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"We [science fiction writers] always wanted to believe in "private sector" space -- hucksters make better characters than a government does."
- Larry Niven

Sonabarrier  
  A type of energy fence, used to keep birds away from particular areas.  

The city of Chu, which was the only city on all of Dosadi, was surrounded by rivers that were probably poisonous, like all of the natural life on the planet. The planet itself was surrounded by what amounted to an energy field, to keep the people of the planet from leaving.

This theme is picked up in the idea of an energy field that kept carrion-eating birds confined to a desired space.

In the forenoon, the ledges outside Broey's windows were a roosting place for carrion birds, who occupied a special niche on Dosadi. A flock of them strutted with avian insolence…while they watched the outlying streets for signs of food. They also watched the Rim, but it had been temporarily denied them by a sonabarrier.
Technovelgy from The Dosadi Experiment, by Frank Herbert.
Published by Berkley Putnam in 1977
Additional resources -

The Dosadi Experiment is a novel that frequently uses the notion of controls to keep people in a space (either physical or psychological). Author Frank Herbert artfully uses technology that mirrors his concerns as a novelist.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Dosadi Experiment
  More Ideas and Technology by Frank Herbert
  Tech news articles related to The Dosadi Experiment
  Tech news articles related to works by Frank Herbert

Sonabarrier-related news articles:
  - Inferno Sonic Barrier Is A Sonabarrier

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