Research Summary

Melike Melis Dilisen
PhD Year 1, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University

CONFLICTS BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL AND NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY:
The Chinese “Secure and Controllable” Cyberspace Policy
Anonymity is an important cloak for individuals to protect themselves in cyberspace. Yet, the governments have been
trying to uncover this cloak in order to gather intelligence more effectively to protect their states against any possible
threats and striving to store information about their citizens more than ever. For the sake of a high level of intelligence,
do governments actually make their citizens target of the malicious actors by their own hands?
This paper is about the examination of the protective role of state vis-à-vis its individuals in cyberspace andthis relationship’s position in the literature of International Relations (IR) Theory, more specifically, Realism. Being
the predominant theory of IR, Realism’s one of the main assumptions has been the centrality of the individual’s
security to the state’s raison d’état. Thus, as long as the state’s security is preserved, the individual security would
follow suit. Nevertheless, realism might fall short in taking the domain of cyberspace into account.
In order to understand the shortcomings of the theory, the author uses the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
as a case study and employs Harry Eckstein’s crucial case-study approach to test the Realism’s assumptions with theempirical findings. Despite owning the world’s most ambitious cyber surveillance agenda, the PRC is also host to oneof the highest cyber-theft cases as well as the most malware-infected computers. The PRC’s ambitious goal ofcybersovereignty and its surveillance mechanism under the title of “secure and controllable” Internet have beencreating pitfalls to individual cybersecurity. By creating more vulnerabilities that malicious actors can abuse, theChinese surveillance system might counter-intuitively turn its citizens into open targets for outside cyberattacks.
To show the link between cyber control mechanisms for greater intelligence and individual cybersecurity,
the empirical findings are retrieved from four main subjects; encryption system, Green Dam Youth Escort Firewall
Software Program, pre-installed malware cases, and Real-Name Registration System. Throughout the analysis ofthese subjects, the central inquiry will be whether the national security framework provides effective protection forindividuals in the Chinese cyberspace. Additionally, it will also involve an ontological sub-question whether national
security is inherently opposed to individual security in cyberspace, followed by a theoretical discussion of Realism.
Since the mass surveillance at the expense of individual security is not only practiced by authoritarian states
anymore, this research will also help us in understanding the implications of the cybersecurity strategies of liberalcountries on their citizens. Especially after 9/11, we are often presented with privacy vs security dilemma, but do wereally acquire more security in exchange of our privacy? If the national security-centric practices inflict harm on
individual security, should we reconsider the object of security? The realist precursor Thomas Hobbes positions themodern conceptualization of sovereignty at the heart of the security discussion coming along with the social contract
between state and citizen. Hobbes’ contractual construction of state sovereignty posited the role of security guarantor
of its people as the raison d’état of state. Citizens surrender their liberty in exchange for protection. However, if thestate practices in the cybersecurity are carried out at the expense of the individual security, should the contract berenewed?

1Theme 2 of CCRC
Virtual and Physical Infrastructural Security in a Connected Age

Melike Melis Dilisen

How does it relate to CCRC research themes?
Research Relevance to the Theme 2
In his seminal work Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes depicts the state of nature in his investigations
into the earlier times of the human being. He suggests the state of nature was a lawless, violent
place in which people had to struggle with the risks they are surrounded with, and live in constantfear. In order to avoid the threats and risks to their security, individuals conceded to give up someof their rights and freedoms and handed them to a superior political authority, which will guarantee
the agreement amongst people and hence their security. Such a scenario became an increasingly
popular theme that we are accustomed to seeing in science fiction literature taking place incyberpunk and post-apocalyptic stories. The primitive condition of state of nature haunted bychaos became a prospect of future for the world we live in.
Today, with the deeper integration of ICTs (information and communication technologies)
in our daily life, we are facing more risks and vulnerabilities in the technology surrounding us.
Yet, to address these risks, would a mere social contract be enough? In fact, would the very
governmental bodies we hope that could save us from the chaos start aggravating thesevulnerabilities? This research examines such security risks and vulnerabilities in cyberspace
awaiting the netizens of the global network, and it is connected to the second research theme ofCCRC; “Virtual and Physical Infrastructural Security in a Connected Age”. In the cyber domain,
where equivocal nature of cybersecurity is wavering between a public good and private good,
protection of individual security becomes more problematic. However, with the increasing numberof international cybersecurity attacks and cyber-espionage activities, national security became thehot topic in the cybersecurity agenda and individuals are mostly left in the shadow of the states.
Inheriting the wisdom from the old paradigms of warfare, policymakers are applying thenational security framework to the cyber domain. Yet, this research aims to show that the lessons
taken from the conduct of war on a territorial setting might not yield the same results for the
globally connected cyberspace. In order to demonstrate the shortcomings of an orthodox national
security strategy, the research will be using the People’s Republic of China’s cybersecurity
strategy as a case study. In the 2nd theme of the CCRC, it is stated that “cyber civilization isbecoming ever more vulnerable to cyber threats”. In order to address these vulnerabilities in theindividual level more effectively and protect the netizens of the cyber civilization, this research
will present the vulnerabilities created by the national cybersecurity strategy of China and finallycall for a paradigm shift in the way states perceive security in cyberspace.

2