Edward Snowden changed the international politics of cyberspace forever. In 2013, the former contractor for the American National Security Agency provoked an international outcry by revealing the extent of US government surveillance in cyberspace. Much of the initial debate focused on demands for greater privacy on the internet. Since then, it has become clear that, in the post-Snowden era, the international politics of cyberspace has huge implications for almost every significant area of public policy — including business, economics, national security, espionage and the resilience of critical infrastructure.

In the US, the Snowden revelations provoked a serious deterioration in relations between Washington and Silicon Valley. The giants of America’s internet economy, such as Google and Facebook, were horrified by the risk that their customers might lose trust in their services. In response, they have accelerated the deployment of new technologies and forms of encryption that promise to protect their customers’ privacy.

Unfortunately, increased concern about privacy on the internet has coincided with a rise in public anxiety about the threat of terrorism. Western intelligence agencies, such as the NSA and Britain’s GCHQ, worry that the encryption of communications will make the internet “go dark” — and so make it much harder for them to monitor potential terrorist attacks. The result has been a stand-off in relations between Silicon Valley and Washington, with the threat of new legislation in the background.