The Cyber Dialogue conference, presented by the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, convened an influential mix of global leaders from government, civil society, academia and private enterprise to participate in a series of facilitated public plenary conversations and working groups around cyberspace security and governance.

Governance without Government in Cyberspace?

As cyberspace continues its rapid growth, embedding itself deeper into everything around us and helping to shape our identities, the models, norms, rules, and principles which have until now governed the US-anchored Internet are coming under stress. As cyber demographics shift to the global South and East, alternative models are being developed outside of the Internet’s old North Atlantic core. New rules and norms are spreading as practices grow and diversify. How to govern cyberspace in our intensely globalized world has become an acute public policy issue, for us all.

In the third annual Cyber Dialogue, participants addressed questions around the theme of “Governance without Government in Cyberspace?” Phrased deliberately as an open question, we interrogated the proper roles and limits for public and private authority in cyberspace across a range of fundamental issues. What power can states, private companies, and civil society exercise in this domain? What is the appropriate balance of power among the increasingly diverse set of cyber stakeholders, from the local to the global? Who, and whose values, will set the stage for the future of cyberspace governance? What are the checks and balances?

BLOG - News from The Dialogue

April 3rd, 2013 // Preventing Jail Time and Torture with IOCs – by Brandon Dixon

Last month I was fortunate enough to attend the 2013 Cyber Dialogue conference hosted in Toronto, Canada. Despite much of the conference centering around policy, privacy and governance, I really enjoyed myself and surely plan to go back next year. … Continue reading →

March 25th, 2013 // Cyberespionage and retribution – by Stewart Baker

I’ve become a big proponent of adding deterrence – really punishment – to our menu of responses to massive cyberespionage. Those who used to argue that we can’t identify our attackers have been largely silenced by an avalanche of attribution … Continue reading →

March 18th, 2013 // Cyber Governance without Government? – by Rex Hughes

Even though Internet enabled cyberspace is roughly a quarter century old, we continue to gather at international fora to debate the proper role of government in its governance. Unfortunately, this intellectual task has taken on greater urgency in recent years … Continue reading →

March 16th, 2013 // Regulating the Market for Zero-day Exploits: Look to the demand side – by Milton Mueller

A market has developed in which specialized firms discover new vulnerabilities in software and sell that knowledge for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. These vulnerabilities are known as “zero day exploits” because there is no advance knowledge of … Continue reading →

March 15th, 2013 // Director Ron Deibert and Senior Researcher Sarah McKune Op-Ed on Canadian involvement in Internet censorship and surveillance

Citizen Lab and Canada Centre for Global Security Studies Director Ron Deibert and Senior Researcher Sarah McKune wrote an op-ed on the digital arms trade in the 13 March edition of the Ottawa Citizen. The piece highlighted Canadian involvement in … Continue reading →

March 15th, 2013 // Realism Endures: Why States Seek Digital Arms and Will Continue to Do So – by John B. Sheldon

Why is there an emerging market in so-called ‘digital arms’? More particularly, where is the demand for digital arms coming from? Just as James Lewis, writing elsewhere in this forum, asks what it is that regulation of the digital arms … Continue reading →

March 14th, 2013 // Cyber Stewards Join the Dialogue

At the Citizen Lab and Canada Centre for Global Security Studies, we believe that it is essential that the process of cyber securitization taking place in the South includes local voices, who can articulate a vision of cyber security in … Continue reading →

March 13th, 2013 // You Only Click Twice: FinFisher’s Global Proliferation – by Morgan Marquis-Boire, Bill Marczak, Claudio Guarnieri, and John Scott-Railton

This research brief, authored by Morgan Marquis-Boire, Security Researcher with the Citizen Lab, Bill Marczak, Claudio Guarnieri, and John Scott-Railton, Research Fellow with the Citizen Lab, describes the results of a comprehensive global Internet scan for the command and control … Continue reading →

March 13th, 2013 // Governance for a Domain Constructed – by Chris Bronk

“Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns or detective stories.” Arthur C. Clarke As cyber issues become a more significant element of geopolitics, they attract more attention from policymakers. Today, those in positions of economic and political leadership are concerned … Continue reading →

March 13th, 2013 // Facing the Costs of an Open Internet – by Karl Kathuria

The future of openness on the Internet is currently the subject of wide debate. Having started with engineers defining standards through informal mechanisms, it has grown through a multi-stakeholder approach, taking in the private sector, public sector, informal and formal … Continue reading →