Sovereignty in Cyberspace: A Scholarly and Practical Discussion

Abstract

Sovereignty is a central principle of modern international law and is traditionally defined as the supreme power of a state within its territory. While acknowledging the applicability of the principle of sovereignty to the relations between nations in cyberspace, states attach different importance to the concept of sovereignty in the context and characterize it differently. Also, translated into cyber context, the traditional principle of sovereignty has become the subject of debate about its legal nature, about the obligations it engenders, and about its observance. The article reveals the main approaches to scholarly and practical understanding of the principle of sovereignty in the context of cyberspace. The authors refer to the positions of individual states and the opposing opinions of commentators regarding the role of the principle of sovereignty in regulating the behaviour of states related to the use of information and communication technologies and regarding its content. The article also focuses on addressing States' comments on the Initial “Pre-draft” of the report of the Openended Working Group on developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security (OEWG) that show divergent views on international law applicability in cyberspace. The question of how exactly the principle of sovereignty is applied to cyber relations is highlighted as a key issue in the discussions.