Governing SETI and METI: International Law and the Rise of Soft-Law Protocols

To the point

Governance of potential contact with extraterrestrial intelligence is debated because there is no binding international instrument for SETI or METI and the Outer Space Treaty leaves these questions unresolved, even as searches expand with Breakthrough Listen and FAST and METI advocates push to send messages; critics like Stephen Hawking warn of existential risks while proponents argue there could be benefits and that humanity cannot stay hidden, and the SETI community has produced soft-law protocols such as the First Protocol and a proposed Communications Declaration, while some call for a COPUOS-backed treaty and others prefer nonbinding declarations that could still influence norms or become customary international law.