WWWMDs: Cyber-Attacks Against Infrastructure in Domestic Anti-Terror Laws

Abstract

This article compares and contrasts the legislation that would be used to prosecute acts of cyber-terrorism in five western democracies: Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. It argues that each of the four Commonwealth jurisdictions sets too low a threshold for prosecuting acts of cyber-terrorism against electronic and other infrastructure systems. By contrast, the United States has enacted more finely calibrated legislation that sets a much higher threshold for acts of cyber-terrorism deserving life imprisonment.