The End of the Road for the UN GGE Process and the Future Regulation of Cyberspace

TY - JOUR

T1 - The End of the Road for the UN GGE Process and the Future Regulation of Cyberspace

AU - Henriksen, Anders

PY - 2019/1/1

Y1 - 2019/1/1

N2 - In June 2017, the fifth and so far last of the UN Group of Governmental Experts (UN GGE) were unable to agree on a consensus report that would have brought additional clarity to how international law regulates cyberspace. The article discusses why the UN GGE process seemed to have now reached a dead-end. It argues that the discussion about how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) should be regulated is as much about strategy, politics and ideological differences as it is about law. For the time being, states have too diverging interests and normative preferences for consensus on anything but the most basic of legal findings to arise. The article also offers some suggestions about what the future holds with regard to the regulation of cyberspace. It argues that the collapse of the UN GGE process is likely to lead to a shift away from ambitious global initiatives and towards regional agreements between “like-minded states”. In turn, we may well see the gradual emergence of a fragmented international normative structure for ICT. It is also likely that nonstate actors will begin to play a more central role in the efforts to bring legal clarity to the governance of ICT.

AB - In June 2017, the fifth and so far last of the UN Group of Governmental Experts (UN GGE) were unable to agree on a consensus report that would have brought additional clarity to how international law regulates cyberspace. The article discusses why the UN GGE process seemed to have now reached a dead-end. It argues that the discussion about how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) should be regulated is as much about strategy, politics and ideological differences as it is about law. For the time being, states have too diverging interests and normative preferences for consensus on anything but the most basic of legal findings to arise. The article also offers some suggestions about what the future holds with regard to the regulation of cyberspace. It argues that the collapse of the UN GGE process is likely to lead to a shift away from ambitious global initiatives and towards regional agreements between “like-minded states”. In turn, we may well see the gradual emergence of a fragmented international normative structure for ICT. It is also likely that nonstate actors will begin to play a more central role in the efforts to bring legal clarity to the governance of ICT.

U2 - 10.1093/cybsec/tyy009

DO - 10.1093/cybsec/tyy009

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2057-2093

VL - 5

JO - Journal of Cybersecurity

JF - Journal of Cybersecurity

IS - 1

ER -