About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

9 ISJLP 1 (2013-2014)

handle is hein.journals/isjlpsoc9 and id is 1 raw text is: I/S: A JOURNAL OF LAW AND POLICY FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
Virtual Battlegrounds: Direct Participation in
Cyber Warfare
EMILY CRAWFORD
Abstract: This paper looks at the question of direct
participation in cyber hostilities under the international law
of armed conflict, or international humanitarian law (IHL)
as it is also known. The paper examines the history and
development of the concept of direct participation in
hostilities by civilians, which serves as an exception to the
principle of civilian or non-combatant immunity. In charting
the development of the concept, this paper looks at landmark
attempts to legally define the concept of direct participation,
including the Israeli Targeted Killings case, and the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) study into
direct participation. Using this legal background, this paper
then analogises direct participation in the context of cyber
hostilities, and critically examines the ways in which civilians
may be deemed to be directly participating in cyber
hostilities. The paper also posits some solutions to
potentially problematic situations raised by civilian
participation in cyber warfare.
Keywords: international humanitarian law, direct
participation in hostilities, cyber warfare.
I. INTRODUCTION
Cyber warfare has been the focus of considerable attention
recently, due largely to highly publicized cyber-attacks against
Georgia, 1 Estonia, 2 and Iran. 3 Academics and practitioners have
1 See Stephen Korns and Joshua Kastenberg, Georgia's Cyber Left Hook, 38 Parameters
60 (2008-2009).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most