at is felt by many different people and groups tothe cause of free speech on the Internet.16 "Words like *censored*, *censored*, piss,and tits. Words of which our mothers (at least some of them) would nodoubt disapprove, but which by no means should be regulated by thegovernment. But it's not just about dirty words. It's also about wordslike AIDS, gay, a nd breasts. It's about sexual content, and politicallycontroversial topics like drug addiction, euthanasia, and racism."17 Justrecently in France, a high court has struck down a bill that promoted thecensorship of the Internet. Other countries have attempted similar moves.The Internet cannot be regulated in the way of other mediums simplybecause it is not the same as anyt hing else that we have. It is a totallynew and unique form of communication and deserves to be given a chance toprove itself. Laws of one country can not hold jurisdiction in anothercountry and holds true on the Internet because it has no borders.Although North America (mainly the United States) has the largestshare of servers, the Internet is still a worldwide network. This meansthat domestic regulations cannot oversee the rules of foreign countries.It would be just as easy for an American te en to download (receive)pornographic material from England, as it would be from down the street.One of the major problems is the lack of physical boundaries, making itdifficult to determine where violations of the law should be prosecuted.There is no one place through which all information passes through. Thatwas one of the key points that was stressed during the original days ofthe Internet, then called ARPANET. It started out as a defense projectthat would allow communication in the event of an e mergency such asnuclear attack. Without a central authority, information would pass arounduntil it got where it was going.18 This was intended to be similar to theroad system. It is not necessary to take any specific route but ratheran...
