It is reprinted here with permission. This global network of computers is revolutionizing the way we live, work, and play. Through the Internet, you can work at home, make travel reservations, stay in touch with your kids at college, order a pizza, and check your congressman's voting record, all with the click of a mouse. The Internet is the modern American frontier. It is largely unregulated, dizzyingly chaotic, and home to some of the freest discussion and transmission of information anywhere on the planet.
Censorship is virtually unheard of.
All that is about to change. All indications are that this bill is on a fast track, as part of telecommunications-reform legislation. If passed and enforced, this act will cripple the Internet as we know it. While drafted with the best of intentions, as such laws often are, the practical consequences will be far more odious than the problems it is trying to solve. Briefly, the Communications Decency Act establishes criminal penalties for the transmission of images or text deemed lewd, obscene, or harassing.