A new generation of outdoor malls are beginning to appear. Dubbed "lifestyle centers", they are designed to have a "look and feel" similar to what was once known as a downtown area. But there is a subtle difference. Every square inch of these "lifestyle centers" is privately owned, and thus subject to whatever decrees the holding company decides are in its commercial interests.

Lifestyle centers are privately owned space, carefully insulated from the messiness of public life. Desert Ridge, for example, has a rigorous code of conduct, posted beneath its store directory. The list of forbidden activities includes "non-commercial expressive activity" -- not to mention "excessive staring" and "taking photos, video or audio recording of any store, product, employee, customer or officer."

The new totalitarianism need not come only from "the government" (except to the degree that government sanctions and ordains ownership of property by such entities). When every inch of land is owned by a corporation, it doesn't matter whether or not Congress can pass laws abridging the freedom of speech, because whoever owns the ground on which you are standing will do it instead. We're not quite that far gone yet, but things are quickly heading in that direction.