Internet and eDiplomacy: ‘Traditional’ Diplomatic Law in the Digital Era

Abstract

The rise of internet and social media has changed, amongst others, international politics and international relations, putting the rules of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations under a stress test. The present work wishes to contribute to the current scholarly debate on whether already existing traditional rules of diplomatic law can easily be adapted to a post-modern world. More in detail, it will be dwelled if and to what extent diplomatic privileges and immunities conceived for an 'in person' diplomacy can be applied to 'eDiplomacy' as well. The proper identification of notions such as 'premises', 'archives', or 'correspondence are currently under debate, as is the regime of protection of diplomatic premises in cases of cyber-crimes. Additionally, at current times, it seems the most prominent issue relates to the possibility to use in court diplomatic protected documents illegally obtained. Under the 1961 Vienna Convention, it remains unclear whether an unlawfully obtained diplomatic cable is always inadmissible. More straightforward seem to be other issues of eDiplomacy, either because the existing legal framework appears sufficiently flexible to be interpreted in such a way as to cope with eDiplomacy, or because international diplomatic law is not applicable to such new scenarios, leaving the door open for States to elaborate original solutions, if they deem it opportune.