These battles were emblematic of the kinds of fears that free access and information sharing over the Internet sparked among U.S. citizens. While the Internet was lauded by some as the most-open public forum yet created, others worried that this freedom allowed dangerous material to be accessed by children, criminals, and others who might not deal with it responsibly. In addition to pornography on the Web, people worried about sites containing violence and hate speech, bigotry and racism, and sites containing information about how to create drugs and weapons. Many attempts were made to curtail this kind of information on the Web. Free speech advocates in the United States, however, fought fiercely to maintain open access. They worried that unnecessary regulation or censorship could cripple the growth and diversity of the Internet. Groups such as the ACLU feared that restricting free expression...