and objects that do exist in the physical world.