Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace: Freedom and Censorship on the Frontiers of the Online Revolution.

Jonathan Wallace and Mark Mangan Owl Books/Henry Holt and Co. 115 West 18th St. New York, NY 10011 304 pp., $14.95

Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace is an eminently readable and intelligent introduction to many of the problems raised about free expression and the First Amendment in cyberspace. Cyberspace may be an informative place, a creative place, even a lucrative place. It is not, however, a harmonious place. It is already a complex place, a global place, a rapidly growing place where time and space do not constrain communication as they do in the physical world.

If the purpose of the First Amendment is to encourage an expanded marketplace of ideas, cyberspace can be considered a strong ally of the First Amendment. The growth of computer networks and the declining price of hardware and software have created a marketplace that is larger and more active than that fostered by any existing methods of communication. If, however, the First Amendment includes some concern with the quality of ideas in the marketplace, and if it is assumed that government can, even to a limited extent, involve itself in the marketplace, the activity and capacity of cyberspace pose dilemmas.

Cyberspace today may not be as dangerous a place as some feel, but it is a place that has some dangers and it is a place to exercise some caution. Jonathan Wallace and Mark Mangan clearly feel that government intrusions aimed at protecting users are likely to cause more harm than good, and they make a good case for their position. Since nearly everyone eventually will participate in the online environment, the book is an appropriate guide to why one needs to be cautious rather than carefree in this new and enticing place.

The authors are ambitious in the task they set for themselves. They note--

Our study of the history of communications

technology raises a number of threshold issues

that must be resolved in determining the right

approach to regulation of the Internet. What is

the significance of the Net for free speech?

What is the significance, and what are the

effects. of technological convergence? Is the

Internet pervasive in the same sense as radio

or television? What is the role of parental

supervision in determining what children can

see on the Net? Can speech on the Internet

effectively be channeled? What technological

solutions aid parents in filtering the contents of

the Internet for their children? Does fighting

speech with speech work on the Net? Why is

there so much hysteria about the Internet? Is

it primarily to be a vehicle for business or

speech (and are these uses inconsistent)? Who

should control the Internet? When do we need

new laws for the Internet, and when will the old

ones suffice?

The answers to these questions are presented in the course of discussing several of the first law and cyberspace cases and disputes that reached the courts. These include the stories of Robert and Carleen Thomas, who were tried for obscenity in Tennessee even though their bulletin board was in California, and, of course, of the Communications Decency Act, which the Supreme Court found to be unconstitutional last June in ACLU v. Reno.

Wallace and Mangan devote a substantial amount of space to the act. The Court's decision appeared to be a ringing endorsement of free speech rights in cyberspace. Yet, it was also a decision that involved an ambiguous and overly broad statute. The authors argue for government keeping its hands off, but new approaches to regulation and new cases arising out of these approaches are likely.

The authors extol the Internet as being a "forum without gatekeepers." Fortunately or unfortunately, users of the Internet are actually faced with many gatekeepers, ranging from the internet service provider who gives them access to the online environment to the software developer who embeds limitations on communication in code. What is unusual about cyberspace, and what makes it an ally of the First Amendment, is that there are many gates, and, as a result, the actions of any one gatekeeper may be ineffectual in limiting access to and distribution of information.

Wallace and Mangan established a Web site (http://www.spectacle.org/freespch) to maintain the book's currency and to provide links to associated material on the Web.

I hope they will continue to maintain the site so those who are interested can communicate with the authors and extend their understanding of the issues covered in the book.

M. Ethan Katsh is a professor of legal studies and director of the Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution at the Department of Legal Studies, University of Massachusetts.