My project
My project discusses internet shutdowns from an ethical perspective. These governmental restrictions on internet access limit the freedom of speech, cost millions in GDP, and authoritarian governments use them to quell dissidence. Internet shutdowns are enacted around the world, for instance in Iran, Myanmar and Sudan. The majority of internet shutdowns occurred in India, and some of the longest. But also, Western countries enacted internet shutdowns. I tackle the issue of internet shutdowns in collaboration with the Center for Internet and Society in India, leading a rights-based discussion.
Edited books
2016 Pensar Internet. Universidad Iberoamericana Press. Mexico-City, ca. 100 pp. (edited with Mariana Aguirre, i. a. with Alejandro Pisanty (ISOC & ICANN))
Publications and book chapters
2023 Johannes Thumfart, ‘The democratic offset: Contestation, deliberation, and participation regarding military applications of AI. ’ AI and Ethics, May 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-023-00288-3
2022 Wanshu Cong and Johannes Thumfart, ‘A Chinese Precursor to the Digital Sovereignty Debate: Digital Anti-Colonialism and Authoritarianism from the Post–Cold War Era to the Tunis Agenda’, Global Studies Quarterly 2, no. 4 (October 2022), https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksac059.
2022 Marcus Michaelsen and Johannes Thumfart, ‘Drawing a Line: Digital Transnational Repression against Political Exiles and Host State Sovereignty’, European Journal of International Security, 25 October 2022, 1–21, https://doi.org/10.1017/eis.2022.27.
2022 Johannes Thumfart, ‘The (Il)legitimacy of Cybersecurity. An Applicationof Just Securitization Theoryto Cybersecurity based on the Principle of Subsidiarity’, Applied Cybersecurity & Internet Governance, 1(1), 97–120. https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0016.1093.
My events and conferences
2023 Internet shutdowns: is it ever legitimate to blackout the internet? Computer, Privacy, Data Protection (CPDP 2023)
2022 Sovereignty and the Internet’s first decade in China: Academic debates and the official Bu Zhenglun, Conference about the Chinese concept of Digital Sovereignty, University of Bologna, 17.12.2022.
2022 The Chinese strategy and the concept of digital sovereignty, at Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair, SciencesPo, 6.12.2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9akkCa3rAM.
2022 The Norm Development Process of Digital Sovereignty between China, Russia, the EU, and the US, At the Institute of International Studies, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, 15.11.2022.
2022 The Norm Development Process of Digital Sovereignty between China, Russia, the EU, and the US. At the International Geographic Union Conference in Paris, 18. – 22.7.2022
2022 Vitoria, Schmitt, Kelsen, and the Cyberspace Sovereignty Trilemma: Free Flow of Information, Territorial Digital Sovereignty and Regulatory Territories of Extraterritorial Reach. At conference: “Vitoria and Schmitt”, Real Instituto Universitario de Estudios Europeos (CEU) – Universidad San Pablo Convento San Esteban, Salamanca, 30.6. – 2.7.2022.
2022 Statement on Panel ‘Digital sovereignty – is Europe going in the right direction to keep Internet infrastructure secure and open?’, European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG), Turino, 21.6.2022.
2022 Statement on Germany’s digital sovereignty at the Deliberative Workshop “Digital Sovereignty – Push and Pull within the EU”, United Nations University, Amsterdam, 24 February 2022.
2021 Statement at the Deliberative Workshop “China’s Digital Sovereignty”, at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, 15.10.2021.
2021 Cultures of digital sovereignty in China, Russia and India. A comparative perspective from NWICO and WSIS to SCO. Presented at CPDPLatAm side event Digital Sovereignty in the BRICS Countries. 15.7.2021. 2021 Statement at the Deliberative Workshop “Furthering Digital Sovereignty”, at the United Nations University, Amsterdam, 3. – 10.5.2021.
My videos and bylines in mass media
Der Spiegel: http://bit.ly/spiegelprofil
Die Zeit: http://bit.ly/zeitprofil
Die tageszeitung: http://bit.ly/tazprofil
Interview in the context of SciencePo’s Annual Conference of the Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair, which took place on December 6, 2022, on the theme of “Digital Sovereignty and Geopolitical Crisis.
My social media activity