On Apr.18, James E. Tierney of Lisbon Falls, Me., pleaded for the removal of an ad on America Online Inc. offering bulk E-mail marketing services. Regulators aren't adjusting easily to the Net's realities, and Uncle Sam has made some clunky moves. When it became law in February, the online community went ballistic, and the Net crackled with protest. The suit is pending in a federal district court in Philadelphia, which is likely to decide the case by summer. The parties will then take the case to the Supreme Court, which is expected to hear it this fall.
Cybernauts say the law shows how little ham-fisted bureaucrats understand cyberspace.
To anyone familiar with the Net's structure, it's clear that the new restrictions will be unenforceable. Lawmakers, they say, are trying to graft onto it a regulatory framework devised for broadcast, a different medium based on finite spectrum and geographic limits. Controlling the wired multitudes is infinitely harder. Instead, Net advocates want individuals to make their own choices, using technology to block so-called undesirable sites and online discussion groups. Lawmakers, bureaucrats, and judges think in outdated ways.