Cyberspace: what is it?

A vast term than that of cyberspace! If in the collective imagination, cyberspace is loosely defined as being the equivalent ofInternet, it is a world however much more complex to apprehend. So how can we clearly characterize this universe ? What are its limits, threats and laws?

Cyberspace is, as its name suggests, a space related to the Web, Internet, multimedia. It is an intangible, intangible and borderless expanse where an immeasurable amount of data is exchanged. digital. Since the democratization of the web in the 1990s, these have become colossal so much that they have been called big data. We also talk about bigdata. But cyberspace isn’t just about exchanging data, it’s a vast and complex field.

Defining cyberspace

This intangible and borderless place is nevertheless fully anchored in the world physical. A paradox which means that cyberspace is not always easy to define or to master. This implies that there is not a single definition, but a multitude, highlighting the various dimensions that compose it. However, to the question ” what is cyberspace? ”, It would be possible to designate it simply. Thus, it is both all the elements that make up the Internet, starting from cables, servers, routers until satellites and connected devices present in the physical and political territory.

But cyberspace is also an area where information, ideas, programs and interconnected services revolve and where actors, located on both sides of the world, communicate. These interconnections give rise to a massive expanse of stored and shared data. In addition, cyberspace is not restricted, it continues to expand as the activities that develop there daily grow. We are talking about a virtual place, but it is nevertheless based on important expensive entities that no one is really aware of. Indeed, the data gravitates in this space at a speed dazzling speed which greatly reduces the distances between the various actors, offering rapid access to a multitude of data.

What are the origins of cyberspace?

The word cyberspace is first mentioned in the science fiction novel by William gibson, Neuromancer, published in 1984. He describes it in these terms, considering that it is ” a hallucination consensus lived daily legally by tens of millions of operators, in all countries, by kids taught the concepts of mathematics … A graphic representation of data extracted from the memories of all computers in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Traits of lights arranged in the non-space of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights in the distance … It must be said that this early definition of cyberspace strongly echoes the one conveyed today, more formal and less literary.

Later, in 1996, John Perry Barlow, founder of EFF (Electronic Frontière Foundation, International NGO for the protection of freedoms) and considered one of the pioneers of the Internet, writes the Declaration of independence of cyberspace. Through this publication, he explains that this universe has its own functioning and that the laws that govern the states of the physical world cannot apply to the virtual world that is cyberspace. Some Internet users, hacktivists, have taken hold of this definition and are fighting against attempts to curb thefree flow of data on the Web.

Cyberspace and the Laws

It is extremely complex to administer governance within cyberspace; nevertheless, it is not a place devoid of laws and therefore not a zone of lawlessness. But then, how to govern this vast space? Ultimately, nations are forced to rethink their laws so that they can extend to cyberspace. It is subject to an imbroglio of jurisdictions.

For example, France can enforce its cyberspace laws on its National territory. But this is where the subject becomes more complex. If a natural person, a company or a French infrastructure is attacked – this is called a cyberattack – the evidence can be found outside the territory. Indeed, criminals of the web have the leisure to work remotely. They use platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok whose head offices are located abroad and over which the French State has no authority. International cooperation procedures on a subject as complex as cyberspace are often slow to be established to the detriment of the victims. This raises the question of cybersecurity.

Cyberspace, a secure place?

Security in cyberspace is still too recent a subject for legal frameworks to be fully established and there is still no international body to regulate, secure, act and protect its users. The perpetual evolution of cyberspace makes this task difficult. Nevertheless, in the face of the rise of cyber attacks, cybercrime, cyber espionage, cyber threats and the vulnerability of certain infrastructures, nations are trying to cope with.

This is the case of France with the proposal of a text by President Macron drawn up during the Paris Call for Confidence and Cybersecurity in Cyberspace and signed by 67 countries, global giants of the digital industry, a large number of companies and NGOs in November 2018. It proposes a code of good conduct between these entities, which, obviously, is not and will not be respected by non-signatory countries. It therefore becomes opportune for a large number of actors to register for cybersecurity training to better control it, if not to apprehend its outlines.

Cyberspace is no longer just a vast open territory, it is becoming a place within which we must enforce its laws, borders, and sovereignty. It becomes necessary to conquer it in order to better control and monitor it.