Words Can Never Hurt Me: Cyber Technologies, Satellite Information Flows, and Liability for Space Activities
- Paper number
IAC-14,E7,5,3,x21808
- Author
Mr. PJ Blount, LL.M. in Air and Space Law, United States
- Year
2014
- Abstract
The extent to which the Liability Convention can be applied to the spectrum possible imaginable scenarios for damage is a perennially debated notion in international space law. This debate is fueled as technology changes. Recently, the debate has focused on damage caused by information flows from emanating from satellites. This is the result of increasing technical convergence which has been made possible by cyber-technologies. Technological convergence is the process through which technologies to merge and become indistinguishable, and it forces legal questions by creating “new” technology that challenges established regulatory frameworks. As a result, a number of scholars have begun to address whether damage caused by data flows can be covered by the Liability Convention. This paper will argue that such damage, for the most part, exists outside the scope of the Liability Convention. It will begin by briefly surveying the debate surrounding the issue of liability for satellite data flows. It will then explain the concept of technological convergence as a process central to understanding the application of legal principles. Next, it will analyze the applicable law in light of technological convergence and argue that application of the Liability Convention to data flows stretches the Convention too far. Finally, it will argue that regardless of textual interpretation, political reality is such that the non-applicability of the Liability Convention is likely the de facto state of international law.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-14,E7,5,3,x21808.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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