Laura A. Dickinson
Published: 2023
Total Pages: 393
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"Data is emerging as a key component of military operations, both on and off the battlefield. Large troves of data generated by new information technologies-often termed "big data"-are growing ever more important to a range of military functions. Military forces and other actors will increasingly need to acquire, evaluate, and utilize such data in many combat contexts. At the same time, those forces can gain advantages by targeting adversaries' data and data systems. And a multitude of actors within armed conflict, including humanitarian and human rights organizations, can also use big data to deliver aid or identify atrocities. Such myriad uses of big data raise challenging interpretive questions under international humanitarian law (IHL), the jus ad bellum, and international human rights law. This book is the first of its kind to examine how these bodies of international law might apply to the uses of big data specifically. Focusing on IHL, the book also assesses how jus ad bellum categories might translate to operations involving big data below the armed conflict threshold. And because big data is profoundly transforming modern life off the battlefield as well, the book explores questions beyond the role of big data within weapons systems and other military capabilities to questions about the nature of civilian harm and scope of individual rights. This book offers a range of approaches and ideas to this timely issue, and offers an initial roadmap for scholars, policymakers, and advocates to follow as they address the challenges still to come"--