Seydou Amadou Oumarou and René Lefort

Some of the most lamented aspects of the Internet are that it makes pornography available to anyone who goes online and provides racists and other hate groups with a forum to espouse their views. In 1995 public concern over online pornography resulted in the Communications Decency Act (CDA), a federal law that made it illegal to use the Net to display or send "indecent" material that could be seen by a minor. In 1997 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the CDA violated the First Amendment right to free speech and was therefore unconstitutional.

However, many parents, politicians, and pundits wonder how effective the CDA would have been even if it had not been struck down by the Court. The Internet links over 100 million people in many countries, each with...