Cyberspaces and Global Affairs.

• Author: Burton, Joe
• Position: Book review

Cyberspaces and Global Affairs

Edited by: Sean S. Costigan and Jake Perry

Published by: Ashgate Publishing, Farnham, 2012, 404pp, 75 [pounds sterling].

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Information technology is changing the way we view territory and having a far reaching impact on global affairs. This book is a commendable and comprehensive attempt to map those changes and to evaluate the increasingly dominant role technology plays in our political, economic, social and cultural lives. It also addresses some important questions, such as whether there is a growing divide between the global haves and have-nots in computer technology, whether the world is truly benefiting from technological change, and whether technology is enhancing or harming societal cohesion.

The book is well structured. Part I is a collection of chapters analysing cyber security and the military and strategic elements of technological change, including the growing threat of cyber warfare, the role of information technology in managing conflicts, cyber-crime and cyber-terrorism. Nat Katin-Borland's contribution to this section is particularly intriguing. He posits the question: is an attack against Google an attack against the United States? As he points out, Google is a US company but with a truly global reach, providing not just a search engine, but global mapping, satellite imagery, mobile devices, video sharing (through youtube), email, advertising, and social networking services. Katin-Borland examines the December 2009 cyber-attacks against Google, and the US administration's response, arguing that this was a pivotal moment when information systems were classified as 'critical infrastructure'. The chapter brings home the reliance governments now have on the private sector, and the need for close co-operation between the two in enhancing cyber security.

Part II moves from security issues to social media and its impact on the relationship between individuals, groups and governments. The increasing use of social media in public diplomacy is examined by Hannes Richter, and there is an interesting chapter by Fabien Miard on the use of mobile phones in political activism. It is staggering to think that by 2007 half of the people on the planet owned a mobile phone! One of the most compelling chapters in this section is by Deborah Wheeler, who looks at the role of information technology in the Middle East, arguing that access to information may be a double-edged sword, allowing...