Law's mapping of cyberspace: The shape of new social space

Abstract

The proliferation of communication and information technologies is creating new human spaces, virtual places. Like all places, virtual ones are composed of a variety of discourses, law being central to that domain. Different legal conceptualizations, regulations, actors, and practices are components of virtual spaces along with computers and communication lines. MUDs and MOOS (MUDs: Multi User Dungeons; MOOs: Object Oriented MUDs) are new social settings in cyberspace, and are subject to the constitutive forces of such legal paradigms as property, social control, rights, and due process. The shape these spaces take are the direct result of the conflation of differing ideologies and practices surrounding these paradigms. Social spaces are the products of particular ideologies and practices combined in a dynamic relationship that represent ascendant political, legal, and social power.