2 Contesting Cyberspace and the Coming Crisis of Authority
Ronald Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski
[Essentially contested concepts are] concepts the proper use of which inevitably involves endless
disputes about their proper uses on the part of their users.
— W. B. Gallie
1
In its short life span, the Internet has evolved from a laboratory research tool to a
global immersive environment — called cyberspace — that encompasses all of society,
economics, and politics. It is the communications environment in which all other
activities are now immersed. From the beginning, one of its central characteristics
has been its unusual dynamism — a characteristic facilitated by a distributed architecture formed around a basic common protocol. Typically, innovations can come from
anywhere in the network, at any of its constantly expanding edge locations, and
from any member of its exponentially increasing user base. As the network grows,
so do the innovations — leading to yet more dynamism and unpredictability.
Over several phases of the Internet ’ s evolution, however, a different pressure has
begun shaping the character of cyberspace — the actions of major institutions, such as
states and corporations. Originally conceived of as being too slow, cumbersome, and
antiquated to deal with the swiftly evolving trajectory of digital media, states have
moved rapidly to regulate, shape, intervene, and exercise power in cyberspace across
all its spheres. There is now a burgeoning market for cyber security methods and
services that has emerged as a consequence of, and contributor to, the securitization
of cyberspace. These interventions have been met with growing resistance as users and
others become aware of the stakes involved and as the struggles mount to preserve
cyberspace as an open commons. Cyberspace has thus become an object of intense
contestation in ways that have been unparalleled in its evolution. The impact is only
just beginning to be felt but will have enormous consequences for its character and,
by extension, for global politics.
In this chapter, we examine the increasing struggle for superiority and the competition for power, infl uence, and control that defi nes the contestation of cyberspace. We
Ronald Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski
[Essentially contested concepts are] concepts the proper use of which inevitably involves endless
disputes about their proper uses on the part of their users.
— W. B. Gallie
1
In its short life span, the Internet has evolved from a laboratory research tool to a
global immersive environment — called cyberspace — that encompasses all of society,
economics, and politics. It is the communications environment in which all other
activities are now immersed. From the beginning, one of its central characteristics
has been its unusual dynamism — a characteristic facilitated by a distributed architecture formed around a basic common protocol. Typically, innovations can come from
anywhere in the network, at any of its constantly expanding edge locations, and
from any member of its exponentially increasing user base. As the network grows,
so do the innovations — leading to yet more dynamism and unpredictability.
Over several phases of the Internet ’ s evolution, however, a different pressure has
begun shaping the character of cyberspace — the actions of major institutions, such as
states and corporations. Originally conceived of as being too slow, cumbersome, and
antiquated to deal with the swiftly evolving trajectory of digital media, states have
moved rapidly to regulate, shape, intervene, and exercise power in cyberspace across
all its spheres. There is now a burgeoning market for cyber security methods and
services that has emerged as a consequence of, and contributor to, the securitization
of cyberspace. These interventions have been met with growing resistance as users and
others become aware of the stakes involved and as the struggles mount to preserve
cyberspace as an open commons. Cyberspace has thus become an object of intense
contestation in ways that have been unparalleled in its evolution. The impact is only
just beginning to be felt but will have enormous consequences for its character and,
by extension, for global politics.
In this chapter, we examine the increasing struggle for superiority and the competition for power, infl uence, and control that defi nes the contestation of cyberspace. We