Scrambled

November, 1997

Seems only yesterday that then-Senator James Exon (D-Neb.) was passing around dirty pictures from the Internet to his cronies on Capitol Hill. Those digital downloads inspired the Communications Decency Act--that ill-conceived attempt to clean up cyberspace and make it safe for children, or for childlike minds. A full-blown media panic had created the specter of adults seducing children in chat rooms and exposing youngsters to the vilest pornographic images, thereby creating sexual monsters. The...