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Cyberspace: the final legal frontier. Australia welcomes UN report
AUSTRALIA has officially welcomed a new United Nations (UN) report affirming that international law applies to states' use of cyberspace. The way international law is evolving to cope with the impact of the internet on markets is an issue of growing concern for business -- as well as new security challenges.
In a report released last week, the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) - which considered developments in the field of information and telecommunications ‘in the context of international security' - affirmed that international law applied to states' use of information and communications technologies. In particular, the group found that the UN Charter covered cyberspace.
The UN group consisted of 15 experts nominated by the governments of Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Canada, China, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States.
It is the first time a UN group has come to such a conclusion.
The UN group was established by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2012 to study existing and potential threats in the sphere of information security and how nations could cooperate to overcome them.
The Australian Government last week congratulated the experts on their historic agreement and noted "this breakthrough was made under the leadership of an Australian chair, Deborah Stokes, who is now Australia's High Commissioner in Port Moresby".
The report also highlighted the important role of confidence building measures to promote trust between states and help reduce the risk of conflict in cyberspace.
"Australia now looks forward to working with international partners on how international law applies to states' use of cyberspace," a Federal Government spokesman said.
US State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said, "All UN member states share a common commitment to the pursuit of peace. We are all parties to the UN Charter, which seeks to prevent war of all kinds. We also subscribe to the Geneva Conventions and the Law of Armed Conflict, which are aimed at minimizing civilian suffering when armed conflict occurs.
"These norms are a cornerstone of international relations and are particularly important for cyberspace, where state-on-state activities are becoming more prevalent.
"The United States is pleased to join consensus to affirm the applicability of international law to cyberspace. With that clear affirmation, this consensus sends a strong signal: States must act in cyberspace under the established international rules and principles that have guided their actions for decades - in peacetime and during conflict."
How laws are applied to cyberspace is an issue increasingly facing business and the UN approach is a welcome pointer to future trade involving the internet.
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