The first was the report in various sources on 24th October about Tim Cook of Apple saying that people’s personal data is being “weaponised with military efficiency” by tech companies. Initially my mind boggled, yet it did not take too much imagination to see how this could be exploited by Governments to conduct non-kinetic warfare, either directly or by proxy. My thoughts were reinforced through my previous research for my recent blog titled ‘Information Warfare – Cyber Warfare by another name’, which noted “The Justice Department said it had received “exceptional cooperation” in its probe from Facebook, Twitter and other “private sector companies” in unmasking Project Lakhta. Well! You can see why Tim Cook “warned about governments abusing users’ data and their trust”. (There are numerous reports on this topic. Here is one: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/apple-tim-cook-data-privacy-gdpr-security-facebook-instagram-google-a8599351.html)
Then, on 26th October, the Daily Telegraph published this article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/10/26/uncle-sam-wants-big-tech-side-10bn-deal/ . The unexpected angle is that whilst the big US technology giants (Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Oracle and IBM) are interested in bidding for the Pentagon’s $10Bn Joint Enterprise Defence Infrastructure (JEDI), many (apparently) of their liberal employees are opposed to what they develop and build being used to wage war, with Google and Microsoft employees writing open letters to this effect. The Google letter was written as far back as April 2018. It states that Google has a moral and ethical responsibility and therefore requested to the CEO that Google nor its contractors should ever build warfare technology. (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/technology/google-letter-ceo-pentagon-project.html ) The Microsoft letter was more recent (October 2018) and states ‘Many Microsoft employees don’t believe that what we build should be used for waging war.’ (https://medium.com/s/story/an-open-letter-to-microsoft-dont-bid-on-the-us-military-s-project-jedi-7279338b7132 )
So what? Two thoughts. First, my imagination is having humorous thoughts about how US Generals reacted to this development. Second, and more seriously, it has started to make me contemplate whether ethical controls can and should be placed on Cyber Warfare. After all the international community has generally long signed up to the Laws of War (Geneva and Hague Conventions) which forbid certain practices and set other conditions. Taking non-kinetic cyber warfare to its potential extreme, it could bring great misery to entire populations, for example, if all power is lost, hospitals cannot function (you might recognise the featured image from the 2017 NHS hack) and the population has no heat and light.
Can such elements of Cyber Warfare be banned? In theory yes, but in practice can anonymous and unattributed cyber attacks be policed effectively? This will need deeper thinking. I may follow up in a later post as I learn more.
Works referenced:
Scott Shane and Daisuke Wakabayashi ‘The Business of War’: Google Employees Protest Work for the Pentagon (2018),<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/technology/google-letter-ceo-pentagon-project.html> [accessed 06/11/2018].
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Margi Murphy, Uncle Sam wants big tech on its side with $10bn deal (2018), <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/10/26/uncle-sam-wants-big-tech-side-10bn-deal/> [accessed 06/11/2018].
Andrew Griffin, Apple boss Tim Cook says people’s Data is being ‘Weaponised with military efficiency’ by Tech companies (2018),<https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/apple-tim-cook-data-privacy-gdpr-security-facebook-instagram-google-a8599351.html> [accessed 06/11/2018].
Employees of Microsoft, An Open Letter to Microsoft: Don’t Bid on the US Military’s Project JEDI (2018),<https://medium.com/s/story/an-open-letter-to-microsoft-dont-bid-on-the-us-military-s-project-jedi-7279338b7132> [accessed 06/11/2018].
View this collection on Medium.com
View this collection on Medium.com
Swansea Student Blog on Cyber Warfare 