Norm Entrepreneurship: Banning Indiscriminate Digital Espionage at the UN

The 2013 revelations by Edward Snowden had a profound impact on Brazil’s approach to cybersecurity policy and cyber norms. Following the disclosure of the NSA’s surveillance practices, Brazilian policymakers gained a new understanding of the normative status quo, which did not regulate cyber espionage. In response, they drafted a UN resolution in collaboration with the German government that advocated banning indiscriminate cyber espionage. They set the issue of cyber espionage on the international agenda, framed the issue as one of human rights—thereby grafting it onto the well-established right to privacy—and promoted compliance with their proposal. In short, the episode constitutes a textbook example of norm entrepreneurship. Ultimately, however, these norm entrepreneurship efforts did little to change state practice. Nevertheless, Brazil, in collaboration with its allies, succeeded in establishing indiscriminate cyber espionage as a topic of discussion within the context of cyber norms. Furthermore, the diplomats in Brasília recognized the potential for engaging with international norms through the global cyber norms debate. In a broader sense, the episode established Brazil as a player in the global cyber norms debate, with other governments noting Brazil’s expertise and diplomatic skills in this field.