Comments on: Cyberwar: can treaties avert an arms race http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/blogger/2009/06/27/cyberwar-can-treaties-avert-an-arms-race/ EBB is the ebiquity research group\\\'s blog at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). We focus on technologies that facilitate the design, implementation and control of distributed, intelligent information systems -- mobile and pervasive computing, ad hoc networking, multiagent systems, knowledge representation and reasoning, and the semantic web. As the tides of technology ebb and flow, we hope the good ideas wash up on our beach and the bad ones drift back out to sea. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:39:45 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Seinberg http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/blogger/2009/06/27/cyberwar-can-treaties-avert-an-arms-race/comment-page-1/#comment-29794 Seinberg Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:51:56 +0000 http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/blogger/?p=2067#comment-29794 Russia wants the treaty because of the incredible brain drain of Russian scientists (particularly of Computer Scientists), many to the US (including to UMBC!), and their inability to keep them in the country. The US doesn't want the treaty because it's at a distinct advantage, with the best schools and a significant portion of the world's (good to great) Computer Scientists. Plus, even if it's decreasing somewhat during the recession, a significant portion of the world's highly educated continue to pour in to (and stay in) the US. Russia has lots of great scientists, but far fewer, and far fewer resources to build a massive cyber warfare unit. Russia must see themselves as particularly vulnerable on this issue, whereas this is something in which the US is still far and away the technology leader of the world (CS/IT/Cyber-whatever). Makes total sense from a political standpoint, at least in the near-term until (unless?) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRIC" rel="nofollow">BRIC</a> counters in the next ~10 years. But then, even among the BRIC group there's significant in-fighting, e.g. historical stand-off-ish-ness between Russia and China. Call me cynical, but I think the US is very unlikely to ceed on this issue anytime soon. And I have a very hard time believing it has anything to do with wanting to limit totalitarian regimes from censoring its citizens, unless the US sees censorship as a way to collect information the US might not otherwise gain. Russia wants the treaty because of the incredible brain drain of Russian scientists (particularly of Computer Scientists), many to the US (including to UMBC!), and their inability to keep them in the country. The US doesn’t want the treaty because it’s at a distinct advantage, with the best schools and a significant portion of the world’s (good to great) Computer Scientists. Plus, even if it’s decreasing somewhat during the recession, a significant portion of the world’s highly educated continue to pour in to (and stay in) the US. Russia has lots of great scientists, but far fewer, and far fewer resources to build a massive cyber warfare unit. Russia must see themselves as particularly vulnerable on this issue, whereas this is something in which the US is still far and away the technology leader of the world (CS/IT/Cyber-whatever). Makes total sense from a political standpoint, at least in the near-term until (unless?) BRIC counters in the next ~10 years. But then, even among the BRIC group there’s significant in-fighting, e.g. historical stand-off-ish-ness between Russia and China.

Call me cynical, but I think the US is very unlikely to ceed on this issue anytime soon. And I have a very hard time believing it has anything to do with wanting to limit totalitarian regimes from censoring its citizens, unless the US sees censorship as a way to collect information the US might not otherwise gain.

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