Thank you for that conclusion! But I think you forgot one important thing: This conflicts must all together culminate in something. What will that be? The only parts that the "war on piracy" has are hacking offenses like the Anonymous Operations. But I don't think that you can compare that with "Cyber War Stuff" like Stuxnet and Red October. There is also the question from which instant of time the "Cyberwar" is a war. Is there kind of a Geneva Convention for Cyber Attacks? The Nations can do everything they want, the only barrier is the budget (i.E. Stuxnet). War on piracy is more like a civil war (in my opinion!).
On 01/31/2013 12:55 PM, A.Cammozzo wrote: > Hello Andreas, > thank you for your call for discussion. > > Consider that cyberwar or netwar is "coming" since 1993 [1]... > > But what kind of "war" are we expecting? What metaphor should we use > to describe the increasing belligerency on the net? > Surely not a war fought by the military following a declaration > according to formal protocols of the Hague Convention! > > I think we could consider two different metaphors of the latent form > of confrontation we are observing: > > (1) the pirate-like war fought by the privateer, private person or > company authorized by a government, making profit from prize money or > bounties. > Off metaphor, the "Data Privateer" has the freedom to take advantage > from data gathered in commerce raiding or "guerre de course" > activities, being under explicit or implicit government immunity. > Can we find clues or evidence for this kind of entities? Think for > instance of government agencies spying on their own citizens, > sometimes acting in grey zones un-encoded by laws, and their contractors. > > (2) Cyberwar as a vector of Data Colonialism. Considering the > Cyberspace a "territory" is a mistake, but following Luciano Floridi > "Infosphere" [2] concept, it is the part of a wider environment. In > this context the net is a sort of "space-like opportunity" where > states do confront not in terms of sovereignty, but with their ability > to access to all kind of data resources available, even if protected > by other state's laws. > This "war" is part of the global political and economic effort to > control data as raw material and sell data exploitation infrastructures. > To achieve this goal, states must show a twofold ability: to offend, > stealing and destroying data and data infrastructures; and to defend, > an essential element to maintain a tutelary power on their citizens > (data protection) and a political and economic power on countries > unable to autonomously develop the same abilities. > > > Of course these two metaphors do overlap some times. > This kind of collateral warfare has been going on for years. > > Sincerely, > > Alberto > > > [1] Arquilla, John, and David Ronfeldt. "Cyberwar is coming!." > Comparative Strategy 12, no. 2 (1993): 141-165. > p.28: <<netwar represents a new entry on the spectrum of conflict that > spans economic, political, and social as well as military forms of > “war.” In contrast to economic wars that target the production and > distribution of goods, and political wars that aim at the leadership > and institutions of a government, netwars would be distinguished by > their targeting of information and communications.>> > > [2] Floridi, L., 2007. A Look into the Future Impact of ICT on Our > Lives. The Information Society, 23(1), p.59-64. > > -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
