Forget the threat of Facebook’s privacy intrusions. How about killer robots? Hollywood has done a good job of getting the public used to the idea of killer robots of various kinds.

But it’s no longer just a matter of fantastic computer graphics in movies. Technology has developed to the point where the issue is not “if” we will be able to build systems of robot weapons, but when.

And, for those who are trying to maintain a legal framework for international arms control, it’s a problem that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Put simply, the international laws of war have to be rewritten to take maintain their relevance as this new type of warfare arrives on the scene.

The Lawfare Blog just published a review of the current status of international discussions of “Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems,” or LAWS.

Though states have not agreed on a definition of LAWS, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has defined “autonomous weapon systems” as “[a]ny weapon system with autonomy in its critical functions—that is, a weapon system that can select (i.e. search for or detect, identify, track, select) and attack (i.e. use force against, neutralize, damage or destroy) targets without human intervention.”

The article links to a couple of versions of a 2014 report from an “expert meeting” organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross to discuss the issues (“Autonomous weapon systems technical, military, legal and humanitarian aspects“).

There’s also a useful link to another scholarly article, “Debating Autonomous Weapon Systems, Their Ethics, and Their Regulation Under International Law.”