[liberationtech] Is the Cyberwar beginning?

[A.Cammozzo]

Hello Andreas,
thank you for your call for discussion.

Consider that cyberwar or netwar is "coming" since 1993 [1]...

But what kind of "war" are we expecting? What metaphor should we use to  
describe the increasing belligerency on the net?
Surely not a war fought by the military following a declaration according 
to formal protocols of the Hague Convention!

I think we could consider two different metaphors of the latent form of  
confrontation we are observing:

(1) the pirate-like war fought by the privateer, private person or company 
authorized by a government, making profit from prize money or bounties.
Off metaphor, the "Data Privateer" has the freedom to take advantage from 
data gathered in commerce raiding or "guerre de course" activities, being 
under explicit or implicit government immunity.
Can we find clues or evidence for this kind of entities? Think for  
instance of government agencies spying on their own citizens, sometimes  
acting in grey zones un-encoded by laws, and their contractors.

(2) Cyberwar as a vector of Data Colonialism. Considering the Cyberspace a 
"territory" is a mistake, but following Luciano Floridi "Infosphere" [2] 
concept, it is the part of a wider environment. In this context the net is 
a sort of "space-like opportunity" where states do confront not in terms of 
sovereignty, but with their ability to access to all kind of data resources 
available, even if protected by other state's laws.
This "war" is part of the global political and economic effort to control 
data as raw material and sell data exploitation infrastructures.
To achieve this goal, states must show a twofold ability: to offend,  
stealing and destroying data and data infrastructures; and to defend, an  
essential element to maintain a tutelary power on their citizens (data  
protection) and a political and economic power on countries unable to  
autonomously develop the same abilities.


Of course these two metaphors do overlap some times.
This kind of collateral warfare has been going on for years.

Sincerely,

Alberto


[1] Arquilla, John, and David Ronfeldt. "Cyberwar is coming!." Comparative 
Strategy 12, no. 2 (1993): 141-165.
p.28: <<netwar represents a new entry on the spectrum of conflict that  
spans economic, political, and social as well as military forms of bwar.b 
In contrast to economic wars that target the production and distribution of 
goods, and political wars that aim at the leadership and institutions of a 
government, netwars would be distinguished by their targeting of 
information and communications.>>

[2] Floridi, L., 2007. A Look into the Future Impact of ICT on Our Lives. 
The Information Society, 23(1), p.59-64.



On 01/31/2013 09:26 AM, Andreas Bader wrote:
> On 01-29-2013 the website http://www.syrian-martyrs.com/ got hacked.
> On 01-30-2013 there was a man in the middle attack on GitHub (?).
> On 01-27-2013 the Pentagon was boosting the "Cybersecurity Force".
> On 01-14-2013 "Red October" was exposed.
> And that were only the big incidents in this year. Things like that are
> accumulating. Are we slipping in the cyberwar experts are warning of
> since years?
> I just want to initiate a discussion. Your opinions?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Andreas
> --
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Alberto Cammozzo
http://cammozzo.com/en
http://tagmenot.info
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