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From Nuclear War To Net War: Analogizing Cyber Attacks In International Law, Scott James Shackelford

Scott Shackelford

On April 27, 2007, Estonia was attacked by a computer network causing widespread damage. It is currently unclear what legal rights a state has as a victim of a cyber attack. Even if Estonia could conclusively prove that it was Russia, for example, behind the March 2007 attack, could it respond with force or its own cyber attack? There is a paucity of literature dealing with these questions, as well as the ethical, humanitarian, and human rights implications of information warfare (“IW”) on national and international security. Treatments of IW outside the orthodox international humanitarian law (“IHL”) framework are nearly …

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In The Name Of Efficiency, Scott Shackelford

Scott Shackelford

India, the most populous and diverse democracy in the world, has a legal system to match. This system, a composition of ancient Hindi panchayats (village assemblies), Islamic law, and a formal British judiciary, has long been under immense strain, stifling economic competiveness and the pursuit of justice alike. As Lord Delvin famously quipped “If our business methods were as antiquated as our legal methods we should be a bankrupt country.” There are currently nearly 25 million cases pending in Indian courts, some of which have been appealed and argued for more than 20 years. Meanwhile, India spends only .2 percent …

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