Russell Buchan, Cyber Espionage and International Law

Abstract

Peacetime espionage as a method for states’ gathering military, political, commercial or other secret information by means of spies, secret agents or monitoring devices has a long and well-documented history. It has and continues to be an indispensable part of the activities that most governments undertake, but characteristically it is shrouded in secrecy and usually denied. The international law's stance regarding peacetime espionage has traditionally been and remains rather ambivalent. Some commentators argue that it exists in the twilight of international law, whilst others contend that the rules of lex lata have little role to play as they neither prohibit nor allow states to engage in this method of gathering information. [...]