IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2016 - 83

of the Third Reich. Other perpetrated events, such as
the Iranian suppression of opposition and retaliation
against former loyalists that occurred from the Iranian
Revolution 1979 and forward, lack accessible documentation and tend to not be addressed in the international
community because hearsay, witnesses in the perimeter, and accounts of massacres with no link to specific
perpetrators do not reach the threshold where prosecution can occur.
Modern civil wars and crises are followed by a flow
of migrants and asylum seekers that leave their country
of origin and settle in other parts of the world. The
migration streams disperse potential witnesses over
several continents, creating a challenge to future litigation. The ongoing Syrian civil war has resulted in refugees seeking to reestablish themselves in any country
that will allow them to settle. Witnesses can flee the
repressive country, be victims themselves, or being
silenced by being unable to leave the repressive
regime. In cases where crimes against humanity have
been successfully prosecuted, the crimes have in most
cases been committed in countries where later the law
enforcer, or an alliance thereof, occupy the country of
the perpetrator. This was the case in Nazi Germany,
Iraq, and parts of the former Yugoslavia. If the law
enforcers occupy the country where evidence gathering
and the process of interviewing witnesses takes place,
the process benefits from law enforcers being in control of the territory where the atrocities occurred. In
some cases, law enforcement and the pursuit of evidence to support litigation occurred years after the
actual events. If laws are upheld years after the actual
event they can lose their ability to deter perpetrators to
commit further crimes. The law enforcing body is not
present at the time of the crime.
International humanitarian law is dependent on
evidence gathering, and laws might not be upheld if evidence gathering fails, even if the international community promotes decisive legal action. Humanitarian cyber
operations can support the prosecution of crimes against
humanity and help generate quality evidence.

Perpetrator's Modus Operandi
Historically, few perpetrators have been brought to justice even if their actions were publically known [3]. It is
likely that perpetrators of atrocities expect to avoid
prosecution and not be held accountable for these
crimes against humanity. The benefits in the moment
for being a loyalist to a totalitarian state outweigh the
risks involved in engaging in carrying out crimes against
humanity on behalf of the totalitarian state.
Therefore, crimes against humanity have been seldom prosecuted compared to other crimes. There are
several reasons. The victims, if still alive, and witnesses
september 2016

∕

that survive are silenced by continuing to live in the
totalitarian state. During the Stalin era in the Soviet
Union, millions witnessed deportation of others or lost
relatives and friends in executions of perceived opposition. Millions were prisoners in labor camps or fell victim to other forms of punishment. The Soviet purge of
anyone who the ruling regime perceived, arbitrarily, as
potential opposition, rendered them either to be executed or sent to harsh labor camps where few survived.
The Soviet genocide reached its highest level in sheer
numbers subject to repression or execution in the
1920s and 1930s. The Soviet system of repression continued, even if it was less murderous, until the collapse
of the Soviet Union in 1990. The only perpetrators of
the Stalinist purge in the 1920s and 1930s held
accountable for the genocide resulted from the shift of
government in the aftermath of the death of Joseph Stalin. These perpetrators were only held accountable for
their acts as a way for the totalitarian regime to change
its henchmen, not to hold them accountable for their
crimes against humanity per se. Secrecy and blocked
access to the actual deeds have allowed perpetrators to
avoid accountability.

Growing Digital Footprint
Even in states that are authoritarian and totalitarian the
degree of network communication, wireless communications, and digital information is growing rapidly, leaving an increasingly large digital footprint. If the states
limit access to the global Internet, and other open networks, the digital footprint is still significant. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly named
North Korea or DPRK, utilize a national Intranet as a
form of Internet named "Kwangmyong" [4]. These systems are connected to the outer world - no matter if it is
not accessible for the average North Korean, it is still
accessible for offensive cyber operations.
North Korean cell phone ownership has grown
from 60 000 in 2009 to 2.8 million in 2014 [5], and
continues to grow. This provides an ever expanding
wireless sphere of extractable information. The introduction of cell phones in these repressive regimes is
likely driving change [6], and with changing behavior
comes an increasing openness about what is shared
on the networks.
It is not only the number of cell phones that matters,
increased utilization of wireless communications in
DPRK creates a larger target area. The pattern is similar
in other repressive regimes. The Islamic Republic of Iran
had in year 2000 no cell phones, but in year 2002 it had
reached 20 000 cellphones, and the latest figure (2014)
from ITU estimates 33 000 000 cell phones [5]. An
increasing number of cell phones changes behavior.
Government officials will share and discuss orders,

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

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