In the age of the so-called information revolution, the ability to control, disrupt or manipulate the enemy’s information infrastructure has become as decisive as weapon superiority with respect to determining the outcome of conflicts. So much so that Pentagon’s definition of cyberspace as a new domain in which war is waged, alongside land, sea, air and space, comes as no surprise.

Cyber conflicts are a fast growing phenomenon, which is rapidly changing the dynamics of combat as well as the role that warfare plays in political negotiations and the life of civil societies. Such changes are not the exclusive concern of the military, for they also have a bearing on ethicists and policymakers since existing ethical theories of war, together with national and international regulations, struggle to address the novelties of this phenomenon.

The issue could not be more pressing and there is a much felt and fast escalating need to share information and coordinate ethical theorising about cyber conflicts. Contributions to the workshop will address issues concerning the way ICTs affect our ethical views of conflicts and warfare, as well as the analysis of just-war principles in the light of the ”new” form of warfare; humanitarian military interventions and the use of cyber operations; whether preventive acts of cyber warfare may satisfy jus-ad-bellum criteria; challenges of upholding jus-in-bello standards in cyber warfare, especially in asymmetric conflicts; attribution and proportionality of the response to cyber attacks; moral permissibility of automated responses and ethical deployment of military robotic weapons.

The workshop will be a two-day event organised by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence and chaired by Dr Mariarosaria Taddeo, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick. The event will gather ethicists, experts in military studies, policymakers and experts in cyber security to discuss the ethical problems caused by cyber conflicts.

Submission of Papers:

Authors are required to submit an extended abstract of the planned paper which should describe the topic and set out the main aspects and structure of the research (up to 1000 words). Following a preliminary review and acceptance of the abstract, the authors will be requested to submit the full paper (up to 8000 words, incl. footnotes and references) that meets high academic research, which will be considered for a publication in an international peer-reviewed journal.

The anonymised abstracts and manuscripts must be uploaded electronically to https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=wecc2013, for which an account creation at EasyChair.org is required. Once the abstract has been accepted, further author instructions will be provided.

Authors of accepted papers are required to make a corresponding presentation at the Ethics of Cyber Conflict workshop during 21-22 November 2013 in Rome. Speakers will be offered travel (booked by NATO CCD COE), travel from and to the airport and accommodation for the duration of the conference. Please note that in case of several authors for one paper, only one author will be offered the travel, accommodation and free entrance to the conference.

Important Dates
Extended abstracts (1000 words): 9 September 2013
Notification of acceptance: 30 September 2013
Full paper: 07 November 2013

Registration is required for this event, please contact events@ccdcoe.org. The attendance is free of charge.

For enquiries about the workshop, please contact Lt Ludovica Glorioso (ludovica.glorioso@ccdcoe.org) or Anna-Maria Talihärm (anna-maria.taliharm@ccdcoe.org)