The Role of Cyber Operations in International Law
American Society of International Law - The Fairmount Hotel
From new combat weapons like drones, robotics, and biotech to new forms of fighting like cyberwar, the accelerating dynamic of technological change presents complex challenges to international law that strain (sometimes to the breaking point) existing humanitarian law frameworks. Responses range from new weapon-specific treaties to innovative forms of coordinated international oversight. But ad hoc or piecemeal approaches that lag behind the pace of change may prove inadequate. This roundtable brings together the premier American and international theorists of IHL strategies for the evolving modern day battlefield to discuss the legal, philosophical, and ethical challenges inherent in the spectrum of new technologies.Which problems is international law particularly well-suited to solve? Which seem to defy its regulation? What tools does international law have to manage this complexity? Where are best practices emerging? What has our profession learned in the last half-century? Is law, with its emphasis on rules and stability, conceptually and functionally capable of responding to the challenges of complexity? If not, how should law react? What do experts from outside the legal profession, from technology, finance, counterinsurgency, climate science, and risk, believe law can add? During the 2012 ASIL Annual Meeting we will address these questions and discuss how international law responds to complexity."
