by Esther Dyson

About the author: Esther Dyson is the editor of Release 1.0, a computer newsletter, and is a managing partner of EDventure Ventures, a fund devoted to bringing on-line services to central Europe and Russia.

Something in the American psyche loves new frontiers. We hanker after wide-open spaces; we like to explore; we like to make rules instead of follow them. But in this age of political correctness and other intrusions on our national cult of independence, it’s hard to find a place where you can go and be yourself without worrying about the neighbors.

There is such a place: cyberspace. Lost in the furor over porn on the Net is the exhilarating sense of freedom that this new frontier once promised—and still does in some quarters. Formerly a playground for...