DECENCY RULING SETS INTERNET ABUZZ : JUDGES' DECISION CALLED VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH.

Byline: Michael L. Rozansky Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Fireworks erupted across the Internet at 9:09 a.m. Wednesday, minutes after the three judges issued their decision. An animated fireworks graphic appeared simultaneously on some 3,900 locations on the World Wide Web, replacing a red question mark.

The question mark had asked, ``Will Online Free Speech Survive?'' Following the ruling, opponents of the Communications Decency Act at the Voters Telecommunications Watch, an advocacy group, swapped it for the fireworks, which declared: ``Free speech!''

There was joy in cyberspace. Messages like ``We Won'' were strung across Web sites like birthday banners. Two-bit analyses and on-the-spot reactions were posted on some electronic bulletin boards. Writers debated how the case would fare before the Supreme Court; one simply began: ``YES!! WOO WOO!!''

Word of the ruling raced across the globe through e-mail, through messages sent to electronic discussion groups, through ``chat rooms'' where groups of people converse by writing messages.

``To the extent you can ever detect a `buzz' on the Internet, I think we are seeing that,'' said David Sobel, legal counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of the plaintiffs in the case against the government.

``I'm getting all sorts of congratulatory e-mail, lots of letters from people looking for the text of the decision,'' said Sabbir J. Safdar, co-founder of the Voters Telecommunications Watch. ``People are ecstatic.''

In the American Civil Liberties Union's discussion room on America Online, known as ``Freedom Hall,'' a handful of visitors exchanged written high-fives. ``the CDA bit the dust'' wrote an ACLU member. ``Makes one proud!'' someone responded.

Unlike many court decisions, which are not widely available to the public unless they are reprinted in the following day's newspaper, the court's 175-page ruling was posted immediately and widely across the Net.

C/net, the computer network and Web site, offered a radio report on the case that could be replayed through special software, as well as electronic links to important sources and free-speech decisions. Some sites had links to the ACLU, other plaintiffs or news sources.

``There's a lot of cross-linking between various news sites,'' Sobel said. ``There seems to be a lot of cooperation I haven't seen before. People are really coming together and seeing this as so significant. . . . they're sharing resources.''

Though the decision concerned the virtual world, some supporters planned to whoop it up Wednesday night with rallies IRL, ``in real life,'' as it's known.