Professor Schmitt with the Dean of Adelaide, Professor Melissa de Zwart and other faculty members

Professor Schmitt delivers Crawford Oration at Adelaide Law School

Professor Schmitt delivered the Biennial James Crawford Oration at the University of Adelaide on 8 August.

In his presentation, which was attended by senior Australian jurists, the University leadership, and the general public, he spoke on “Grey Zones in the International Law of Cyberspace.” His term “grey zones” refers to those aspects of international law that do not enjoy consensus regarding their interpretation and application in the context of cyber operations. Professor Schmitt noted how such areas of the law are being exploited by States to avoid condemnation of their offensive cyber operations and to frustrate the response options available to the targets of the operations. The paradigmatic case is that of the Russian hacks against the US electoral process. He concluded his presentation with a call for States to shrink such grey zones by publically, and with granularity, expressing their positions on how international law applies in cyber space.

While in Adelaide, Professor Schmitt spoke to Australian national media on the North Korean situation (see here). He went on to delivers lectures on cyber matters at the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University before heading to Singapore to conduct training on cyber law for legal advisors and policy makers from throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Date: 15 August 2017