Policing Content in the Quasi-Public Sphere

@jilliancyork

Gary Chapman International School on Digital TransformationPorto, Portugal, July 2011

The Quasi-Public Sphere

Private companies, quasi-public spaces

We treat these spaces as public

Terms of Use are proprietary

The Privatization of Our Publics

Marsh v. Alabama (1946), United States

Supreme Court: “Owners and operators of a company town could not prohibit the distribution of religious literature in the town's business district because such expression was protected by the First and 14th amendments.”

New Jersey Coalition Against War in the Middle East v. J.M.B. Realty Corp. (1994)

Established the right of individuals to hand out protest literature in one of the state’s shopping malls. The Coalition, which had been asked to leave various New Jersey malls on account of their trespassing, took their fight to court and won, based on the assertion that the mall owners “have intentionally transformed their property into a public square or market, a public gathering place, a downtown business district, a community.

Community Policing

Case: Facebook and Sayeb Sala7

Case: Name Identity

Case: Name Identity

Identity on Facebook

Bad Links?

Flickr and Maarten Dors

Results! Robust Community Guidelines

3arabawy and Flickr

YouTube and Context

Case: YouTube and Graphic Content

More info: http://is.gd/k25Yar

Solutions?

Built in human rights

Is community policing the answer?

Better community guidelines

Robust processes for users

Thank you!

Here’s how you can find me:

@jilliancyorkjilliancyork@gmail.comhttp://jilliancyork.com

(I keep it simple.)