On each Friday for the month of February, RSM’s Julia Polyak will be providing an article on the future of cyber-attacks and cyber-warfare, and how organizations can remain aware of emerging threats in this landscape.
For many years, there has been an ongoing debate among policymakers, scholars, and international organizations on whether cyberspace should be considered a global commons. If cyberspace were to be internationally accepted as a global commons, it could suggest the promotion of economic growth, innovation, and the exchange of ideas globally. Cyberspace should be accepted as a global commons for many reasons, even though there is a long road of challenges ahead, cyberspace enables efficient operations, economies depend on it, and social networking feeds off it.
A global commons is a shared resource or space that is not owned or controlled by any single nation or entity. These are easy to recognize, such as the seas, the air, and even Antarctica, however, they are difficult to govern. Cyberspace consists of the internet, digital infrastructure, data, etc. In this technology age, cyberspace is essential for communication, commerce, education, and innovation internationally. Cyberspace as we know it, is used globally and is unlike other global commons since it is man-made. There are many nations that have developed their own boundaries and governing for cyberspace within their border. This is possible for other nations too if they wish to have a national network that facilitates the transfer of data in and out of the nation globally. I don’t think we are too far off from this point, seeing as some nations are already making this jump. Cyberspace would then be identified as a national asset as well, seeing as it enables business and government services to citizens who depend on it.
While it may seem like cyberspace has already been a global commons, many would argue that it never will be, seeing that there are a lot of challenges to this global, shared resource. Cyberspace, for a long time, was driven by innovation, unregulated domains, and new services, whereas today, the threats of cyberspace pose a national security threat to many nations. Cyberspace is difficult to govern because it is hard to create borders for, however, it is still sought to be regulated, causing international cyber conflicts. Managing a resource like cyberspace calls for cybersecurity threats, censorship, digital inequality, and many privacy concerns, but I think we are already past that point, and now the nations need to step in and decide how to manage it. As mentioned before, accepting cyberspace as a global commons promotes innovation, economic growth, and the global exchange of ideas. Without cyberspace, the world would be disconnected, leaving nations scrambling for the idea of controlling what’s left of the digital age. Cyberspace is asymmetrical because of its geographical distribution of users, the gap in facilities between developed and developing countries, and the number of developed countries that can ensure the operation of cyberspace. This calls for challenges like understanding security, borders, human rights, privacy, and sovereignty. While this may be the first man-made global commons, it is essential for the future of governance, and it is already a huge part of our daily lives on a global scale.
Moving towards accepting cyberspace as a global commons means accepting the global governing of cyberspace. There are many challenges to governing a new, man-made, shared resource, however, there is a far spread of knowledge to start from. We didn’t get to this point today from just letting people have war without rules, we developed governance over time and now it is more regulated. Cyberspace is already a large part of our government today, and almost all countries, developed or developing are involved. With the UN, NATO, and other international organizations on board, there can be ways to keep global cyberspace in check.
Cyberspace is not going to regulate itself; it has already passed the point of becoming an international shared resource, and now the fight for power is near in our future. If the states continue to self-govern cyberspace, how will it affect international relations? Everyone is aware that we depend on technology, the internet, and digital infrastructure in our everyday lives. Is everyone aware of the current cyber-attacks on the United States and other nations? Cyberspace as a global commons has been a topic of discussion for over 10 years, so when is it time to start accepting it and creating these goals to govern cyberspace more efficiently?
