[governance] 3322.org seized by Microsoft from Chinese DNS service provider

[Louis Pouzin (well)]

The story of *3322.org* seized by Microsoft will certainly be used over and
again in international law discussions. A common reaction is that it was a
good thing to do, and a bad precedent, due to obvious and dangerous
potential for abuse. Even though the US DOJ could assert its legality, most
States laws and international conventions would call it illegal.
Nonetheless international cyberwar has already started, secretly and
illegally with Stux, Flame and more. Then the time has come to draw some
agreement about acceptable or illegal cyberwar.

This dilemma is not new. In past centuries naval wars were operated by
military and private vessels. The latter were called *privateer*, or *corsaire
*in french. They had a *letter of marque *from their State, and if caught
by the enemy, they were treated as war prisoners, instead of being hanged
as pirates. This activity was risky, stricly regulated and rewarding for
privateers and States. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privateer
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsaire

To some extent Microsoft acted as a privateer, but in a legal void.
Wouldn't it be safer for all parties to work out a cyber-corsair (cybcor)
statute ?

Louis
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