We explore how cybersecurity should be incorporated into corporate governance and develop a specific framework for implementing it. We consider different types of cybersecurity incidents, such as ransomware and data leaks, and their impacts on companies. We then discuss how cybersecurity situates in the current corporate governance theoretical framework. Based on the Resource Dependency Theory (RDT), we develop a specific governance framework with a focus on the role of chief cybersecurity officer, the audit committee, the regulatory powers, and market enforcement mechanisms. As more companies are becoming digital native and more services provided are digital in the Web3 space, this chapter is policy relevant as it provides a theoretical basis for implementing cybersecurity within companies in the digital space and a specific framework for the implementation.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the rapid development of digital technologies occurs, which can be used both for the benefit of the majority of the population and to the detriment. According to the new view of the future of digital democracy, it should use decentralized digital instruments of digital public infrastructure (DPI) to achieve universal progress and development. These tools should be decentralized voting, digital identification, digital money. Each of these categories is mutually associated in real time with other categories. These technologies are also collectively called Web3. The opponent of digital democracy is a dictatorship that can use the same digital tools, but created in another way, through centralization. At the same time, freedom and justice cannot be achieved by usurpation of power through the centralization of new digital instruments. The digital dictatorship, where most citizens are operated to increase the welfare of a small group of people through fear and coercion should not be a goal. The digital dictatorship should be rejected by the current generation.
Tema završnog rada je utjecaj kriptovaluta na međunarodno poslovanje. Nalazimo se u digitalnom dobu, svjedoci smo velikih promjena, pa tako i onih ekonomskih. Tržište kriptovaluta cvjeta te nastavlja rasti enormnom brzinom. Kriptovalute su svakako dio naše budućnosti, iako nisu savršene i imaju svojim mana, zasigurno primjećujemo njihove prednosti pogotovo u međunarodnom poslovanju, olakšavaju prekograničnu trgovinu i smanjuju transakcijske troškove. Cilj rada je objasniti pojam i nastanak kriptovaluta te njihov utjecaj na međunarodno poslovanje. U radu su dani primjeri korištenja kriptovaluta, opisane su prednosti i nedostaci njihova korištenja u odnosu na tradicionalne financijske sustave.
AI as the first line of defense for cybersecurity, the goal was to keep the cyber-criminals at bay, but in case they managed to get in and infiltrate the network, we need to initiate the second line of defense – blockchain. New blockchain platforms are stepping up to address security concerns in the face of recent breaches. Transactions in the blockchain can be audited and traced. Since a blockchain system is protected with the help of ledgers and cryptographic keys, attacking and manipulating it becomes extremely difficult. Blockchain decentralizes the systems by distributing ledger data on several systems rather than storing them on one single network. The confidentiality of network members is high due to the public-key cryptography that authenticates users and encrypts their transactions. The distributed ledger ensures the protection of data against modification or destruction.
This thesis examines the responses of diverse states and political systems to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. It also aims to understand the underlying factors. The thesis is positioned within the realms of political economy and comparative politics and seeks to understand how different political systems, including democratic and authoritarian regimes, respond to technology in general and blockchain specifically. Through a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative analyses, this study provides insights into states' orientations and the reasons behind them. Contrary to the hypothesis that cryptocurrencies and blockchains are threats to states, the research refutes this notion with 99% confidence intervals based on a comprehensive study of 87 countries. It reveals a moderate positive correlation between a state's level of democracy and its adoption of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. However, caution is warranted as authoritarian countries have found ways to utilize this technology for control. Additionally, bureaucratic challenges and political instability place democratic states at a disadvantage in the broader technological race. Economic power positively influences a state's ability to introduce its Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), while economically struggling countries make progress in issuing CBDCs to address their challenges. The use of cryptocurrencies in the Russia-Ukraine conflict indicates the need for further study on their potential role in conflicts. The lack of international efforts to legalize cryptocurrencies reduces states' regulatory influence. This thesis culminates by generating hypotheses for future research and holds implications for investors, states, and international entities.
Accelerated technological development has brought many novelties, among which is distributed ledger technology (DLT), often called blockchain (BC). BC is perceived as a peer-to-peer distributed immutable ledger that could revolutionize economies, societies and even our daily lives. All protocols for dealing with data and transactions are coded with an algorithm, so there is no need to trust the other contracting party or the intermediary. With the concept of decentralization and the absence of hierarchy, BC wants to avoid all traditional intermediaries and any regulation. The question arises, are BCtechnologies really decentralized and who controls them? What are the consequences if decision-making in BC is influenced by small groups of people or corporations? This article, in an attempt to answer these questions, explores technological scandals in which there have been significant deviations from the basic principles of BC (The DAO Hack, Parity's Smart Contract Bug on Ethereum and Facebook's Libra). Analysis of the above scandals suggests that decentralization is threatened and the current regulatory status of BC is substandard. It was shown that BC technology, due to its deterministic nature, cannot provide solutions for all life situations and that human judgment is irreplaceable.
Tackling disinformation is crucial for the development of the Information Society. To do so it is necessary to empower journalists in the production of trustworthy information, and to nurture an economic ecosystem centred on a secure circulation of contents. In this contribution we present an interdisciplinary approach that aims at (1) finding a balance between freedom of expression and other fundamental rights (i.e., privacy and data protection), (2) developing business models driven by the production of genuine content, (3) exploiting the potentials of distributed ledger systems to provide media certification.
Cryptocurrencies, introduced in 2009 with the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, have grown significantly in recent years and attracted attention globally. One of the main characteristics of cryptocurrencies and their key innovation is that they are underpinned by distributed ledger technology (DLT) or blockchain as a type of DLT. This technology enables cryptocurrencies to be transferred, stored or traded electronically within DLT-based systems in a peer-to-peer manner among (pseudonymous) system participants across the world without the involvement of the usual central trusted authorities or intermediaries such as banks. This raises the question of if, and how, one should ascertain internationality for cryptocurrency transfers taking place within truly global systems underpinned by DLT for private international law purposes. This article aims to raise awareness of and address the question of internationality in the context of cryptocurrency transfers in DLT-based systems. It considers internationality in private international law, potential factors that might be relevant in ascertaining internationality for cryptocurrency transfers through a comparison to that for electronic funds transfers (EFTs), and the approaches of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) and the Hague Conference for Private International Law (HCCH) on internationality in their current projects concerning digital assets and digital economy respectively.
A primer to the Web3 system designed to serve as a introduction to Web3 concepts. It also highlights the legal issues related to Web3 and it's related fields covering cryptocurrencies, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO's), Non-Fungible Tokens, Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
Recoding Reality:The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism The SAIS Review Editorial Board The 2020s thus far have been defined by a pandemic, economic and physical insecurity, looming climate disaster, and violent conflicts around the world. The culmination of these dire circumstances has led to movements in all forms calling for fundamental change in existing political, economic, and social structures. Technology has been a bulwark and democratizing force in enabling masses of people to express themselves in a transparent and far-reaching manner. Amid these inspiring scenes lingers a more sobering reality. The global shocks already experienced in this decade have exacerbated the fading and inconsistent presence of major democracies on the international stage. State actors responded with repression, state-sponsored violence, and heavy jail sentences levied against prominent dissidents. Alarmingly, technology's potential as a democratizing force is equal if not less than its potential as a tool of repression. As China, Russia, and other one-party states begin to export this form of governance, an analysis of this emerging form of government is crucial. Digital authoritarianism's present threat to democracy is the product of 16 consecutive years of decline in global freedom. As this decade unfolds, allowing this form of governance to take root without critical analysis may be the death nail on democracy itself. This edition of The SAIS Review of International Affairs will address the ways in which state and nonstate actors stifle dissent with digital authoritarianism, defined as the use of information technology by regimes to manipulate, repress, and surveil domestic and international populations. Recoding Reality: The Emergence of Digital Authoritarianism seeks to not only explore this emerging phenomenon, but to juxtapose the emergence of digital authoritarianism with the declining relative influence of major democracies in the face of immense global challenges. The issue begins with an article by Ahmed Abozaid that highlights the growing concern surrounding Egypt's antiterrorism laws, which do not necessarily tackle the state's war against terror, but instead serves the interests of groups such as the armed forces, neoliberal elites, and the old regime. Dr. Abozaid argues that these laws complement other legislation that restrict journalists and reporters from freely expressing themselves online and offline. Egyptian authorities employ cyber and digital counterterrorism measures as [End Page 1] part of their "cyber Baltaga" (digital thuggery) strategy to demonstrate their way of preserving and advancing their domination of the public and cyber spheres. Years of repression have led to Egypt being ranked as one of the world's worst jailers of journalists. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has dominated conversations for the past year, causing many to reassess long held beliefs about power and conflicts, particularly in the digital space. This issue includes two articles focusing on the conflict, each approaching the impacts of Russian digital authoritarianism in different ways. Fabian Burkhardt and Mariëlle Wijermars discuss the ways in which externally imposed sanctions have disrupted Russia's digital mechanisms of control. States' reliance on foreign platforms and technology is a byproduct of the integrated nature of the digital sphere. Dr. Burkhardt and Dr. Wijermars argue that this reliance shapes the regime's ability to control and suppress domestically, focusing on the changes to Russia's repressive capabilities as these foreign technologies are restricted by sanctions. In examining the period from February to September of 2022, they find that while Russia has demonstrated enhanced capacity for digital authoritarianism in response to these sanctions, the conflict also threatens the future of the digital infrastructures necessary for repression. Where the prior article looked at the impact of external forces on Russia's capacity for digital repression, Jackie Kerr examines Russian internal digital dynamics. In tracing the relationship between the state and Runet (the Russian Internet), Kerr examines how the conflicts, contradictions, and communities formed as Runet developed affect the regime's actions, both domestically and internationally. She contrasts the Kremlin's repressive efforts with the digital communities that have evolved in response, offering insight into the future of Russian, and perhaps global, internet freedom. Hugh Harsono writes about the potential that Web3 provides for decentralizing the internet and the People's Republic of China's (PRC) attempts to manipulate its...
Cryptocurrency is a digital exchange medium stored in the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and form the basis for the term crypto-assets. This paper focuses on the group of cryptocurrencies (or crypto-assets) that belong to Public Permissionless Blockchains and explains historical pump-and-dump, and how this old scheme appears to be applied now to cryptocurrency trading. This work explores the nature of the blockchain ecosystem, where cryptocurrencies exist, and proposes that ironically the encryption and immutability nature of the blockchain make cryptocurrencies vulnerable to pump-and-dump schemes. The lack of adequate regulation in Europe leaves cryptocurrencies vulnerable to pump-and-dump schemes causing an overall effect of vulnerable consumers expossed to fraudsters. Cryptocurrency pump-and-dump also affects investors, the development of cryptocurrencies, and the blockchain itself.
Ethereum is taken as the representative platform of the second generation of blockchain system.Ethereum can support development of different distributed applications by running smart contracts.Local database is used to store the account state (named world state) for efficient validation of transactions, and the state root is stored in the block header to guarantee the integrity of the state.However, some researches revealed that the local database could be easily tempered with, and attackers can issue illegal transactions based on the modified account state to obtain illegitimate benefits.This world-state based security problem was introduced, and the preconditions for attack were analyzed.Compared with the two common security threats under the PoW (proof of work) consensus, it was found that when the attacker controls the same mining computing power, the world-state based attack brought higher risk, and the success rate approached 100%.In order to deal with this threat, a practical scheme for attack detection and defense was proposed accordingly.The secondary verification and data recovery process were added to the Ethereum source code.The feasibility and complexity of the proposed scheme was evaluated with single-machine multi-threading experiments.The proposed scheme improves Ethereum’s tolerance to malicious tampering of account state, and is applicable to other blockchain platforms applying local database for transaction validation, such as Hyperledger Fabric.In addition, the time and computational overhead brought by the proposed scheme are not prominent, so it has good applicability and induces acceptable impact on the performance of original system.
Abstract Blockchain is a new general-purpose technology that poses significant challenges to policymaking, law, and society. Blockchain is even more distinctive than other transformative technologies, as it is by nature a global technology; moreover, it operates based on a set of rules and principles that have a law-like quality—the lex cryptographia. The global nature of blockchain has led to its adoption by international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank. However, the law-like nature of the technology makes some of its uses by international organizations questionable from an international law and foreign affairs perspective. In this light, the article examines the effectiveness and legitimacy of the use of blockchain for international policymaking.
Blockchain technology was once exclusively associated with cryptocurrencies, but now it has become a powerful force that can reshape industries outside of finance. The concept of decentralized networks is transforming how we manage identity, value, ownership, and even governance. As seen previously, blockchain applications extend into sectors like healthcare, supply chains, social media, finance, and even national infrastructure projects.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique tokens stored on a digital ledger – the blockchain. They are meant to represent unique, non-interchangeable digital assets, as there is only one token with that exact data. Moreover, the information attached to the token cannot be altered as on a regular database. While copies of these digital items are available to all, NFTs are tracked on blockchains to provide the owner with proof of ownership. This possibility of buying and owning digital assets can be attractive to many individuals. NFTs are presently at the stage of early adoption and their uses are expanding. In the future, they could become a fundamental and integral component of tomorrow’s web. NFTs bear the potential to become the engine of speech: as tokenized expressions cannot be altered or deleted, they enable complete freedom of expression, which is not subject to censorship. However, tokenized speech can also bear significant costs and risks, which can threaten individual dignity and the public interest. Anyone can tokenize a defamatory tweet, a shaming tweet, or a tweet that includes personal identifying information and these tokenized expressions can never be deleted or removed from the blockchain, risking permanent damage to the reputations of those involved. Even worse, anyone can tokenize extremist political views, such as alt-right incitement, which could ultimately result in violence against minorities, and infringe on the public interest. To date, literature has focused on harmful speech that appears on dominant digital platforms, but has yet to explore and address the benefits, challenges and risks of tokenized speech. Such speech cannot be deleted from the web in the same way traditional internet intermediaries currently remove content. Thus, the potential influence of NFTs on freedom of expression remains unclear. This Article strives to fill the gap and contribute to literature in several ways. It introduces the idea of owning digital assets by using NFT technology, surveys the main uses of tokenizing digital assets and the benefits of such practices. It aims to raise awareness of the potential of tokenized speech to circumvent censorship and to act as the engine of freedom of expression. Yet it also addresses the challenges and risks posed by tokenized speech. Finally, it proposes various solutions and remedies for the abuse of NFT technology, which may have the potential to perpetuate harmful speech. As we are well aware of the challenges inherent in our proposals for mitigation, this Article also addresses First Amendment objections to the proposed solution.
ABSTRACT The period from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s saw the transformation of information and communication infrastructure. In the same period, TPRC evolved from a narrower focus on conventional telecommunications and information policy to “The Research Conference on Communications, Information, and Internet Policy.” Through the lens of my own interdisciplinary work on Internet policy and intersecting TPRC activity, this retrospective describes an arc of change that began at the 1994 TPRC and continued for about a decade. It combines description, commentary, and reflections on what this history might bode for TPRC as metaverses and Web3 progress from today’s hype to tomorrow’s Internet.
This dissertation aims to discuss the effects by regulation on the cryptoassets ecosystem. Given the underlying technologies, as is the case of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology, it is our conclusion that the technology is under constant evolution, making regulatory intervention difficult as it will naturally will not follow at the same space. However, it is our understanding that the regulation to be carried out, would have to entail a switch in the way the legal system is shaped considering that online reality will overlap as well as find itself in contradiction with the physical world. Notwithstanding, there are several legislative initiatives that have been chained together, in special the advances made by the European Commission which are expected to enter into force in 2024. Under the qualification of cryptoassets made by the European Unition, it is our opinion, that are in contradiction with the nature of it. Finally, we conclude that the Portuguese legal system is equipped with the legal tools to regulate this reality. We conclude that regulation may be the end of the cryptoassets consolidation considering that it is based in beliefs in anarchy that sustain the entire market, without any central power involved.
The future of cryptoasset's regulation in the European Union Abstract This thesis focuses on the regulation of cryptoassets in the EU, more specifically with regard to its future form. The aim of the thesis is first to analyse the current EU legal framework for cryptoassets, including the identification of its main shortcomings, and then to analyse and evaluate the latest proposal for the future regulation of cryptoassets, which is the MiCA proposal. The actual text of the thesis is divided into five chapters, preceded by a general introduction containing the overall concept of the thesis, its objectives and the methods used to achieve the stated objectives. The last part of this thesis is the conclusion, which summarises the main findings of the thesis. In order to analyse the legal framework for cryptoassets at EU level, it is first necessary to become familiar with the technology on which cryptoassets are based, i.e. distributed ledger technology, and the basics of its operation, which was dealt with in the first chapter of this thesis. The purpose of chapter two was to present the characteristics of cryptoassets and other terms commonly used in this context, in particular with regard to the approaches of selected EU institutions to their use and definition. The differences between the terms and the...
Kriptovaluta je digitalna ili virtualna valuta koja je osigurana kriptografijom, čineći je gotovo nemogućim za krivotvoriti. Mnoge kriptovalute temelje svoju mrežu na decentraliziranoj blockchain tehnologiji. Osnovna značajka kriptovaluta je da ih ne izdaje nijedno središnje tijelo, što ih čini teoretski imunima na uplitanje i manipulacije od strane vlade ili drugih interesnih skupina. Kriptovalute su sustavi koji omogućuju sigurno plaćanje putem Interneta i u unosima u sustavu su predstavljeni u tipu virtualnih „tokena“. „Kripto“ se odnosi na različite algoritme šifriranja i kriptografske tehnike koje se unose da bi se zaštitila privatnost korisnika.
This research in Ethical Control of Unmanned Systems applies precepts of Network Optional Warfare (NOW) to develop a three-step Mission Execution Ontology (MEO) methodology for validating, simulating, and implementing mission orders for unmanned systems. First, mission orders are represented in ontologies that are understandable by humans and readable by machines. Next, the MEO is validated and tested for logical coherence using Semantic Web standards. The validated MEO is refined for implementation in simulation and visualization. This process is iterated until the MEO is ready for implementation. This methodology is applied to four Naval scenarios in order of increasing challenges that the operational environment and the adversary impose on the Human-Machine Team. The extent of challenge to Ethical Control in the scenarios is used to refine the MEO for the unmanned system. The research also considers Data-Centric Security and blockchain distributed ledger as enabling technologies for Ethical Control. Data-Centric Security is a combination of structured messaging, efficient compression, digital signature, and document encryption, in correct order, for round-trip messaging. Blockchain distributed ledger has potential to further add integrity measures for aggregated message sets, confirming receipt/response/sequencing without undetected message loss. When implemented, these technologies together form the end-to-end data security that ensures mutual trust and command authority in real-world operational environments—despite the potential presence of interfering network conditions, intermittent gaps, or potential opponent intercept. A coherent Ethical Control approach to command and control of unmanned systems is thus feasible. Therefore, this research concludes that maintaining human control of unmanned systems at long ranges of time-duration and distance, in denied, degraded, and deceptive environments, is possible through well-defined mission orders and data security technologies. Finally, as the human role remains essential in Ethical Control of unmanned systems, this research recommends the development of an unmanned system qualification process for Naval operations, as well as additional research prioritized based on urgency and impact.