Q: In a few words, can you tell us about yourself and how you found your way to the academic world?
My first forays into academic research began here at the Law Faculty, during my student years. Initially, I researched (both on my own and with wonderful colleagues and professors), on a range of international law topics such as the law of international water resources, especially those shared by Israel and its neighbours; and the international status of Jerusalem and arrangements for settling the legal and administrative challenges it poses. Then I got bitten by the cyber bug – although it wasn’t yet called that. My LL.M. thesis focused on international telecommunication law (ITL) which led directly to teaching and writing on what we now call “cyber law” – and a 13-year stint as a practitioner in the Ministry of Communications’ Legal Bureau and Director-General’s Bureau.
At the Ministry during the 1990’s and early 2000’s, the regulatory challenges of the time included rolling out mobile telephony, the national cable and wireless networks, modernized satellite consortia that included state and non-state parties, and the Internet. Israel was engaged with these challenges of course at the same time that other countries were, so there was a compelling case for comparative research as to the various models that were actually being implemented elsewhere, more or less in conformity with ITL and other aspects of international law. I was lucky to have the opportunity to take part.
Along the way, I’ve also had the privilege of working for a few great organizations that really schooled me in different modes of thinking, analysing and implementing research results when they’re both relevant and feasible. These included the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where I did my required legal internship (“stage”), the Reut Institute, and the Wexner Foundation.
Q: What is the main core of your research? Can you give an example or two?
It makes the most sense to me to focus on the intersection and overlap of cyber law with international telecommunication law. ITL addresses many legal aspects of cyber infrastructures, such as Wi-Fi, GPS and other wireless communications, wired computer and communications networks, satellites, submarine cables, and mobile phone networks, which are really the “plumbing” of cyberspace. Ï believe that this connection is substantive, critical and informative as cyber law continues to develop, given the robust normative content of ITL and the extensive state practice around these norms. Two examples of initiatives in which I’ve participated recently that allowed me to move ahead with this direction of research and writing. The first is the Tallinn 2.0 Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations, for which Professor Mike Schmitt of this Center served as General Editor and which was guided by his exceptional academic and personal leadership. The second is the current MILAMOS project, an acronym for “Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space”, under the sponsorship of McGill University, the University of Adelaide and the University of Exeter. For this Manual I’m a member of the group responsible for outer space law, and as such we’re engaged with working out the lex lata regarding cyber-enabled satellite communications between Earth and outer space and in outer space itself.
Q: Why choose this area over all others? Did your personal or professional background lead you to it?
I loved the years at the Ministry of Communications that allowed me to work on the legal ramifications of implementing the cutting-edge communications technologies of the time, at both the domestic and international levels. Modern communications are by nature global in their scope. This was true even at the beginning of internet connectivity, mobile cellphone networks, and satellite consortia that needed regulatory attention. The transition in thinking to accommodate communications through cyberspace is a turbo-charged transition, but a logical one.
Do you think that in this cyber age these issues are even more complex compared to other times in history? If so - in what ways?
The increasing complexity of most contemporary legal issues is, I think, a given. The World Economic Forum has characterized the cyber aspects of this complexity “digital hyperconnectivity” – introducing yet another cyber buzz word - and I believe that the term captures the sense that we’re onto something completely unprecedented and that moves very, very quickly.
To my mind, one effect of this change is that academic scholarship, and especially cyber law research and practice, can no longer afford the insularity that once characterized and honed it. We can no longer work alone with any true intellectual honesty: it’s imperative to cross the lines of disciplines, approaches, and cultures to work with colleagues who bring fresh perspectives and thinking to bear on the legal challenges we need to resolve. This is certainly true for cybersecurity law, which carries a significant technological “payload”.
Q: What is the next phase in your professional life?
I’m working on two main topics right now. First, a study of the regulation of information sharing regimes for bolstering cybersecurity in the global financial sector. Second, my legal practice (in close conjunction with a Tel Aviv cybersecurity firm), is focusing on data protection for private organizations that have a global business scope, especially under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation which is coming into force in May 2018. The recent CSRC Conference on Cyber Challenges to International Human Rights was also a great opportunity to research and present on the legality of internet “kill switches” under international law.
Q: What is your message to the public?
As Israeli academics and practitioners we have not done enough, I think, in terms of public outreach to help clarify some basic cyber law issues and concerns. Nor have we listened hard enough to digital natives, digital Luddites, and those in-between to better understand what people want and need from this new realm. So if the stars align, perhaps the leadership of this Center, and its excellent talent, energies and resources might help to convene a public conversation around some of the more pressing issues of cyber law.
