Law Commons^™

The Witch-Hunt For Spies - A Critique Of The China Initiative And National Security’S Outsized Influence In Equal Protection Analysis, Winni Zhang

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

The U.S. Government has increased its focus on Chinese espionage in the last decade in a randomized and unpredictable way. Primarily targeting Chinese scientists and academics, the “China Initiative” has resulted in widespread targeting of individuals based on their race, ethnicity, and national origin. The program was formally terminated and said to now be a part of a broader approach to nation-state threats. However, the outcomes and effect of the economic espionage charges in the last 15 years has greatly skewed towards prosecuting Chinese individuals irrespective of the name of the program. While protections typically exist in the law to …

Academic Economic Espionage?, Elizabeth A. Rowe

William & Mary Law Review

In 2018 the U.S. government announced that Chinese espionage was occurring in university research labs, and the Department of Justice subsequently made it a high priority to prosecute economic espionage in academia. The DOJ’s grave concerns about espionage in academia have continued, and the Director of the FBI has lamented that American taxpayers are footing the bill for China’s technological development. This geopolitical concern about espionage has had real world and personal consequences in academia. Since 2019, over a dozen high-profile criminal prosecutions have put prominent professors at major research universities across the country in handcuffs and almost all the …

Academic Espionage: How International Trade Law Can Protect Higher Education, Cameron Keen

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Liberty To Spy, Asaf Lubin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Many, if not most, international legal scholars share the ominous contention that espionage, as a legal field, is devoid of meaning. For them, any attempt to extrapolate the lex lata corpus of the International Law of Intelligence (ILI), let alone its lex scripta, would inevitably prove to be a failed attempt, as there is simply nothing to extrapolate. The notion that international law is moot as to the question of if, when, and how intelligence is to be collected, analyzed, and promulgated, has been repeated so many times that it has become the prevailing orthodoxy.

This paper offers a new …

Hacking For Intelligence Collection In The Fight Against Terrorism: Israeli, Comparative, And International Perspectives, Asaf Lubin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

תקציר בעברית: הניסיון של המחוקק הישראלי להביא להסדרה מפורשת של סמכויות השב״כ במרחב הקיברנטי משקף מגמה רחבה יותר הניכרת בעולם לעיגון בחקיקה ראשית של הוראות בדבר פעולות פצחנות מצד גופי ביון ומודיעין ורשויות אכיפת חוק למטרות איסוף מודיעין לשם סיכול עבירות חמורות, ובייחוד עבירות טרור אם בעבר היו פעולות מסוג אלה כפופות לנהלים פנימיים ומסווגים, הרי שהדרישה לשקיפות בעידן שלאחר גילויי אדוארד סנודן מחד והשימוש הנרחב בתקיפות מחשב לביצוע פעולות חיפוש וחקירה לסיכול טרור מאידך, מציפים כעת את הדרישה להסמכה מפורשת. במאמר זה אבקש למפות הן את השדה הטכנולוגי והן את השדה המשפטי בכל האמור בתקיפות מחשבים למטרות ריגול ומעקב. …

Attribution And Other Conditions Of Lawful Countermeasures To Cyber Misconduct, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

State cyber misconduct is on the rise, and it can be difficult to differentiate between malicious governmental cyber conduct and active cyber defense. Though some argue that cyberspace is a law-free zone, offensive cyberattacks are almost always unlawful regardless of their purpose. This Article contends that international law can provide for legal boundaries in cyberspace and analogizes cyber misconduct to government actions such as espionage. So long as conditions provided by international law (such as notice, necessity, and proportionality) are met, countermeasures to malicious cyber operations are generally lawful. Cases of urgency may be an exception to this general rule …

Cyber War And Deterrence: Applying A General Theoretical Framework, Isaac Nacita [*], Mark Reith

Faculty Publications

There is a saying that politicians and generals are always fighting the last war, which is emphasized when the weapons and characteristics of warfare are changing rapidly. However, if this is true, it is often not due to an inability to learn lessons from previous conflicts, but to “overlearn” or overcompensate for the failures and experiences of the past. In reality, this is not a learning problem but one of forming poor implications from historical events, which leads to poor applications of doctrine the next time around. The DOD now acknowledges that warfare has extended into cyberspace, and it is …

Cyber Law And Espionage Law As Communicating Vessels, Asaf Lubin

Books & Book Chapters by Maurer Faculty

Professor Lubin's contribution is "Cyber Law and Espionage Law as Communicating Vessels," pp. 203-225.

Existing legal literature would have us assume that espionage operations and “below-the-threshold” cyber operations are doctrinally distinct. Whereas one is subject to the scant, amorphous, and under-developed legal framework of espionage law, the other is subject to an emerging, ever-evolving body of legal rules, known cumulatively as cyber law. This dichotomy, however, is erroneous and misleading. In practice, espionage and cyber law function as communicating vessels, and so are better conceived as two elements of a complex system, Information Warfare (IW). This paper therefore first draws …

"We Only Spy On Foreigners": The Myth Of A Universal Right To Privacy And The Practice Of Foreign Mass Surveillance, Asaf Lubin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The digital age brought with it a new epoch in global political life, one neatly coined by Professor Philip Howard as the “pax technica.” In this new world order, government and industry are “tightly bound” in technological and security arrangements that serve to push forward an information and cyber revolution of unparalleled magnitude. While the rise of information technologies tells a miraculous story of triumph over the physical constraints that once shackled mankind, these very technologies are also the cause of grave concern. Intelligence agencies have been recently involved in the exercise of global indiscriminate surveillance, which purports to go …

Newsroom: Representing Private Manning 09-18-2017, Edward Fitzpatrick, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Searching Places Unknown: Law Enforcement Jurisdiction On The Dark Web, Ahmed Ghappour

Faculty Scholarship

The use of hacking tools by law enforcement to pursue criminal suspects who have anonymized their communications on the dark web presents a looming flashpoint between criminal procedure and international law. Criminal actors who use the dark web (for instance, to commit crimes or to evade authorities) obscure digital footprints left behind with third parties, rendering existing surveillance methods obsolete. In response, law enforcement has implemented hacking techniques that deploy surveillance software over the Internet to directly access and control criminals’ devices. The practical reality of the underlying technologies makes it inevitable that foreign-located computers will be subject to remote …

Contemporary Soviet Criminal Law: An Analysis Of The General Principles And Major Institutions Of Post-1958 Soviet Criminal Law, Chris Osakwe

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Espionage As A Sovereign Right Under International Law And Its Limits, Asaf Lubin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The literature surrounding the international legality of peacetime espionage has so far centered around one single question: whether there exist within treaty or customary international law prohibitive rules against the collection of foreign intelligence in times of peace. Lacking such rules, argue the permissivists, espionage functions within a lotus vacuum, one in which States may spy on each other and on each other's nationals with no restrictions, justifying their behavior through the argumentum ad hominem of "tu quoque." . . .

Carrots And Sticks In Cyberspace: Addressing Key Issues In The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act Of 2015, Jamil N. Jaffar

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trade Secrets, Trade, And Extraterritoriality, Elizabeth A. Rowe, Daniel M. Mahfood

Elizabeth A Rowe

When a foreign individual or company misappropriates the trade secrets of an American company, and the acts of misappropriation occur entirely outside of the United States, the trade secret law of the United States generally will not apply. This represents the principle of extraterritoriality, and identifies a major vulnerability for companies that choose to conduct operations or engage in other business abroad. In such situations, the substantive and procedural laws of another country are likely to define whether the allegedly misappropriated information is protected and has been misappropriated. Providing a domestic forum to prosecute extraterritorial infringement would substantially benefit domestic …

Contemporary Practice Of The United States Relating To International Law., Kristina Daugirdas, Julian Davis Mortenson

Articles

In this section: • Agreement on Iran Nuclear Program Goes into Effect • United States and China Reach Agreement Regarding Economic Espionage and International Cybersecurity Norms • United States Ratifies the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism • United States Reaches Agreement with Turkey on Use of Incirlik Air Base for Strikes on ISIL; “Safe Zone” Not Part of the Deal

Contemporary Practice Of The United States Relating To International Law, Kristina Daugirdas, Julian Davis Mortenson

Articles

In this section: • United States Condemns Russia’s Use of Force in Ukraine and Attempted Annexation of Crimea • In Wake of Espionage Revelations, United States Declines to Reach Comprehensive Intelligence Agreement with Germany • United States Defends United Nations’ Immunity in Haitian Cholera Case • French Bank Pleads Guilty to Criminal Violations of U.S. Sanctions Laws • D.C. Circuit Strikes down Administrative Order Requiring Divestment by Foreign-Owned Corporation • United States Adopts New Land Mine Policy • United States Claims That Russia Has Violated the INF Treaty

Trade Secrets, Trade, And Extraterritoriality, Elizabeth A. Rowe, Daniel M. Mahfood

UF Law Faculty Publications

When a foreign individual or company misappropriates the trade secrets of an American company, and the acts of misappropriation occur entirely outside of the United States, the trade secret law of the United States generally will not apply. This represents the principle of extraterritoriality, and identifies a major vulnerability for companies that choose to conduct operations or engage in other business abroad. In such situations, the substantive and procedural laws of another country are likely to define whether the allegedly misappropriated information is protected and has been misappropriated.

Providing a domestic forum to prosecute extraterritorial infringement would substantially benefit domestic …

Cyber War And International Law: Does The International Legal Process Constitute A Threat To U.S. Vital Interests?, John F. Murphy

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Canada's Inadequate Legal Protection Against Industrial Espionage, Emir Crowne, Tasha De Freitas

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Canadian law provides little protection for individuals and corporations against industrial espionage. Akin to the United States' Economic Espionage Act of 1996-with its broad definition of "trade secret" and accompanying protections and remedies-we propose that Canada enact legislation at the federal level to remedy many of the deficiencies that arise in bringing a claim under the usual breach of confidence action.

U.S. Business: Tort Liability For The Transnational Republisher Of Leaked Corporate Secrets, Richard Peltz-Steele

Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Wikileaks, the web enterprise responsible for the unprecedented publication of hundreds of thousands of classified government records, is reshaping fundamental notions of the freedom of information. Meanwhile more than half of records held by Wikileaks are from the private sector, and the organization has promised blockbuster revelations about major commercial players such as big banks and oil companies. This paper examines the potential liability under U.S. business-tort law for Wikileaks as a transnational republisher of leaked corporate secrets. The paper examines the paradigm for criminal liability under the Espionage Act to imagine a construct of civil liability for tortious interference …

The Behavior Of The French Army During The Dreyfus Affair, General André Bach

Touro Law Review

Focuses on the how the French army participated in and influenced the Dreyfus affair. There are three main areas in which the French army played a large role: the incident of espionage, the legal case, and lastly, the political ramifications.

Espionage: Anything Goes?, Karen Jennings

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Practical Considerations In Trade Secret Licensing, Maxim Tsotsorin

Maxim Tsotsorin

In recent years, patents have become a prevalent instrument in technology transfer, both domestically and internationally. Commercializing patents, however, requires transfer of not only the potentially patentable subject matter, but collateral know-how as well. Despite apparent incompatibility of full disclosure required by patents with complete confidentiality of trade secrets that protect know-how, both categories of intellectual property are often combined in a “hybrid” license. Their synergy has been proven to result in successful transfer of technology and in benefiting both the licensee and the licensor. Licensors put their trade secrets at great risk of being lost or misappropriated by either …

Should Cyber Exploitation Ever Constitute A Demonstration Of Hostile Intent That May Violate Un Charter Provisions Prohibiting The Threat Or Use Of Force?, Anna Wortham

Federal Communications Law Journal

More and more, the United States and other countries rely on complex infrastructures that are primarily controlled by information technology. Although extremely destructive cyber threats and attacks against nations are a reality, the laws governing cyber exploitation have not kept pace with this threat. Because the United States and other nations may use cyber capabilities offensively as well as defensively, it is important that the laws for engaging in such cyber conflict be well defined. Currently, it seems unlikely that cyber exploitation can ever be regarded as a threat or use of force under the UN Charter because it is …

Making Fiction Of Facts In The Israeli Spy Case, Kenneth Lasson, Angelo Codevilla, Lawrence J. Korb, John Loftus

All Faculty Scholarship

The authors make the case that Jonathan Pollard, the man convicted of spying for Israel, is again being condemned by new allegations by Martin Peretz in a New Republic article, and by retired Navy Capt. M. E. Bowman. The authors of these new assertions may not know more of the particulars than others in high places who have already publicly supported commuting Pollard's sentence to time served.

U.S. Business: Tort Liability For The Transnational Republisher Of Leaked Corporate Secrets, Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Faculty Publications

Wikileaks, the web enterprise responsible for the unprecedented publication of hundreds of thousands of classified government records, is reshaping fundamental notions of the freedom of information. Meanwhile more than half of records held by Wikileaks are from the private sector, and the organization has promised blockbuster revelations about major commercial players such as big banks and oil companies. This paper examines the potential liability under U.S. business-tort law for Wikileaks as a transnational republisher of leaked corporate secrets. The paper examines the paradigm for criminal liability under the Espionage Act to imagine a construct of civil liability for tortious interference …

Murder And Martial Justice: Spying And Retribution In Wwii America. By Meredith Lentz Adams (Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press, 2011), Millard E. Moon Ed.D.

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

An Unanswered Question In Kennedy V. Louisiana: How Should The Supreme Court Determine The Constitutionality Of The Death Penalty For Espionage?, Sarah Frances Cable

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Jews In Jail, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.