This article recaps the genesis and evolution of the Global Digital Compact, an ambitious initiative born out of the United Nations’ 75th anniversary declaration. Against the reality of escalating global tensions, the 2020 declaration emphasised the urgency of upholding the organisation’s founding principles. The proposed Compact represents a response to the challenges posed by digital technologies, which both offer immense …
From Westphalia to San Francisco: A cyber and digital perspective on the changing nature of European diplomacy and transatlantic relations
Gerard de Graaf is no stranger to EU digital policies. He serves as EU Senior Envoy for Digital to the US and currently heads the EU Office in San Francisco. Prior to his recent appointment, de Graaf was Director responsible for the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts in the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, and co-chaired two …
Why EU Cyber Policy Should Become Feminist
The EU’s cyber policy and strategy has developed essential relevance to the EU’s security environment. This was highlighted in 2022’s Strategic Compass, which emphasises the importance of cybersecurity. In the grey zone between peace and armed conflict, state and non-state actors use cyber operations for espionage, ransom or sabotage. The 2022 ENISA Threat Landscape found a massive increase in cyberattacks …
Disruptive Technologies in Security and Defence: Preparing for ‘Known Unknowns’
When it comes to ‘emerging and disruptive technologies’ (EDTs) in security and defence, we can be assured of one certainty, and that is the persistence of an uncomfortably high level of policy and technological uncertainty for the immediate to medium term. Despite slight variation in the definition and common understanding of EDTs, they are generally understood to be particularly disruptive …
A Cybersecurity Strategy for the 21st Century
The Biden Administration’s ambitious new National Cybersecurity Strategy will significantly improve cyber defence. Written for cyberspace as it exists and operates now, it abandons the previous emphasis on deterrence, which has not worked, and focuses on resilience and regulation. It also shifts important security responsibilities to developers and providers of IT services and products, and creates new opportunities for close …
Top 5 Cyber Policy Articles to Read For 2023
The past year has been a busy one for cyber and digital diplomacy. Discussions by the UN Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime and the UN Open-ended Working Group on responsible state behaviour in cyberspace have advanced global debate on these issues and have included much more participation from the Global South. However, decisions about the participation of non-governmental stakeholders left …
Europe’s Risky Plan for the Internet
Over the past few months, the European Commission, along with European telecommunication providers, have reignited an old debate about the way traffic is meant to flow through the internet. Premised under the decade-old idea of the ‘Sending Party Network Pays’ (SPNP) model, the intention is to require content providers to pay telecom operators for the traffic they carry on their …
Getting the (Digital) Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Right
On the eve of the Tokyo Quad Summit in May 2022, President Biden unveiled the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), visualising cooperation across the Indo-Pacific based on four pillars: trade; supply chains; clean energy, decarbonisation and infrastructure; and tax and anti-corruption. Galvanised by the US, the other 13 founding members of the IPEF are Australia, Brunei Darussalam, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic …
Three Pivots Towards Digital Inclusion
While the pandemic has created a new awareness of the importance of digital inclusion, we need to expand the conversation beyond accessibility and literacy and towards human-centric strategies to combat newer forms of biases and gaps. Current discussions about digital inclusion need to take into account three elements in particular: smart technology bias, data citizenship and platform cooperativism. If there’s …
Incorporating Cybersecurity into EU Policy Formation
As the EU strives to strengthen its cyber resilience, it becomes ever more important for its institutions to have coherent advice on the cybersecurity implications of legislative and regulatory decisions. Current practice, including in the context of the Digital Market Act (DMA), suggests action is needed to establish a policy-agnostic technical mechanism to generate such advice, develop important partnerships and …