The Cyberlaw Podcast: Robots and Cyber and Space, Oh My! The Pantsing of International Humanitarian Law

In a delightfully iconoclastic new book, Jeremy Rabkin and John Yoo take the air out of 75 years of inflated claims about the law of war. They do it, not for its own sake, though God knows that would be enough, but as a prelude to discussing how to use the new weapons–robots, space, and cyber–that technology makes possible. Brian Egan and I interview Jeremy Rabkin about these and other aspects of “Striking Power: How Cyber, Robots, and Space Weapons Change the Rules for War."

In the news roundup, cell tower simulators, aka stingrays, take another hit as a divided DC Court of Appeals says warrants are required before they can be used.

Maury Shenk sees good news for industry in the recent meetings between Commissioner Jourova and Secretary Ross; the European Commission is giving every sign of wanting to avoid yet another fight over Privacy Shield, though hotter heads in Europe may yet prevail.

Brian Egan opines on Robert Strayer’s appointment as deputy assistant secretary of state for cyber and international communications and information policy–and the reorganization that his appointment cements for now.

Stewart and Jeremy unpack the implications of the CCleaner attack, and its lessons for advocates of hacking back.

The FTC took a hit–but not a fatal one–from Judge Donato in the D-Link case.

And the OPM breach suits have been dismissed; I conclude that the grounds for dismissal raise questions, but it was, in the end, a mercy killing, since maintaining a class was likely to be impossible.

Julian Assange’s effort to rebrand himself as something other than a Russian stooge spurs skepticism from the panel. As Maury points out, the (only) Russian data leak Wikileaks has posted is more marketing release than a blown whistle.

Embarrassingly, the SEC admits that it was hacked and that the stolen data was likely used for insider trading.

As always The Cyberlaw Podcast is open to feedback. Send your questions, suggestions for interview candidates or topics to CyberlawPodcast@steptoe.com or leave a message at +1 202 862 5785.

Subscribe to The Cyberlaw Podcast here. We are also on iTunes, Pocket Casts, and Google Play (available for Android and Google Chrome)!

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

Steptoe partner Stewart Baker (right) with Jeremy Rabkin.