Kristen E. Tullos, from Cyber Attacks to Social Media Revolutions: Adapting Legal Frameworks to the Challenges and Opportunities of New Technology

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Citation: Vol. 26 No. 2
• Publication year: 2010
• topic: Military Law

FROM CYBER ATTACKS TO SOCIAL MEDIA REVOLUTIONS: ADAPTING LEGAL FRAMEWORKS TO THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF NEW TECHNOLOGY

Kristen E. Tullos*

INTRODUCTION

In June 2010, a security firm in Belarus detected a new cyber worm on a client’s computer in Iran.1 As experts worked to untangle its pieces and understand its purpose, they quickly realized that the worm, called Stuxnet, was one of the most sophisticated and expensive pieces of malware ever created.2 Over time, a consensus formed around its target: the centrifuges in Natanz, an Iranian nuclear facility.3 While it was not the first piece of malware intended to harm industrial systems, the design was so advanced that the worm could stealthily alter its target without continued human involvement.4 Numerous investigations have suggested that Stuxnet was a joint American– Israeli program.5

Although the United States has yet to officially acknowledge responsibility for Stuxnet, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 included provisions authorizing the military to conduct offensive operations in cyberspace.6 The United States is not alone in its acknowledgement of cyber as

an offensive military tool; the fifteen countries with the largest military budgets are increasing their offensive cyber capabilities.7 The United States has also expanded its defensive cyber capabilities, as it frequently experiences

* J.D., Emory University School of Law (2012); B.A., University of Georgia (2009).

1. Michael Joseph Gross, A Declaration of Cyber-War, VANITY FAIR, April 2011, at 152, 152, 155.

2. Id. at 158.

3 Id. at 159, 196.

1. Id. at 158–59. Journalist Michael Joseph Gross explains it more eloquently: “Stuxnet is like a self- directed stealth drone: the first known virus that, released into the wild, can seek out a specific target, sabotage it, and hide both its existence and its effects until after the damage is done.” Id. at 159.

2. Ellen Nakashima & Joby Warrick, Official Say U.S., Israel Were Behind Cyberattack on Iran, WASH. POST, June 2, 2012, at A2.

3. Id.; National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, Pub. L. No. 112-81, § 954, 125 Stat. 1298, 1551 (2011).

4. Editorial, A New Kind of Warfare, N.Y. TIMES, Sept. 10, 2012, at A24.

   cyberattacks conducted by state and non-state actors.8 According to Keith B. Alexander, Director of the National Security Agency and Commander of U.S. Cyber Command, computer attacks by criminal gangs, hackers, and other nations on American infrastructure increased seventeen-fold between 2009 and

   2011.9 Cyber is undoubtedly an important part of the military toolkit, but what

   legal frameworks govern its use?

   
   

   Six months after the discovery of Stuxnet, a fruit vendor in Tunisia named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest the confiscation of his goods and harassment by local officials.10 Like many young people, Ms. Ben Mhenni, a Tunsian blogger and activist, reported what she could find out about the incident on her blog, Facebook page, and Twitter account.11 Despite the official media blackout, protesters used social media to rapidly disseminate information about events on the ground.12 On January 14, the day that former President Ben Ali fled the country, people around the world were tweeting at a rate of twenty-eight tweets per second about the situation in Tunisia.13 Despite the flurry of social media activity, Mhenni believes that “[s]ocial media didn’t start the revolution. It was just a tool that helped.”14

   
   

   The Internet has drastically expanded opportunities for sharing ideas and information, while at the same time making governments, businesses, and individuals more vulnerable to harm. As new technologies become widely- available and increasingly sophisticated, the stakes only get higher. It is essential that the international community agree on a set of rules or norms to govern Internet activities. The Emory International Law Review’s Spring 2012 Symposium, “International Law and the Internet: Adapting Legal Frameworks in Response to Online Warfare and Revolutions Fueled by Social Media” took on this challenge, exploring two key areas at the intersection of the Internet and international law.

   
   

   On February 1, 2012, the Symposium convened scholars and practitioners to discuss how to adapt international and domestic law to the challenges

   
   

5. David E. Sanger & Eric Schmitt, Rise Is Seen in Cyberattacks Targeting U.S. Infrastructure, N.Y. Times, July 27, 2012, at A8.

6. Id.

7. Rania Abouzeid, Postcard: Sidi Bouzid, TIME, Feb. 7, 2011, at 8, 8.

8. Kristen McTighe, A Blogger at Arab Spring’s Genesis, N.Y. TIMES, Oct. 12, 2011, http://www. nytimes.com/2011/10/13/world/africa/a-blogger-at-arab-springs-genesis.html.

9. Id.

10. Alexia Tsotsis, A Twitter Snapshot of the Tunisian Revolution: Over 196K Mentions of Tunisia, Reaching Over 26M Users, TECHCRUNCH (Jan. 16, 2011), http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/16/tunisia-2/.

11. McTighe, supra note 11.

    presented by the Internet. Two main themes were featured in the day-long event. First, the Symposium considered how governments should respond to the changing nature of communication, particularly how it affects democratic governance and facilitates revolutionary movements. Second, it highlighted the challenges in applying jus in bello and jus ad bellum frameworks to the new landscape of cyberwarfare. Throughout the day, speakers discussing both topics considered whether existing legal frameworks are sufficient, or if a new body of law is needed to address challenges presented by the Internet.

    
    

    1. DEMOCRATIZATION OF COMMUNICATION

       
       

       Social media has changed the way societies organize by providing a fast and inexpensive way to transmit messages to a wide audience. Sascha Meinrath, Director of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative, discussed how the Internet is empowering people to undermine local laws that they believe are wrong, thereby causing democracy itself to evolve

       and become more direct and participatory.15 He advocated for greater Internet

       freedom to advance Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which provides that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression,” including the right to “receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of...