Between 2009 and 2012, the Tallinn Manual was written at the invitation of the Tallinn-based NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence by an international group of approximately twenty experts.
The group was led by Professor Michael N. Schmitt, chairman of the international law department at the United States Naval War College, who also served as the project director.
[1] When a draft of the Tallinn Manual was posted on the web site of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence,[4] it immediately drew the attention of the legal community[5] as well as online media outlets reporting mainly on technology questions.
Being the first authoritative restatement of the application and interpretation of international law in the cyber context, however, it may be anticipated that the manual will have an effect on how states and organisations will formulate their approaches and positions in those matters.
Tallinn 2.0 also explores how the general principles of international law, such as sovereignty, jurisdiction, due diligence, and the prohibition of intervention, apply in the cyber context.
A senior fellow at the centre, Professor Michael Schmitt from the United States Naval War College and the University of Exeter, directed the Tallinn 2.0 project.
The project seeks to revise the existing content in response to new developments as well as introduce discussions on emerging topics pertinent to state activities in cyberspace.