Think Global, Act Local: Extraterritoriality in Cyberspace

Abstract

It is uncontroversial that states are entitled to apply their national laws to foreign cyberspace actors where the cyberspace activity has effects in the state. This article argues, however, that states should wherever possible not do so. Laws which are in practice unenforceable reduce the normative force of law as a whole and create the risk that otherwise respectable cyberspace actors will become deliberate lawbreakers. Instead states should attempt to reduce the reach of their laws into cyberspace except where doing so is the only way to protect an essential interest of the state.