Elijah Rockhold (Law Student at the Boston College Law School): Each year, ever more sophisticated efforts to invent and engage with digital space enter the public sphere. Artificial intelligence and augmented/virtual reality are the pet projects of massive technology companies. Funded through mining, selling, and scrutinizing the data of its consumers, the objective is a utopian world where people interact—interpersonally and commercially—in a purely digital space. This objective framed “The Place of Digital Space” discussion between Professors Fabio Benincasa, Anina Schwarzenbach, and Dr. Nicholas Hayes-Mota.
In a provocative statement, Professor Benincasa asserted “Rome is not real.” He means the imagined city, place, and social experience of Rome is not the same as the historically accurate, layered, and physical city of Rome. As an example, he pointed to the efforts of the Renaissance Church to designate all churches as “public spaces.” The forces of power at a particular time influence what is deemed “public.” Today, the same is true for technology. Professor Schwarzenbach centered the idea that virtual spaces are extensions of physical space because they are both spaces where power and control are exerted and contested. I was struck by this notion and think it will be the most contentious of future debates on digital space. For example, how does a state moderate the use of data, protection of privacy, or provision of digital space? National power extends to digital spaces: states, firms, and other non-state actors already exercise control over the definition of digital space and whether it will remain public.
The contestation of new spaces is historically grounded: the specific actors in a society or territory will exert power to modify, control, and define space to their advantage. We now—as a globalized, liberal society—face the same dynamics in digital space. The key difference, for this moment, is that power is concentrated by and among private firms, whose motivations are distinctly different from national or administrative power. How—and to what extent—citizens interact with these spaces will be a topic of increasing importance for governments, firms, interest groups, and individuals.
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