Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T01:13:57.785Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Virtual walls? The law of pseudo-public spaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2012

Daithí Mac Síthigh
Daithí Mac Síthigh*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article considers and assesses pseudo-public spaces, considering both physical and non-physical spaces. Presenting perspectives from law, geography, architecture and communication studies, it is argued that there are links between the conditions pertaining to shopping centres, redeveloped city centres, Internet service providers and websites. Particular attention is paid to unfulfilled claims regarding the promise of new spaces, or inconsistencies as between the form and substance of a given space. The owners of pseudo-public physical spaces use legal tools such as the right to exclude from private property, while the owners of pseudo-public virtual spaces often base the relationship with a user on contractual agreements; in both cases, concepts of fundamental rights are also affected, if not often vindicated. The consequences of these approaches are assessed, drawing on critical legal geography and the history of ‘common carriers’ and other forms of regulation.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , September 2012 , pp. 394 - 412
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bakan, Joel and Blomley, Nicholas (1992) ‘Spatial Categories, Legal Boundaries, and the Judicial Mapping of the Worker’, Environment and Planning A 24(5): 629–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beattie, Scott (2009) Community, Space and Online Censorship. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Beauregard, Robert (2008) ‘Making an Inclusive Urbanism: New York City's World Trade Memorial’, In Sophie Body-Gendrot, Jacques Carré and Garbaye, Romain (eds), A City of One's Own: Blurring the Boundaries between Private and Public. Aldershot: Ashgate, 25–39.Google Scholar
Benda-Beckmann, Franz von, Benda-Beckmann, Keebet von and Griffiths, Anne (2009) ‘Space and Legal Pluralism: An Introduction’ in von Benda-Beckmann, Franz, von Benda-Beckmann, Keebet and Griffiths, Anne (eds), Spatializing Law : An Anthropological Geography of Law in Society. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1–28.Google Scholar
Benjamin, Louise (2006) Freedom of the Air and the Public Interest: First Amendment Rights in Broadcasting to 1935. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Blackmar, Elizabeth (2006) ‘Appropriating “the Commons”: The Tragedy of Property Rights Discourse’, In Low, Setha and Smith, Neil (eds), The Politics of Public Space. London: Routledge, 49–80.Google Scholar
Blomley, Nicholas and Bakan, Joel (1992) ‘Spacing Out: Towards a Critical Geography of Law’, Osgoode Hall Law Journal 30(3): 661–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borden, Ian (2001) Skateboarding, Space and the City. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Braman, Sandra and Roberts, Stephanie (2003) ‘Advantage ISP: Terms of Service as Media Law’, New Media & Society 5(3): 422–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridge, Gary and Watson, Sophie (2000) ‘City Publics’, in Bridge, Gary and Watson, Sophie (eds), A Companion to the City. Oxford: Blackwell, 369–79.Google Scholar
Butler, Chris (2009) ‘Critical Legal Studies and the Politics of Space’, Social & Legal Studies 18: 313–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, Stephen, Francis, Mark, Rivlin, Leanne and Stone, Andrew (1992) Public Space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Carré, Jacques (2008) ‘“Private” and “Public” in the Extension of Georgian London's West End’, In Body-Gendrot, Sophie, Carré, Jacques and Garbaye, Romain (eds), A City of One's Own: Blurring the Boundaries between Private and Public. Aldershot: Ashgate, 13–24.Google Scholar
Chatterton, Paul and Hollands, Robert (2003) Urban Nightscapes: Youth Cultures, Pleasure Spaces and Corporate Power. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cochrane, Allen (1999) ‘Just Another Failed Urban Experiment? The Legacy of the Urban Development Corporations’, in Imrie, Rob and Thomas, Huw (eds), British Urban Policy: An Evaluation of the Urban Development Corporations, 2nd edn.London: Sage, 246–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Nick (2006) ‘Debating Humanism’ (review), New Humanist 121(6): 34.Google Scholar
Cummings, Dolan (2009) ‘How Public is Public Space?’, Blueprint, August: 44–52.Google Scholar
Dahlgren, Peter (2005) ‘The Internet, Public Spheres, and Political Communication: Dispersion and Deliberation’, Political Communications 22(2): 147–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duneier, Mitchell (1999) Sidewalk. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.Google Scholar
Freedman, Warren (1998) Freedom of Speech on Private Property. New York: Quorum.Google Scholar
Gannon, Zoe and Lawson, Neal (2010) The Advertising Effect: How Do We Get the Balance of Advertising Right? London: Compass.Google Scholar
Gerhards, Jürgen and Schäfer, Mike (2010) ‘Is the Internet a Better Public Sphere? Comparing Old and New Media in the USA and Germany’, New Media & Society 12(1): 143–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glasze, Georg (2005) ‘Some Reflections on the Economic and Political Organisation of Private Neighbourhoods’, Housing Studies 20(2): 221–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Susan and Gray, Kevin (1999a) ‘Civil Rights, Civil Wrongs and Quasi-Public Space’, European Human Rights Law Review: 46–102.Google Scholar
Gray, Susan and Gray, Kevin (1999b) ‘Private Property and Public Propriety’, In McLean, Jane (ed.), Property and the Constitution. Oxford: Hart, 11–39.Google Scholar
Hadfield, Phil (2006) Bar Wars: Contesting the Night in Contemporary British Cities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, David (2006) ‘Space as a Keyword’, In Harvey, David, Spaces of Global Capitalism. London: Verso, 117–48.Google Scholar
Holder, Jane and Harrison, Carolyn (2003) Law and Geography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imrie, Rob and Thomas, Huw (1999) ‘Urban Development Corporations in Context’, in Imrie, Rob and Thomas, Huw (eds), British Urban Policy: An Evaluation of the Urban Development Corporations, 2nd edn.London: Sage, 3–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, Peter (2004) ‘The Virtual World as a Company Town: Freedom of Speech in Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games’, Journal of Internet Law 8(1): 1–21.Google Scholar
Kayden, Jerome (2000) Privately Owned Public Spaces: The New York City Experience. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Kennedy, David (1995) ‘Residential Associations as State Actors: Regulating the Impact of Gated Communities on Non-Members’, Yale Law Journal 105(3): 761–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilian, Ted (1998) ‘Public and Private, Power and Space’, in Light, Andrew and Smith, Jonathan (eds), Philosophy and Geography II. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 115–34.Google Scholar
Kingsnorth, Paul (2009) Real England: The Battle against the Bland. London: Portobello.Google Scholar
Kohn, Margaret (2004) Brave New Neighborhoods. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laidlaw, Emily (2008) ‘Private Power, Public Interest: An Examination of Search Engine Accountability’, International Journal of Law and Information Technology 17: 113–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lasker, Stephanie (2002) ‘Sex and the City: Zoning “Pornography Peddlers and Live Nude Shows”’, UCLA Law Review 49: 1139–85.Google Scholar
Lastowka, Greg (2008) ‘Google's Law’, Brooklyn Law Review 73:1327–410.Google Scholar
Law Society (Planning & Environmental Law Committee) (2006) ‘Model Planning Obligation (Section 106) Agreement’. Available at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/151600.pdf.Google Scholar
Layard, Antonia (2010) ‘Shopping in the Public Realm: The Law of Place’, Journal of Law & Society 37(3): 412–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lessig, Lawrence (1999/2006) Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Lessig, Lawrence (2002) The Future of Ideas. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Low, Setha (2006) ‘How Private Interests Take Over Public Space: Zoning, Taxes, and Incorporation of Gated Communities’, In Low, Setha and Smith, Neil (eds), The Politics of Public Space. London: Routledge, 81–103.Google Scholar
Mac Síthigh, Daithi (2008) ‘The Mass Age of Internet Law’ Information & Communications Technology Law 17(2): 79–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manifesto Club (2008) ‘Against the Booze Bans and the Hyper-Regulation of Public Space’. Available at: http://www.manifestoclub.com/files/BoozeBanReport.pdf.Google Scholar
Marsden, Christopher (2000) ‘Introduction: Information and Communications Technologies, Globalisation and Regulation’, In Marsden, Christopher (ed.), Regulating the Global Information Society. London: Routledge, 1–39.Google Scholar
Marsden, Christopher (2010) Net Neutrality: Towards a Co-Regulatory Solution. London: Bloomsbury Academic.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, Hugh (1998) ‘The Rights of Rights of Way’, in Light, Andrew and Smith, Jonathan (eds), Philosophy and Geography II. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 179–88.Google Scholar
Mead, David (2010) The New Law of Peaceful Protest. Oxford: Hart.Google Scholar
Minton, Anna (2009) Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the Twenty-First-Century City. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Minton, Anna (2010) ‘This Town Has Been Sold to Tesco’, The Guardian, 5 May, p. S1.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Donald (2003) The Right to the City. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Nelson, Robert (2005) Private Neighborhoods and the Transformation of Local Government. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Nunziato, Dawn (2009) Virtual Freedom: Net Neutrality and Free Speech in the Internet Age. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Office of the deputy prime minister (2005) ‘Circular 05/2005: Planning Obligations’. Available at: www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/147537.pdf.Google Scholar
Oldenberg, Ray (1997) The Great Good Place. New York: Marlowe.Google Scholar
Papacharissi, Zisi (2002) ‘The Virtual Sphere: The Internet as a Public Sphere’, New Media & Society 4(1): 9–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, Andreas (ed.) (2007) Law and the City. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Nicholas (2007) ‘Access to Quasi-Public Spaces–Whose Visitor?’, Conveyancer and Property Lawyer: 235–58.Google Scholar
Rowbottom, Jacob (2005) ‘Property and Participation: A Right of Access for Expressive Activities’, European Human Rights Law Review: 186–202.Google Scholar
Saint, Andrews (2009) ‘Walls, Fences, Grilles and Intercoms’, London Review of Books 31(22): 28–29.Google Scholar
Sauvain, Stephen (2004) Highway Law, 3rd edn.London: Sweet & Maxwell.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Benno (1976) Freedom of the Press vs Public Access. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Shaftoe, Henry (2008) Convivial Urban Spaces. London: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Simon, Bryant (2009) Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soley, Laura (2002) Censorship Inc: The Corporate Threat to Free Speech in the United States. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Staeheli, Lynn and Mitchell, Donald (2007) The People's Property? Power, Politics, and the Public. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Stafford-Smith, Clive (2008) ‘A Fair Trial is not a “Brand Issue”’, New Statesman, 17 March, p. 24.Google Scholar
Stein, Laura (2006) Speech Rights in America: The First Amendment, Democracy, and the Media. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sunstein, Cass (2007) Republic.com 2.0. New York: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Turner, Jenny (2010) ‘Who Are They?’, London Review of Books 32(13): 3–8.Google Scholar
Urry, John (1995) Consuming Places. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wortham, Jenna (2010) ‘Apple Bans Some Apps for Sex-Tinged Content’, New York Times, 22 February. Available at: www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/technology/23apps.html.Google Scholar
Youtube Blog (2008) ‘A YouTube for All of Us’. Available at: http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2008/12/youtube-for-all-of-us.html.Google Scholar
Zack, Jason (2007) ‘The Ultimate Company Town: Wading in the Digital Marsh of Second Life’, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 10(1): 225–55.Google Scholar
Zick, Timothy (2009) Speech Out of Doors: Preserving First Amendment Liberties in Public Places. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zittrain, Jonathan (2007) ‘Saving the Internet’, Harvard Business Review, June. Available at: http://hbr.org/2007/06/saving-the-internet/ar/1.Google Scholar
Žižek, Slavoj (2009) First as Tragedy, Then as Farce. London: Verso.Google Scholar