Recent high-profile international incidents are shedding light on the political, legal and technical limitations associated with the use of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations for broadband Internet services. In a noteworthy development, the leading provider of this technology, SpaceX’s Starlink, has reached a mutual understanding with Israel to refrain from extending its services to Israel and the occupied territories, …
Ukraine Cyber War One Year On: An International Law Case Study
Russia committed a grave violation of international law when it invaded Ukraine one year ago. Russia and Ukraine are at war, but are they also at cyber war? We have seamlessly passed the much-debated Article 51 UNC threshold and moved into a cyber warzone, where shelling of Ukrainian towns and villages is accompanied by cyberattacks on its allies’ critical infrastructure. …
The ‘Invisible’ International Law in Cyberspace
Recent state contributions to the discussion of how international law applies in cyberspace suggest that the cybersecurity dialect of international law is losing sight of the mainstream – that is, how international law is applied outside of the cyber bubble. The fact that states contest certain rules and standards of international conduct when it suits their current interests and ambitions …