“For those who value free expression, it is worth remembering that sticks and stones may break your bones, but e-mails will never hurt you.” —Kenneth Lake, Internet Freedom News, February 13, 1998

“High-tech hate is not going to be tolerated. A line does have to be drawn in the world of cyberspace. If you cross that line ...you are going to be subject to criminal penalties.” —Michael J. Gennaco

In September 1996, fifty-nine Asian students at the University of California in Irvine turned on their computers to find that someone had sent them an e-mail message blaming them for all the crimes committed on campus. If the students did not quit school, the writer warned, “I personally will make it my life career to find and kill every one of you personally.”

Although some of the students shrugged off the e-mail as a...