{"id":24244,"date":"2026-05-10T15:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T19:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/?page_id=24244"},"modified":"2026-05-10T15:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T19:31:09","slug":"the-national-security-internet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/in-print\/volume-114\/volume-114-issue-3-february-2026\/the-national-security-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"The National Security Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to widespread foreign surveillance and growing geopoliti<\/i>cal distrust, governments are erecting a national security internet. <\/i>Pioneered by <\/i>China, national firewalls have gone global. But where fire<\/i>walls sought to keep information out, they now seek to keep data in. <\/i>Governments keen to avoid their citizens\u2019 data from falling into foreign <\/i>hands demand not only that personal data be stored on local servers, but <\/i>also require that it be stored on local servers by local companies<\/i>\u2014<\/span>what <\/i>this Article calls <\/i>\u201c<\/span>data localization squared.<\/i>\u201d <\/span>Enforcing this demand <\/i>requires a new mechanism of transnational control: immunity from foreign <\/i>jurisdiction. Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, too, now need licenses for <\/i>export. We are witnessing the creation of Digital Berlin Walls, complete <\/i>with Checkpoint Charlies to permit border crossings.<\/i><\/p>\n

The ascent of digital border controls in the name of national security <\/i>treats a domain of speech and commerce according to the rules of war. <\/i>This Article traces this turn through six case studies: TikTok, the United <\/i>States <\/i>\u201c<\/span>rip and replace<\/i>\u201d <\/span>program, the Chinese <\/i>\u201c<\/span>Delete America<\/i>\u201d <\/span>program, <\/i>Microsoft 365, connected cars, and AI models. The TikTok saga is but the <\/i>visible edge of a broad reconfiguration of international economic relations <\/i>largely occurring through obscure administrative processes. Existing schol<\/i>arship <\/i>has <\/i>recognized various aspects of this national security turn; this <\/i>Article weaves <\/i>together regulatory moves from TikTok to cars, from the <\/i>United States to China, to identify a paradigm shift in digital regulation.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Article argues that the national security internet will come at a <\/i>steep price, disrupting trade and investment, reducing competition, invit<\/i>ing <\/i>retaliation, <\/i>increasing government control over speech, and <\/i>under<\/i>mining efforts to stem climate change and promote development, while <\/i>offering easily circumvented protection against foreign surveillance. The <\/i>Article introduces a typology of corporate strategies to satisfy national <\/i>security demands and assesses their limitations. The Article proposes <\/i>reforms that constrain foreign surveillance in order to protect both civil <\/i>rights and national security.<\/i><\/p>\n

Continue reading The National Security Internet<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\nChander_The-National-Security-Internet<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to widespread foreign surveillance and growing geopolitical distrust, governments are erecting a national security internet. Pioneered by China, national firewalls have gone global. But where firewalls sought to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13871,"featured_media":0,"parent":24239,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"abstract.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-24244","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13871"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24245,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24244\/revisions\/24245"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}