Week 11 Pre-class

The question of how much juristiction states have in cyberspace is an issue which is being taken very seriously by states, and being handled with in a variety of manners. At the heart of the issue of state juristiction in cyberspace is how much sovereignty do states truly have there, and how do they enforce their external sovereignty in this realm? Some states view the seemingly unfettered international transactions across borders as condusive to good business and essential for developing an international marketplace while others seek to enforce their territorial authority over cyberspace within their borders.

The United States serves as the quintessential laisse-faire model of cyber governance. The general consensus among policymakers in the US is that the unrestricted flow of information is not only good for business, but is good for society as a whole. The focus for cyber governance of the US is ensuring that corporations do not exploit the rights of individuals, particularly with regards to issues of privacy, however legislation in the US is considerably more lax than that in the European Union.

China has taken a radically different approach to cyber governance and employs what is called nationally segmented sections of the internet. By segmenting a special Chinese section of the internet, the Chinese government is able to monitor and censor content on the Chinese segment of the internet. This greatly inhibits the way in which multinational corporations are able to reach the Chinese market, but it does provide the Chinese government with a greater sense of security and authority in terms of their external sovereignty in cyberspace.

This debate will likely continue to play out on the international until some consensus is made in terms of defining sovereignty in cyberspace and the establishment of coherent and elicit cyber norms which states follow. Attempts at this have been made by the United Nations Group of Government Experts in the Fields of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, however there was not enough buy in from states who favor a more open and unrestricted internet and as a result talks on this matter have grinded to a standstill.