TLS Highlights
Save the Date! September 15 - 17: Navigating Emerging Gaps & Seams
Upwards of 100 States, either directly or through regional organizations, have now weighed in on the important questions of whether and how international law applies to cyber operations. 听While some concordance of views is evident, significant areas of discordance have emerged as well. 听The relatively unprecedented and growing use of national statements鈥攊n the form of official speeches, papers, or contributions to United Nations processes鈥攖o express States鈥 views has also raised questions about their normative function and whether the views offered are creating, intentionally or not, a form of lex specialis of international law tailored to the cyber and information context. 听And if not, what normative implications do these emerging positions have for the interpretation and application of international law rules outside of the cyber context? What are the implications of states remaining silent on certain issues, or not issuing positions at all? At the same time, cyber and information conflict has not abated, and the pace, sophistication, and impact of these threats will only increase with the introduction of artificial intelligence and other technological advances. 听How international law responds to these developments, especially at a time of heightened instability, should remain at the top of States鈥 agendas.
The Tech, Law, & Security Program (TLS) is excited to once again host our annual symposium at the 小蓝视频 Washington College of Law on September 15-17, 2025 in partnership with: The Lieber Institute, West Point, The Federmann Cyber Security Research Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore and The NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. 听The Fourth Annual Symposium on Cyber and International Law鈥擭avigating Emerging Gaps & Seams, will again bring together leading experts from across the globe to address this timely and important topic.
Register .听
Necessity, Proportionality, and Executive Order 14086.
TLS Senior Project Director Alex Joel provides an in-depth explanation of听how EO 14086 addresses the Schrems II concerns regarding necessity and proportionality.听The terms 鈥渘ecessary鈥 and 鈥減roportionate鈥 have specialized meanings under the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. The paper examines in depth how the EO articulates and explains those terms, interpreting them in light of U.S. law and legal traditions. View the report and the larger听Privacy Across Borders Project here.听
Content governance in the shadows: How Telcos & Other Infrastructure companies "Moderate" Online Content.
TLS Senior Fellow听Prem M. Trivedi听addresses significant policy challenges in online content governance activities by non-application layer internet infrastructure companies. In addition to exploring the nuances of the challenges, the paper makes recommendations for telcos to improve transparency about their practices and for how all non-application layer companies can consider substantive content governance principles. This paper is part of the TLS Addressing Harmful Content Online Project and is supported, in part, by the Anti-Defamation League. View the paper .听
Data Localization and Government Access to Data Stored abroad: Discussion Paper 2.
The Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL) and Tech, Law & Security Program (TLS) have been collaborating on a project regarding data localization policies. As data localization is increasingly gaining traction, we seek to understand the different dimensions of the impacts and effectiveness of these policies. As part of this collaboration鈥擟IPL published a paper on the 鈥渞eal life鈥 business, societal, and consumer impacts of data localization policies and TLS published the present paper on whether data localization measures are legally effective in achieving one of their main ostensible purposes, i.e., to prevent foreign government access to data. View the paper .听
Combating Ransomware: One Year On.
This new paper revisits key ideas from the 鈥淐ombating Ransomware鈥 webinar series in view of ransomware鈥檚 evolution over the past year; identifies progress that has been made in the fight against ransomware; and identifies actionable recommendations for the future. These include recommendations designed to strengthen cyber defense, cyber offense, law enforcement efforts, the U.S. cyber incident reporting regime, cryptocurrency efforts, and international efforts. This report was jointly authored by V. Gerald Comizio, Gary Corn听(TLS Program Director), William Deckelman (TLS Advisory Board Member), Karl Hopkins (TLS Advisory Board Member), Mark Hughes, Patrick McCarty, Sujit Raman听(TLS Senior Fellow), Kurt Sanger, Ari Schwartz, Melanie Teplinsky听(TLS Senior Fellow), and Jackson Colling听(former TLS Student Fellow). View the report .听
Protecting Children in the Age of End-to-End Encryption.
Senior Project Director Laura Draper explores how to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse when end-to-end encryption obscures the government鈥檚 access.听Conversations about online child sexual exploitation and abuse often devolve into no-win arguments about the merits (or lack thereof) of end-to-end encryption. TLS Senior Project Director Laura Draper sidesteps this debate in the new report, Protecting Children in the Age of End-to-End Encryption, by assuming end-to-end encryption is here to stay, and focusing on how we can collaborate to combat these harms. 听View the project and report.听