Beyond Cyber Doom

Cyber security is a serious concern, but policy makers should pursue strategies that focus on increasing technological and infrastructural resilience while promoting decentralization, self-organization, economic strength, and strong social systems.

News media and policy makers in the United States are focusing their attentions on prospective threats to and through cyberspace. Current U.S. cyber-security policy—with its military Cyber Command and suggestions for an “Internet kill switch”—supports a centralized, militarized approach. Cyber security is a serious concern, but if policy makers want to actually address these threats, they should pursue strategies that focus on increasing technological and infrastructural resilience while promoting decentralization, self-organization, economic strength, and strong social systems.