Posthuman Property and Law: Commodification and Control through Information, Smart Spaces and Artificial Intelligence (Space, Materiality and the Normative)

177 Pages·2022·2.476 MB·English

by  Jannice Käll

Posthuman Property and Law
This bookanalysesthe phenomenon ofdigitallymediatedpropertyandconsiders
howitproblematisestheboundarybetweenhumanandnonhumanactors.
The book addresses the increasingly porous border between personhood and
property in digitized settings and considers how the increased commodification
of knowledge makes visible a rupture in the liberal concept of the property
owning, free, person. Engaging with the latest work in posthumanist and new
materialist theory, it shows how property as a concept, as well as a means for
control,changesfundamentallyunderadvancedcapitalism.Suchchangeisexem-
plified by the way in which data, as an object of commodification, is extracted
from human activities yet is also directly used to affectively control – or nudge –
humans. Taking up a range of human engagements with digital platforms and
codedarchitectures,as wellasthe circulation of affectsthrough practices of artifi-
cial intelligence that are employed to shape behaviour, the book argues that
propertynowneedstobeunderstoodaccordingtoanecologyofhumanaswellas
nonhuman actors. The idea of posthuman property, then, offers both a means to
critiquepropertycontrolthroughdigitaltechnologies,aswellastomovebeyond
thenotionoftheself-owning,object-owning,human.
Engaging the most challenging contemporary technological developments,
this book will appeal to researchers in the areas of Law and Technology, Legal
Theory, Intellectual Property Law, Legal Philosophy, Sociology of Law,
Sociology, and Media Studies.
Jannice Käll is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sociology of Law at
Lund University, Sweden.

Posthuman Property and Law
fi
Commodi cation and Control through
fi
Information, Smart Spaces and Arti cial
Intelligence
Jannice Käll
Firstpublished2023
byRoutledge
4ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
605ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10158
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2023JanniceKäll
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aGlassHouseboook
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ISBN:978-0-367-68795-3(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-367-68801-1(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-003-13909-6(ebk)
DOI:10.4324/9781003139096
TypesetinBembo
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
Contents
List of figures vii
Acknowledgements viii
PART ONE
Introduction 1
1 Introduction to Posthuman Property 3
2 Code is Law and Posthumanist Jurisprudence 39
PART TWO
Body 57
3 The Dematerialization of Information 59
4 Coding Posthuman Property through Intellectual Property Law
and Beyond 77
PART THREE
Entanglement 97
5 Posthuman Ecologies of Control: Platforms, Smart Cities and
Smart Homes 99
6 Digitized Space as Property 110
PART FOUR
Ethics 121
7 Artificial Intelligence for Advanced Capitalism 123
vi Contents
8 Posthuman Affective Property 139
References 148
Index 162
Figure
3.1 Intellectual asset mapping 64
Acknowledgements
This book is the result of many years of work where countless of inspiring and
generous persons have helped me shape my thinking on legal philosophy,
property, and digitalization. The work has furthermore been carried out in my
transition from a PhD candidate in legal theory at the Departement of Law,
Gothenburg University, towards a post doc and senior lecturer in the Depart-
ment of Sociology of Law, at Lund university. I am therefore particularly
grateful to these institutions, which has made it possible to challenge the
boundaries of what legal research, and sociolegal research might imply. Ulf
Petrusson, Eva-Maria Svensson, Håkan Gustafsson, Merima Bruncevic, Kristina
Hultegård, David Jivegård, Sebastian Wejedal, Anna Wallerman Ghavanini,
Erik Björling, Tormod Otter Johansen, Isabel Schoultz, Matthias Baier, Amin
Parsa, and many more: you have all been vital during my work with this book.
My many friends in the critical legal theory setting have, furthermore, all been
crucial both in terms of support and inspiration for seeking out the weirdest and
most interesting sides of law and inviting me to innumerable special issues,
workshops, and anthologies. Swastee Ranjan, Susanna Lindroos-Hovinheimo,
Rob Herian, Danilo Mandovic, Fiona Macmillan, Daniela Gandorfer, Emily
Jones, Matilda Arvidsson, Andrea Leiter, and many more: thank you!
Invaluable comments regarding to the initial thoughts in this manuscript have
furthermore been provided by Maria Drakopoulou, Margaret Davies, Cecilia
Åsberg,KevätNousiainen,HannePetersen,andofcourse,AndreasPhilippopoulos-
Mihalopoulos,whosethinkingandexistencethisbookverymuchdependupon.
Kristina, your always-open support hotline has been a lifeline in my writing
(and in general) for many years now. No one knows friendship better than you
and I am grateful to have the chance to learn from you daily.
My deepest thanks also to Jussi for motivating/forcing me to finish writing
and have the book published, even in the middle of a global pandemic. It is a
particular privilege have gotten to spend so much time together with someone
whohassuchvastanddeepknowledgeaboutliterallyeverythingandinparticular
in relation to all things Deleuzian and digital. Thanks also for reading this manu-
scriptnotonlyonce,buttwice,ontopofenduringmy(long)monologuesabout
howeverythingcomesdowntothequestionofproperty.
Acknowledgements ix
ToBoel andStellan, mymostloyal companionsinwriting andin life:thanks
for providing me with so much profound thoughts about all kinds of digital
media, in a way that only persons who learned to navigate an iPhone before
they could walk and talk, could do. I know we are all waiting for the moment
when it will become cool to have a mother who is a researcher. Until then,
thanks for your patience with yet another book.