In June 1995, Los Angeles Times writer Kim Murphy described separate incidents involving a fifteen-year-old boy in Washington and a thirteen-year-old girl in Kentucky who ran away from their homes, apparently after corresponding with strangers via electronic mail (e-mail) on their personal computers. After spending several weeks in California, both teens were located and returned to their homes. According to Murphy, these stories reveal that there is a “very real possibility that children could be lured into illicit sex, prostitution or worse by contacts gleaned from their home computers.” Child welfare groups report that cases of adults having had unlawful sex with minors they have met through e-mail are becoming more common.

In a related development, in 1995, Robert and Carleen Thomas, who lived near San Francisco and operated a computer bulletin-board system (BBS) called Amateur Action, were convicted by a Memphis, Tennessee, jury of transmitting pornographic images...