Dropping Cyber Norms: What They are & How They Will Shape the Internet

There is a growing call for the establishment of ‘cyber norms’ to guide acceptable behavior in the digital domain. After years of discussion about cyber norms at the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts, negotiations fell apart last year with little sign of revival. Given the inability of governments to establish these norms, corporations have taken it upon themselves to establish these rules of the road. However, there are significant hurdles to norm implementation and diffusion, including the technical difficulty of compliance, and overcoming significant collective action problems that emerge due to so many conflicting interests. Despite these hurdles, both U.S. corporations and the U.S. government must push forth to establish the rules of road that support democratic values and the benefits of a free, open, and secure internet. Absent American leadership, other countries are stepping forth to fill the global vacuum and asserting norms that are antithetical to a free and open internet and individual privacy. This presentation will discuss the opportunities and challenges of cyber norm diffusion, including recent failed efforts at the UN, as well as the emergence of private-sector driven initiatives such as the Tech Accord currently signed by forty-four companies and Siemen’s Charter of Trust. I will conclude with the outlook for norm establishment at this critical inflection point in time. Andrea Little Limbago (Chief Social Scientist at Endgame) Andrea Little Limbago is the Chief Social Scientist at Endgame, where she researches and writes on geopolitics and cybersecurity, data science, and directs the company’s technical content. Her writing has been featured in numerous outlets, including Politico, the Hill, Business Insider, and Christian Science Monitor. She also presents at a range of security, government and academic conferences, covering cybersecurity topics from norms to bots to attack trends. She previously taught in academia and was an analyst at the Department of Defense, where she earned a top award for technical excellence. Andrea holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she taught international relations and foreign policy courses, and a Bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College.