[liberationtech] Is the Cyberwar beginning?

[Andreas Bader]

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.
>
>