U.S. and Russia Talk Tech Warfare

The latest dispute between the United States and Russia deals with an entirely new warfare: cyberspace. The two opposing sides will address the issue next week when President Obama visits Russia. The U.S. rejects governing that would censor the Internet or put constraints upon it. “We really believe it’s defense, defense, defense,” said a State Department official. “They [Russia] want to constrain offense. We needed to be able to criminalize these horrible 50,000 attacks we were getting a day.” Russia favors a treaty to govern Internet safety in military campaigns, while the United States argues for high-tech defense mechanisms like “logic bombs” that can stop computers at specific times or damage circuitry. Most of the technologically advanced world signed the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime in 2004, which allows police to investigate suspected cybercrime in foreign countries without first notifying local authorities. Russia and China have not signed the convention, putting stress on countries like the U.S. that want to improve international cybersecurity relationships.