Revolutions in the human environment have frequently caused radical visions of the future. Giulio Douhet spun the advent of airpower into cataclysmic battles for Command of the Air; nuclear weapons were forecast to bring an end to war—or the world; sputnik was a harbinger of future Soviet domination; acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or the Ebola virus was certain to devastate mankind as the medieval Black Death had decimated Europe. In the United States (US), the revolution of computer network technology has encouraged notions of computer domination in a bloodless conflict or an apocalyptic reckoning with the year 2000...

The features of the media of sea, air, and space combine to describe the information revolution. The sea was the first international medium that could harbor a threat to sovereignty. As an international medium—like the sea before it—the information revolution has greatly improved international communication and enhanced commerce and interdependence. Heavier-than-air flight raised questions of sovereignty to a multidimensional level for the first time. Like Douhet, present-day information devotees claim that information dominance is necessary—and adequate—for victory. Space flight raised the issue of earthly limits on national sovereignty while heralding a realm ostensibly devoted to peaceful...

To alter international law, large constituencies must be convinced that a future with change is better than the status quo. Any additional law or regulation is an agreement to trade freedom of conduct for regulation. The benefits of regulation may include security, predictability (which can lead to efficiency), and impartiality. The costs typically associated with excessive legislation include inefficiency, costs of implementation, and limits on liberty due to boundaries. Before considering a law that governs the use of information, it is imperative to determine the importance of information.

The significance of a national information policy reflects information’s importance to society...

The development of IW sovereignty has not exactly followed the pattern of other mediums. The United States fostered the nascent computer network grid in relative international isolation. Therefore, the original focus of computer law was domestic, not international. The nature of computer crime allows it to violate multiple jurisdictions instantaneously while the perpetrator may reside overseas. Combined with network anonymity and domestic laws protecting privacy, this makes it extremely difficult to apprehend violators. Since international law lags behind domestic law in this area, this chapter examines the condition of US criminal law.

In dealing with international violations, bilateral agreements have...

To debate the appeal of international convention on CNA, it is necessary to develop a model for one. Since a legal model represents a work in progress, its limits will differ from a final solution. In space law the merits of delineating sovereignty were largely the same for each of the proposed limits, differing only by degree. Similarly, the advantages and disadvantages of an IW model relative to the status quo should remain the same, only changing by degree. Just as early space law debate established a need for air sovereignty limits, an examination of the proposed information regime will...

The perception of information as a medium separated from land, sea, and air renders it a disservice. Conversely, simply treating it as an electronic form of communication is naive. Relative information power is not measured in physical terms such as numbers of tanks, ships, or jets. Information is different. It has characteristics of land (domain), sea (commerce), air (precision attack), and space (persistence) power. Historical precedents dealing with these realms contain much evidence in attempting to discover a credible international accord.

To narrow the focus, the nature of peaceful relations between states is the focus of this study. Within this...