The omnipresent Internet.

• Author: Greenberg, Pam
• Position: Includes related articles on the United States Internet Council and the controversy about the protection of mountain lions on the Internet

The Internet has turned out to be more like an information jungle than a highway - surrounding people with exotic and sometimes dangerous material...What to do?

To Bill Clinton, the Internet is "our new town square, a teacher of all subjects, a connection to all cultures." To San Jose Mercury News columnist Joanne Jacobs, the Internet is "more like a giant multiroom community center where every hobbyist, huckster, preacher and crank holds a continual club meeting and flea market."

The Internet is a truly democratic instrument - the most extensive, farthest reaching free speech medium ever invented. It's also a daytime talk show where speakers can remain anonymous, and it contains, according to an Oklahoma legislative resolution, "the vilest forms of obscenity."

At a public library in a suburb of New York City, teenage boys were spending hours viewing sexually explicit material on the Internet. At an Orlando, Fla., library some patrons were using library computers tied to the Internet to access pornography, tying up terminals for hours at a time. The Florida library installed special software to block out pornographic sites; the New York librarians talked to the kids about how to appropriately use the resource. Both are satisfied they solved the problem. But the librarians in New York could face prosecution if they allow minors to see "indecent" material on the Internet under a new state law that prohibits dissemination of this material via computers.

A pro-life radio broadcaster registered and used the Internet address "plannedparenthood.com" to publish his anti-abortion message. Planned Parenthood, the organization known for its pro-choice stance, has sued, claiming trademark violation. Georgia's House Conservative Policy Caucus put up an Internet home page that used the Georgia state seal and included information about the General Assembly. Representative Mitchell Kaye, the Georgia law-maker who serves as Webmaster for the site, claims that the Democratic majority's new law against "misrepresentation" on the Internet is an attempt to suppress his on-line home page that publishes information about the majority's activities.

State employees in Oregon must follow an "acceptable use policy" that allows use of the Internet for government-related business purposes only. The policy prohibits transmitting unprofessional communications, using the Internet for illegal purposes or advertising on the Internet for personal gain. In Virginia, a new state law specifically prohibits state employees from using sexually explicit Internet sites while at work.

All of these state laws - New York's prohibition on Internet indecency, Georgia's law against misrepresentation and Virginia's mandate to state employees - are being challenged as violating the First Amendment.

Courts reviewing new laws regulating the Internet are examining just how it fits into traditional regulatory categories like mass media, telecommunications and print media. Like radio and television, the Internet can broadcast a radio program or video clip to millions of people at once. But there is a centralized point of control in broadcast media. The Internet is an information resource like books and newspapers, which are entitled to the broadest of First Amendment protections. But the speed and breadth with which information can be disseminated distinguishes the Internet from ordinary publishing.

"The Internet has grown so fast, it will take a while to sort it out. It's similar to what we're familiar with, but has some important differences. It's really parts of lots of things - a cross between the grandest library, the greatest public forum, the biggest telephone conversation," says Representative Fern Shubert of North Carolina.

DO YOU KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT?

Just when you thought it was settled, obscenity and pornography are again exposed to Supreme Court scrutiny. The federal Communications Decency Act (CDA), signed into law in early 1996, is aimed at protecting minors from pornographic materials on the Internet...