CYBER NEUTRALITY: A TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF TRADITIONAL JUS IN BELLO NEUTRALITY RULES THROUGH A PURPOSE-BASED LENS

摘要

The neutrality rules are over a hundred years old and did not envision modern cyber capabilities but technological innovation in weaponry is nothing new. When cyber capabilities can viably substitute for conventional capabilities, whether they are damage-causing or damage-enabling capabilities, the neutrality rules must equally apply in order to preserve state sovereignty. Without applicable neutrality rules, belligerents will derive strategic advantages by purposely exploiting components of a neutral state's infrastructure. Allowing the cyber component of the battlefield to expand to neutral states erodes a neutral state's ability to stay out of a conflict. Belligerents do not seek symmetric responses. They constantly seek opportunities to overwhelm the enemy in the place and manner where they perceive an advantage. There is no guarantee that the cyber component of the battlefield could spread to neutral states without the conventional battlefield expanding there as well.