۱- Introduction

۲- The contentious nature of international custom

۳- The role of non-state actors

۴- Evidentiary challenges

۵- New domains of international customary law?

۶- Conclusion

Abstract

International relations between countries increasingly take place in cyberspace. From concerns about cyber security and Internet surveillance to privacy to harmful speech – state and non-state actors developed practices and normative conceptions that could be regarded as international customary law in statu nascendi. The aim of this contribution is to present arguments supporting the thesis that research concerning international law should be broadened to include cyberspace. Due to lack of treaty law in this area, one shall resort to a second source of international law, namely custom especially, as one eminent researcher has noted: ‘there are still numerous branches of international law regulated by customary law, and still more important, new rules of that law are raising’. The article presents the theory of custom as a source of international law and methods of evidencing it in the context of cyberspace and then outlines areas where such norms could have developed and therefore could be used to settle disputes between states.

Introduction

We live in the era of global, technological revolutions. Almost 200 countries are these days connected through a truly global, ubiquitous computer network that has enabled unparalleled in history mass interaction more than a half of all inhabitants of the planet Earth.1 These revolutions have transformed not only the lives of ordinary people, but have also affected the functioning of organizations of any size and complexity, including states. These shifts have taken place very quickly, have been impossible to forecast and have had a global effect. Information technology has accelerated the pace of societal communication in a way that clearly sets it apart from societal revolts of the past. For instance, the rapid exchange of messages via mobile phones and social networks, such as Twitter turned out to be the key differentiating factor in the Arab Spring that led to the collapse of ancien regimes in North Africa. The Wikileaks scandal that revealed diplomatic cables of the US government has created tensions between many allies of the United States and sparked long lasting controversies between the advocates of the freedom of speech and the supporters of the right of privacy and secrecy.The impact of using public mailboxes for private affairs was a key argument in the recent presidential election in the US. The last example has only confirmed that the Internet and technologies that underlie its day-to-day operations are not bullet-proof and one can expect many other scandals of that type to take place in the not too distant future.