Governance Of Cyberspace Research Articles

The social contract theory meets cybersecurity: systematic literature review

Purpose This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of social contract theory (SCT) utilization in cybersecurity literature, elucidating the current state of research, identifying major applications and themes and highlighting gaps, particularly in empirical studies, and the integration of emerging technologies. The study also maps the contractual parties and governance tools discussed in SCT and cyberspace interactions. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a systematic literature review to investigate the application of SCT within the cybersecurity domain. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative content analysis with the Grounded Theory strategy, over 30,000 documents were initially screened. The final data set comprised 873 peer-reviewed papers from multiple databases. MAXQDA software facilitated coding and thematic analysis to identify key SCT applications, governance tools and research gaps. Findings The review revealed the following: emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain are sparsely researched within the SCT-cyberspace intersection, yet they offer solutions to various SCT-related issues; empirical studies are underrepresented, with theoretical explorations dominating the discourse; there is a notable gap in integrating emerging technologies such as AI within SCT frameworks; governance tools discussed are varied, including economic incentives, regulatory measures and informational strategies. Originality/value This study synthesizes SCT applications in cybersecurity, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature and potential for richer theoretical integration. By systematically mapping the literature, it identifies crucial gaps and offers a foundation for future empirical and theoretical research. The findings emphasize the importance of considering traditional SCT themes and contemporary technological contexts, contributing to the development of more robust frameworks for cyberspace governance.

MKP-Net: Memory knowledge propagation network for point-supervised temporal action localization in livestreaming

Standardized regulation of livestreaming is an important element of cyberspace governance. Temporal action localization (TAL) can localize the occurrence of specific actions to better understand human activities. Due to the short duration and inconspicuous boundaries of human-specific actions, it is very cumbersome to obtain sufficient labeled data for training in untrimmed livestreaming. The point-supervised approach requires only a single-frame annotation for each action instance and can effectively balance cost and performance. Therefore, we propose a memory knowledge propagation network (MKP-Net) for point-supervised temporal action localization in livestreaming, including (1) a plug-and-play memory module is introduced to model prototype features of foreground actions and background knowledge using point-level annotations, (2) the memory knowledge propagation mechanism is used to generate discriminative feature representation in a multi-instance learning pipeline, and (3) localization completeness learning is performed by designing a dual optimization loss for refining and localizing temporal actions. Experimental results show that our method achieves 61.4% and 49.1% SOTAs on THUMOS14 and self-built BJUT-PTAL datasets, respectively, with an inference speed of 711 FPS.

Cyber violence governance on digital platforms: criminal compliance and public-private co-governance

Cyber violence is endangering the order of cyberspace with the characteristics of depersonalization and de-accountability, and the governance of digital platforms is facing challenges such as lagging response, lax implementation and conflict of interest. Platforms, as providers of online services, have a natural technological advantage and should be responsible for the governance of public cyberspace. There is an urgent need to establish a detailed criminal compliance plan to reduce the criminal compliance risk due to online violence through the whole process of prevention beforehand, timely disposal during the incident, and reflection after the incident, and a positive incentive function can be expected. In addition, the prudent involvement and appropriate intervention of public power are key elements in the governance of online violence. Under the framework of binary co-regulation, the public and private sectors complement each other and dynamically synergize to make up for the inadequacy of the current legal regulation.

Novel Method of Edge-Removing Walk for Graph Representation in User Identity Linkage

Random-walk-based graph representation methods have been widely applied in User Identity Linkage (UIL) tasks, which links overlapping users between two different social networks. It can help us to obtain more comprehensive portraits of criminals, which is helpful for improving cyberspace governance. Yet, random walk generates a large number of repeating sequences, causing unnecessary computation and storage overhead. This paper proposes a novel method called Edge-Removing Walk (ERW) that can replace random walk in random-walk-based models. It removes edges once they are walked in a walk round to capture the l−hop features without repetition, and it walks the whole graph for several rounds to capture the different kinds of paths starting from a specific node. Experiments proved that ERW can exponentially improve the efficiency for random-walk-based UIL models, even maintaining better performance. We finally generalize ERW into a general User Identity Linkage framework called ERW-UIL and verify its performance.

Research on Cyberspace Governance—Comment on the “Hangzhou Express Delivery Rumour-Mongering Case”

Research on Cyberspace Governance—Comment on the “Hangzhou Express Delivery Rumour-Mongering Case”

The Digital Services Act and the Problem of Preventive Blocking of (Clearly) Illegal Content

The adoption of the long-awaited Digital Services Act (DSA) is undoubtedly one of the more significant successes related to the implementation of the ambitious EU Digital Strategy. In addition to important announcements that the new law will help to transform the next few years into Europe’s digital decade, an update of the liability framework for digital service providers also provided an opportunity for a broader reflection on the principles of building governance in cyberspace. Indeed, the notice and takedown model, which had been in place for more than two decades, had become progressively eroded, leading service providers to increasingly implement proactive content filtering mechanisms in an effort to reduce their business risk. The aim of this article is to explore those changes introduced by the DSA which affect the regulatory environment for the preventive blocking of unlawful online content. In this respect, relevant conclusions of the ECtHR and CJEU jurisprudence will also be presented, as well as reflections on the possibility and need for a more coherent EU strategy with respect to online content filtering. The analysis presented will focus on filtering mechanisms concerning mainly with what is referred to as clearly illegal content, as the fight against the dissemination of this type of speech, often qualified under the general heading of “hate speech”, is one of the priority tasks for public authorities with respect to building trust in digital services in the EU.

Cyberspace as a Common Heritage of Mankind: Governing Normative Limitations of the Internet by Virtue of International Law

Cyberspace, which consists of a global web of linked networks and computers, transcends the traditional concept of sovereignty, inviting a multi-disciplinary approach and an inklusive policy-making strategy. The international architecture of cyberspace connects with the real world with geographical servers and governments, as well as the material effects of the development of international law. As a result, the nature of cyberspace governance has become international. This article will reflect on the phenomena of common space areas under international law and employ a retrospective and normative approach to analyse the applicability of the common heritage of mankind (CHM) principle to cyberspace. The doctrinal approach taken in this research is within the conceptual framework of de lege ferenda. Cyberspace possesses a similar philosophical foundation to the seabed, Antarctica, and outer space. As a legal consequence, cyberspace must exclusively be used for peaceful purposes, demilitarized, and all activities must be carried out for the benefit of all humankind. Conclusively, as the Internet changes at a revolutionary pace – expanding the size of cyberspace – the law must also respond adequately. This research proposes an answer for such adequacy, fundamentally built on the conceptions and virtue of international law, featuring the CHM principle for cyberspace governance.

The Application of the Crime of Picking Quarrels and Provoking Trouble in Cyberspace in China

In 2013, The Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Supreme People’s Court issued “about the use of information network defamation criminal cases of applicable law” (hereinafter referred to as “the interpretation”), the judicial interpretation of article 5 on the Internet intimidation, abuse others or trouble, can also establish stir-up-trouble crime. This article in “Interpretation” expands the scope of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking troubles to cyberspace, forming a mode of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking troubles. Although the introduction of the Interpretation has played a positive role in regulating the behavior of picking quarrels and provoking troubles, the threshold of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking troubles is vaguer than the traditional identification of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking troubles, which to some extent leads to the confusion of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking troubles. Therefore, based on the theory and judicial basis of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking troubles, combined with the actual needs of the current cyberspace governance, it is necessary to study the related problems of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking troubles.

RepVGG-SimAM: An Efficient Bad Image Classification Method Based on RepVGG with Simple Parameter-Free Attention Module

With the rapid development of Internet technology, the number of global Internet users is rapidly increasing, and the scale of the Internet is also expanding. The huge Internet system has accelerated the spread of bad information, including bad images. Bad images reflect the vulgar culture of the Internet. They will not only pollute the Internet environment and impact the core culture of society but also endanger the physical and mental health of young people. In addition, some criminals use bad images to induce users to download software containing computer viruses, which also greatly endanger the security of cyberspace. Cyberspace governance faces enormous challenges. Most existing methods for classifying bad images face problems such as low classification accuracy and long inference times, and these limitations are not conducive to effectively curbing the spread of bad images and reducing their harm. To address this issue, this paper proposes a classification method (RepVGG-SimAM) based on RepVGG and a simple parameter-free attention mechanism (SimAM). This method uses RepVGG as the backbone network and embeds the SimAM attention mechanism in the network so that the neural network can obtain more effective information and suppress useless information. We used pornographic images publicly disclosed by data scientist Alexander Kim and violent images collected from the internet to construct the dataset for our experiment. The experimental results prove that the classification accuracy of the method proposed in this paper can reach 94.5% for bad images, that the false positive rate of bad images is only 4.3%, and that the inference speed is doubled compared with the ResNet101 network. Our proposed method can effectively identify bad images and provide efficient and powerful support for cyberspace governance.

The effective path of ideological governance of university cyberspace in the context of big data

Abstract This paper analyzes the characteristics of university cyberspace ideology in the context of big data and the causes of risk formation and designs the index system of university cyberspace ideology governance at three levels: micro level, meso level and macro level. The combination of hierarchical analysis and entropy method is used to determine the weight of each evaluation index and establish the evaluation model of governance performance based on gray correlation analysis. After calculating the weights of ideological security in college cyberspace are 0.58, 0.52, 0.55, 0.55 and 0.53, the evaluation result of the constructed college cyberspace ideology governance system is 0.28, which is good.

Strategic narratives and the multilateral governance of cyberspace: The cases of European Union, Russia, and India

ABSTRACT The last few years have seen the emergence of a cybersecurity regime complex divided into specialized forums discussing different sub-issues. But how do the main actors in cyberspace make sense of its fragmented governance, and how does that translate to their broader strategic narratives? Furthermore, to what extent are these in line with the predominant macro-narratives in the cyber-domain? To answer these questions, this article explores the strategic narratives of the European Union, Russia, and India in two of these specialized forums: one related to responsible state behavior in cyberspace, the other to cyber-crime. Through the study of narrative fragments — a new approach to the study of strategic narratives in multilateral settings — it concludes that these actors largely include these two issues within their broader strategic narratives. This highlights the importance of cross-issue analysis in the study of multilateral arrangements, particularly in the context of emerging regime complexes.

Value Assessment of UGC Short Videos through Element Mining and Data Analysis

UGC short videos play a crucial role in sharing information and disseminating content in the era of new information technology. Accurately assessing the value of UGC short videos is highly significant for the sustainable development of self-media platforms and the secure governance of cyberspace. This study proposes a method for assessing the value of UGC short videos from the perspective of element mining and data analysis. The method involves three steps. Firstly, the text clustering algorithm and topic mapping visualization technology are utilized to identify elements for assessing the value of UGC short videos and construct an assessment index system. Secondly, structured data indexes are quantified using platform data statistics, while unstructured data indexes are quantified using the LSTM fine-grained sentiment analysis model. Lastly, the VIKOR model, incorporating an improved gray correlation coefficient, is employed to effectively evaluate the value of UGC short videos. The empirical results indicate that the value of current domestic UGC short videos is primarily associated with three dimensions: the creators, the platforms, and the users. It encompasses 11 value elements, including fan popularity, economic returns of creation, and frequency of interaction. Additionally, we assess the value of short videos within the mainstream partitions of the Bilibili platform and generate a value radar chart. Our findings reveal that short videos in game partitions generate higher revenue for creators and platforms but may neglect users’ needs for knowledge, culture, and other content. Conversely, short videos in the knowledge, food, and music partitions demonstrate specific distinctions in fulfilling users’ requirements. Ultimately, we offer personalized recommendations for the future development of high-value UGC short videos within the mainstream partitions.

A2UA: An Auditable Anonymous User Authentication Protocol Based on Blockchain for Cloud Services

Regulating illegal activities in cyberspace to balance user privacy and cyberspace governance has been a non-trivial challenge when designing anonymous authentication solutions. For example, while several existing anonymous authentication protocols support accountability, they either risk leaking users' private keys or incur significant overhead for accountability in each ongoing authentication, including in cloud service-based authentication schemes. Seeking to address these limitations, this paper proposes an auditable anonymous user authentication (A2UA) protocol based on blockchain for cloud services. The A2UA protocol mainly employs bilinear pairing, partial authentication factors, dynamic credits and fake-public keys (FPKs) to achieve anonymous mutual authentication between users and cloud service providers, and applies ring signature and blockchain to accomplish two-level accountability while maintaining user privacy. Our analysis results show that the A2UA protocol outperforms several other existing schemes in terms of security, computation and communication costs as well as security and privacy features. Additionally, it has good feasibility in terms of the Ethereum Gas cost as demonstrated in our evaluation.

Role of Techno-Economic Coalitions in Future Cyberspace Governance: 'Backcasting' as a Method for Strategic Foresight

In an increasingly complex threat landscape, many nations struggle with developing and implementing effective cybersecurity policies for cyberspace governance at a national and international level. Balancing between the demands for establishing national sovereignty and strengthening international collaboration in cyberspace have become a problematic assignment. Collaborating with nations supporting extensively dissimilar ideologies and cybersecurity policies is controversial. Yet, it is almost impossible for a single country to achieve 'self-sufficiency' in cyberspace. Thus, in order to remain competitive, protected, and resilient one must either join or strengthen a developing techno-economic coalition with similar national cybersecurity policies and/or ideological framework. Consequently, this paper argues that techno-economic coalitions serve as an emerging issue or trend for strategic foresight in cyberspace governance in the future. This paper discusses the potential formation of techno-economic coalitions and shows how 'backcasting' can be used in strategic foresight. In this paper, 'backcasting' is not used as a method for creating a traditional strategic map to a future goal, but as a framework for determining what should have happened in order for the techno-economic coalitions to emerge in future cyberspace, i.e. for finding issues or trends that should be followed in strategic foresight today. Firstly, cyberspace governance in relation to national cybersecurity policies is contextualised. Secondly, the concept of techno-economic coalition is defined and the potential emerging techno-economic coalitions are explicated. Thirdly, 'backcasting' as a method for strategic foresight is described. Fourthly, the results of a 'backcasting' experiment in a strategic foresight workshop are presented. And finally, the future formation and role of techno-economic coalitions in cyberspace governance and in cyber defence both at a national and international level are discussed. The role of techno-economic coalitions in future cyberspace governance should be understood and considered today when developing strategic plans and implementing national and international cybersecurity policies.

Dilemmas and Reflections of Officials Live Streaming in the Context of Rural Revitalization

Officials live streaming is a new exploration of rural revitalization based on the mode of rural e-commerce and grassroots governance. Officials as anchors have a certain political symbolic colour, which has a special added layer for them to drive the sales of agricultural products and handle political affairs online. Through analyzing the subjectivity and professionalism of officials anchors in live streaming practice, it is found that the coupling of officials live streaming and rural revitalization in practice often breeds the problem of subject trust in the identity of officials, the problem of media practice for the government to promote the implementation of rural revitalization strategy, and the problem of emerging discourse governance in cyberspace. For this reason, officials anchors need to consider weakening political symbols, visualizing personal IP, and promoting the normalization of live streaming, so as to promote the transformation of rural governance logic, rural governmental solutions, and rural products to increase income.

The Politics of Cybersecurity and the Global Internet

Many of the conversations about international cybersecurity have remained siloed in specific disciplines and professional cultures. As such, there is disagreement among academics and practitioners about how to define basic terms, such as “cybersecurity,” and arguments about what should “count” as part of cybersecurity. Because people’s perspectives on cybersecurity are often defined by where they “sit” professionally, practitioners and scholars are sometimes unaware that they do not share a conceptual universe. For instance, many separate international internet governance debates from conversations around global cybersecurity norms, although many of the same cleavages and barriers to agreements occur in both domains. Others consider censorship to be unrelated to cybersecurity, although espionage via hacking uses many of the same tools as the domestic surveillance that goes hand in hand with censorship. Still others do or do not incorporate considerations of internet infrastructure into conversations about conflict in spite of concerns about the security of undersea cables to most global powers. The three books under review—James Shires’s The Politics of Cybersecurity in the Middle East, Florian Egloff’s Semi-State Actors in Cybersecurity, and Kieron O’Hara and Wendy Hall’s Four Internets: Data, Geopolitics, and the Governance of Cyberspace—all help us understand how to think about this landscape. Each untangles some of these disconnects by making assumptions transparent, articulating places of overlap, unpacking terminology and categories, and offering paths forward for scholars.

Misinformation Blocking Problem in Virtual and Real Interconversion Social Networks

With the in-depth development of intelligent media technology, online and offline fusion, reality and virtual entanglement, information content generalization, the boundary between positive and negative information is blurred, all kinds of misinformation in the social network fission spread, and cyberspace governance has become a global consensus. In this article, we comprehensively consider the spread of misinformation in location-based interpersonal social network and online social network, and systematically tackle the novel problem of minimizing the influence of misinformation under individual protection strategies. We first analyze the complexity and modularity of the problem. Then, we leverage the Lovász extension to devise a nonsubmodular set function continuity approximate convex relaxation method, and develop an approximate projected subgradient procedure to obtain a solution with a factor approximate guarantee. Finally, experiments on three assembled real-world datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of our designed method and developed the algorithm.

The ordoliberal internet? Continuity and change in the EU’s approach to the governance of cyberspace

AbstractThis Article considers the role of ideas in shaping law and policy processes, serving to facilitate certain actions or approaches while curtailing others. Using the development of the EU’s governance approach to online service providers and platforms, this Article demonstrates how ordoliberalism as a set of beliefs regarding the regulation of market activity through law have shaped the understanding of appropriate measures for combating hybrid threats such as disinformation. Highlighting the origins of the E-Commerce Directive and the influence of ordoliberalism in the application of a regulated self-regulation model, the Article explores how ordoliberal philosophical ideas have influenced programme and policy level ideas concerning EU cyberspace governance as it relates to online platform activities. Even where there has been discursive change regarding the role of online platforms in contributing to an environment of insecurity, there has nevertheless been ideational continuity in the approach to their regulation, dictating the legal response in the Digital Services Act.

Data protection of internet of things for edge computing and deep learning and governance of cyberspace

Data protection of internet of things for edge computing and deep learning and governance of cyberspace

Data protection of internet of things for edge computing and deep learning and governance of cyberspace

Data protection of internet of things for edge computing and deep learning and governance of cyberspace