Spam and Speech Sometimes individual efforts to control Internet activities have produced the desired results with only indirect involvement on the part of various levels of government. Stanford Wallace, and his company, Cyber Promotions, are responsible for a large portion of the UCE that is distributed daily. In defending a lawsuit against AOL, Wallace argued that AOL could not block e-mail sent by his company to AOL subscribers because to do so would be an infringement of his right to free speech. The court rejected Wallace's argument that AOL acts like a government in Cyberspace, and therefore should be regulated like one. Building on this case, the district court in CompuServe Inc. vs. Cyber Promotions Inc., No.
Internet regulation is a complex endeavor.
Governments will not be readily satisfied with their efforts to control Internet activities, as governments are inherently local in their powers, and the Internet is inherently global in its reach. Governments need always to focus on this aspect of the Internet's networked nature. Within an international, networked environment there is room for local governments to maintain some of their traditional functions, but only if they consider the implications of their actions in a global context. Local, state, federal and international law will continue to evolve and define the functions and powers of local governments in cyberspace. A lot of the poor publicity garnered by agencies, legislatures and courts has been a result of governmental authorities acting with an inadequate understanding of Internet technology and the implications presented by the fastest growing communications medium this planet has ever seen.