Abstract
This Article argues that the threatening consequences of this commodification and propertization of consumers' electronic selves represent only part of the picture. Information era technological developments provide more tools than ever available before by which consumers can place boundaries around their right to consent and exclude others from that arena. Thus, Internet-based contracting allows consumers to access a broad range of bargaining power inputs to protect their power to withhold consent. Instead of an amorphous, indefinable quality of contracting parties, bargaining power may now be characterized as a series of discrete inputs that can be identified, evaluated, exchanged and owned. In essence, bargaining power may be treated as property or a commodity that in turn serves as a protection against unwanted manifestations of the self through coerced or unwitting exercises of consent.
Recommended Citation
Daniel D. Barnhizer,
Propertization Metaphors for Bargaining Power and Control of the Self in the Information Age,
54 Clev. St. L. Rev.
69
(2006)
available at https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clevstlrev/vol54/iss1/6
Comments
Symposium: Cyberpersons, Propertization, and Contract in the Information Culture