Indecent-Material Internet Ruling

As someone who has sat down and read the recent court decision against the so-called Communications Decency Act, I can only say that this ruling was one of the most complete and best-reasoned defenses of free speech I have ever read (June 13).

Chief Judge Dolores K. Sloviter and Judges Stewart Dalzell and Ronald Buckwalter did more than the president or anyone in Congress to actually understand not only the issues, but also the technology with which they were dealing. They comprehended what I think are the three key points that managed to escape Sen. J. James Exon (D-Neb.) in his holier-than-thou crusade:

1) The Internet is an international entity that knows no borders. Much of what the CDA tried to restrict would still come from “offshore” with impunity.

2) Methods for verification that will open sites up to adults are either not yet feasible or out of reach to smaller, nonprofit content providers. To escape possible prosecution under the CDA, they would have to sanitize their Internet sites to be “suitable” for minors.

3) Most of the content that the CDA seeks to restrict is already illegal under existing laws and people have been successfully prosecuted under these laws.

4) The language referring to “indecent” and “patently offensive” is hopelessly vague.

PAUL McELLIGOTT

Lake Forest