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Upon signing the General Act at the close of the United Nations Conference on Freedom of Information, held at Geneva in March and April, 1948, General Carlos P. Romulo, its President, declared that some day that document might be regarded as the Magna Carta of freedom of thought and expression.1 While this view may be somewhat over-optimistic, undoubtedly the Conference showed a balance-sheet of substantial accomplishment. Opening in an atmosphere of deep pessimism contrasting with the brighter ambiance of 1946 when the idea of a conference was launched, the Conference closed with what may be called a victory of limited objectives.

This article contributes to a special symposium on science fiction and international law, examining the blurry lines between science and fiction in the policy discussions concerning the military use of lethal autonomous robots. In response to projects that attempt to build military robots that comport with international humanitarian law [IHL], we investigate whether and how the introduction of lethal autonomous robots might skew international humanitarian norms. Although IHL purports to be a technologically-neutral approach to calculating a proportionate, discriminate, and militarily necessary response, we contend that it permits a deterministic mode of thinking, expanding the scope of that which is perceived of as "necessary" once the technology is adopted. Consequently, we argue, even if lethal autonomous robots comport with IHL, they will operate as a force multiplier of military necessity, thus skewing the proportionality metric and amplifying new forms of destructive, lethal force.

One of the most serious threats to a modern country's trade, industry and long-term economic development is cyber espionage and insiders. The activities are directed against high-technological industries and companies with advanced basic research. The defence and telecoms sectors are of particular interest, just as biotechnics, medical and material technology. Behind this kind of espionage there may be individual states and security services as well as competing companies. One trend is that criminal players are getting involved both as thieves and fences of information. Computerisation and the development of the Internet drastically increase the possibility of procuring sensitive information through illegal means. This can be done in different ways. In the paper the convergence between industrial- and cyber espionage are discussed. A number of examples are provided of different kinds of espionage as well as some of the methods that is used to collect information over the Internet – such as signals intelligence, monitoring of traffic, penetration and overtaking of computers with the aid of trojans. Examples are given on succesful cybertheft operations such as the operation Buckshot Yankee and the Chinese Ghostnet. The paper ends with a discussion on how to improve information security in organisations in order to reduce the risks for illegitimate information drainage.

The public-private dichotomy of warfare is crumbling down as governments are voluntarily surrendering one of the essential and defining attributes of statehood: the state's monopoly on the legitimate use of force, leading to the privatization of war and conflicts

This selected bibliography has been prepared as part of the preparation for an NCGIA Initiative on Law, Information Policy, and Spatial Databases. Articles have been placed within one of the following categories: Freedom of Information, Open Records, and Government Charges for Information; Privacy; Copyright, Patent, and Trade Secrets; Computer Contracts, Licensing, Electronic Document Interchange, and Encryption; Liability and Admissibility; and General Books, Articles, and Bibliographies. Although numerous articles in some of the categories covered by this bibliography are contained in the popular and general academic literature, this bibliography has focused on inclusion of articles contained in the law literature and GIS literature. We have also avoided references to specific court cases and legislation in the bibliography.