IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2016 - 25

of societies, exercised on behalf
of their citizens, and a victorious
state must follow a "comprehensive
ethical exit strategy" to that end.
It is troubling then that the author
is able to make a strong case that
the current use of drones in the
Middle East may be working against
efforts to establish a lasting peace,
by conducting attacks that are perceived by the local population as
inaccurate and disproportionate,
and that inhibit the ability of the
public to associate with others and
rebuild civil society. The possibility is raised that such attacks may
indeed induce further radicalization of the population, such that
they "create more terrorists than
the number of enemy combatants
they kill." Suggestions are offered
as to how unmanned systems may
be used in a manner more consistent with the requirements of just
war theory.
The final substantive chapter discusses an objection that is often
raised against the development of

highly autonomous weapon systems
in particular: the "responsibility
gap," or "the inability to identify an
appropriate locus of responsibility"
for actions taken during a conflict.
According to this objection, a significant capacity for autonomous
operation represents an "insurmountable" barrier, preventing any
person from being held accountable for harm caused in the process of selecting and engaging a
target via an autonomous weapon. The first part of this chapter is
devoted to explaining how just war
theory requires that someone be
held accountable for harm caused
during a war; this explanation, like
the others presented in the book,
is clear and accessible, although
the author makes the possibly contentious claim that responsibility
should be borne by "agents of war,
whether human, machine, or some
combination thereof." The notion
of placing any ethical responsibility
on a machine is one that must be
explained. The author then refutes

the claim that nobody can be held
responsible for harm caused by
an autonomous system, and lays
the foundations for an interesting
theory of responsibility that is prospective, based on the capacity to
foresee and prevent harm, rather
than retrospective, focused on allocating blame for harmful incidents.
Overall, the book thoroughly
equips readers to pursue further
independent study of the ethical
issues surrounding military use of
unmanned systems. For anyone
seeking to deepen an understanding beyond the often shallow debate
that is presented in other forums,
this is an excellent place to begin.

Reviewer Information
Tim McFarland is a Ph.D. candidate
at Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne, Australia. His
research addresses the legal implications of developing and using
autonomous weapon systems. He
can be reached at ttmc@student.
unimelb.edu.au.

Donna L. Halper

Digital Militarism
Digital Militarism: Israel's Occupation in the Social Media Age.
By Adi Kuntsman and Rebecca L. Stein. Stanford University Press, 2015,
$21.95 paperback.

t is well-known in academia that the Internet has been a mixed
blessing, accused of
contributing to shorter attention spans, and making us
less able to engage in critical thinking

(see, for example, Nicholas Carr's
2008 essay, "Is Google Making Us
Stupid" here: http://www.theatlantic.
com/magazine/archive/2008/07/isgoogle-making-us-stupid/306868/).
There are also many scholars who
have explored the impact of the Internet and social media on everything
from family life to dating to the process of seeking employment. But one

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2016.2554706
Date of publication: 2 June 2016

june 2016

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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

area that has received less scrutiny up
to this point is how online media have
affected the way wars are waged. In a
world with so many ongoing conflicts,
this is a topic worthy of serious study.
It has become especially relevant in
the past decade, as a growing number of countries began using social
media to disseminate their government's viewpoint. In previous wars,

http://unimelb.edu.au http://www.theatlantic

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2016