Sovereignty

Questions

1. Is sovereignty a foundational principle of the international legal order?

2. Does sovereignty confer on states authority over cyber infrastructure located in their respective territories and over the actions they take with respect to that infrastructure?

2.1 Does sovereignty encompass the right of a State to protect cyber infrastructure and safeguard cyber activity that is located in, or takes place on, its territory?

2.2 Does sovereignty encompass the right of a State to control government data stored or transmitted inside its territory?

2.3 Does sovereignty encompass the right of a State to control data of its nationals stored or transmitted inside its territory?

2.4 Does sovereignty encompass the right of a State to control government data stored or transmitted outside their its territory?

2.5 Does sovereignty encompass the right of a State to control data of its nationals stored or transmitted outside its territory?

2.6 Is the exercise of such sovereign authority subject to international human rights law and other fundamental freedoms?

3. Is sovereignty a stand-alone, primary rule of international law, the breach of which can incur international responsibility?

3.1 Can violations of sovereignty not amounting to prohibited interventions constitute internationally wrongful acts?

4. Does the State indicate how to identify a violation of any stand-alone sovereignty rule?

5. Is it a violation of territorial sovereignty for an organ of a State, or others whose conduct is attributable to the State, to conduct non-consensual cyber operations while physically present on another State’s territory against that State or entities or persons on its territory?

6. Can state cyber operations that cause physical effects in another state’s territory constitute a violation of sovereignty as a rule?

6.1 Do any physical effects constitute a violation?

6.2 Must the effects involve physical damage to computer infrastructure or other tangible things, or injury to persons, to constitute a violation of sovereignty as a rule?

6.2.i. Must the effect of a cyber operation to computer infrastructure require repair or replacement of physical components to qualify as damage?

6.3 Do only cyber operations generating significant physical effects within another State’s territory constitute a violation?

7. Can state cyber operations that cause a loss to computer functionality in another State’s territory constitute a violation of sovereignty as a rule?

7.1 Is the rule violated by a cyber operation generating any functionality losses within another state’s territory?

7.2 Is the rule violated by a cyber operation generating significant functionality losses within another state’s territory?

7.3 Is the rule violated by a cyber operation generating systemic functionality losses within another state’s territory?

8. Can state cyber operations that interfere with another state’s “inherent governmental functions” constitute a violation of sovereignty as a rule?

9. Must there be proximate causation between the state cyber operation and the effects or interference prohibited by sovereignty as a rule?

9.1 Must the state cyber operation generate prohibited effects directly?

9.2 Do prohibited effects indirectly generated by a state cyber operation constitute a violation of sovereignty as a rule?

10. Can state cyber operations that deny access to or degrade data in the control of another State constitute a violation of sovereignty as a rule?

10.1 Do state sponsored ransomware operations violate the sovereignty of another State?

10.2 Can state cyber operations against data residing in cloud servers outside of a State’s territorial jurisdiction constitute a violation of sovereignty as a rule?

10.3 Does the exercise of one State’s law enforcement tools via cyber means in the networks or systems of another State’s territory violate the sovereignty of the latter State?

11. Do State cyber operations that interfere at any level with critical infrastructure in another State constitute a violation of sovereignty as a rule?

12. Can State cyber operations that cause significant national economic impacts for another State constitute a violation of sovereignty as a rule?

13. Does cyber espionage by one State in or transiting networks or hardware resident in another State constitute a violation of sovereignty as a rule?

13.1 Can gaining unauthorized access to computer systems or data within a State’s sovereign control violate the rules of sovereignty?

14. Are violations of sovereignty assessed on a case-by-case basis?

Visualizations

Sovereignty

Sankey Diagram

The states and their responses to all questions in the issue area.

See more →

Sovereignty and Democracy Index Score

Sankey Diagram

Relationship democracy index score -> sovereignty responses.

See more →

Sovereignty: EU States to EU Comparison

Table

Comparison of how the EU responses compare to its member states

See more →

Sovereignty: EU States to NON-EU Comparison

Table

Comparison of how the EU responses compare to non-member states

See more →

Sovereignty: By Country

Scatter Plot

Country profile for issue area.

See more →