The Issue of State Sovereignty in Cyberspace

Abstract

The author examines a special approach to establishing the sovereignty of the state in relation to cyberspace, the extraterritorial characteristics of which determine the question of the implementation of the territorial supremacy of the state. The author concludes that the understanding of the state’s sovereignty in relation to cyberspace lies not in detailing a set of measures in the form of sovereign powers undertaken in this area, but in constructing the boundaries of cyberspace both in relation to the technical component of the network infrastructure that supports the smooth functioning of the Network, and in in relation to the virtual component of cyberspace. To achieve the goal of the study, the author proposed to combine social, technological and subjective approaches, understanding by cyberspace an artificial telecommunication environment for the implementation of public relations controlled by a wide range of subjects (states, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, individuals, etc.), the functioning and maintenance of which is carried out by means of software-technical infrastructure in the form of its physical part (telecommunication networks, computers, servers, routers, processors, satellites, etc.) and a virtual part (operating systems, data transmission standards, hardware applications, software, etc.).