Roundtable: Competing Visions for Cyberspace
Introduction: Competing Visions for Cyberspace
This roundtable explores what the governance of cyberspace might look like if it were geared toward just one primary purpose, such as to advance human rights, to promote economic prosperity, or to facilitate war.
Toward a Human-Centric Approach to Cybersecurity
This essay presents an approach to cybersecurity that is derived from the tradition of “human security.” This approach prioritizes the individual and views the Internet as part of the essential foundation for the modern exercise of human rights.
Promoting Economic Prosperity in Cyberspace
This essay argues that the original policy foundations on which the Internet was built—including strong free speech protections, open technical standards, and privacy protection—are crucial for ensuring that it continues to be an engine for economic innovation, though some of these will require adjustment.
What if Cyberspace Were for Fighting?
This essay explores the ethical and legal implications of prioritizing cyberspace as a warfighting domain. The authors envision a world where states take on a greater role in governance but remain constrained by international law as well as by the norms of sovereignty, nonintervention, and self-determination.
Ethical Dilemmas in Cyberspace
This final roundtable essay steps back to highlight three broad issues that cut across the other contributions and raise ethical concerns about our activity online. These are the commodification of people, vast and growing inequalities, and the tension between human security and state security.
