Building Cyber Diplomacy in times of Geopolitical Change

Since Brexit[1], the attack on Nice[2] and the military coup in Turkey [3] the geopolitical picture in Europe appears uncertain. Such drastic change in the EU political dialogue will require both establishment of new international partnerships and creation of functional cyber diplomacy.

Until now, the main EU strategy for maintaining the cyber equilibrium has been concentrated on the improvement of resilience[4] on treaty level within and between Member States and International Agencies but in view of the recent events this policy seems to be insufficient.

In fact, Internet and digital service providers have been considered as reliable part of the contemporary digital environment which offers immense opportunities for cyber diplomatic assistance[5].

Some digital companies like Facebook have already stated to participate in the process by providing information regarding its users` safety status[6] and by taking care of the graphic content censorship policy including pornography, violence and hate speech in the social network platform[7] while others like Apple Inc. continue to protect their customers` privacy by keeping secure all electronic forms of communication[8].

Yet, it looks like the choice to go beyond their own economic, legal and moral priorities remains to the private digital participants despite the fact that cyber diplomacy diminishes potential security threats and gathers stability in international relations which open opportunity for future profitability on the global digital market.

[1] Erlanger, S. “Britain Votes to Leave E.U.; Cameron Plans to Step Down”, The New Your Times, June 2016, <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/25/world/europe/britain-brexit-european-union-referendum.html?_r=1> (16.07.2016)

[2] “Attentat de Nice: le point sur les faits”, Le Point, Juillet 2016, <http://www.lepoint.fr/societe/attentat-de-nice-ce-que-l-on-sait-a-21-h-15-07-2016-2054764_23.php> (16.07.2016)

[3] Henderson, B. et al. “Turkey coup: President Erdogan says military elements guilty of ‘treason’, as he tells nation government is in charge, after violent clashes in Ankara and Istanbul leave ‘161 dead’”, The Telegraph, <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/16/turkey-coup-president-erdogan-says-military-elements-guilty-of-t/> (16.07.2016)

[4] NOTE from: Presidency to: Delegations: Non-paper: Developing a joint EU diplomatic response against coercive cyber operations-final revised text (5797/6/16 REV 6, 19 May 2016) <http://statewatch.org/news/2016/jul/eu-council-diplomatic-response-cyber-ops-5797-6-16.pdf> (16.07.2016)

[5] NOTE from: Presidency to: Delegations: Cyber capacity building: towards a strategic European approach (8732/1/16 REV 1, 30 June 2016) <http://statewatch.org/news/2016/jul/eu-council-cyber-capacity-building-8732-1-16.pdf> (16.07.2016)

[6] Iyengar, R. “Facebook Activates ‘Safety Check’ for the Third Time in Five Weeks”, TIME, July 2016, <http://time.com/4407540/nice-truck-attack-facebook-safety-check/> (16.07.2016)

[7] Constine, J. “Facebook explains censorship policy for Live video”, Tech Crunch, <https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/08/facebook-censorship-policy/> (16.07.2016)

[8] Zaharieva, K. “Apple Inc. and F.B.I. in unequal quarrel on Unlocking the Mobile Phone of the Shooter in San Bernardino, California”, Medium, March 2016, <https://medium.com/@KristinaZhr/apple-inc-41f7b28ac40d#.x7ul1qmux> (16.07.2016)

#Cyber #Diplomacy #Geopolitics