John Perry Barlow's piece decrying the Communications Decency Act is very intriguing. I attempted endlessly to refute his argument (not because I'm a fascist-minded conservative mind you), because even in cyberspace anarchy is just hard to swallow. In the real world, though, it is also hard to imagine too many problems with a generally anarchic society. People don't refuse to steal because of laws, a person will steal out of desperation, necessity, or even just because the person is a damn klepto; but i dont think laws really determine the choices people make regarding crime. Maybe I'm wrong but to me, most people are inherently good-natured and that keeps them from harming others. Most rational-minded people do things because they seem right or wrong in their hearts and minds. Cyberspace is a marketplace of ideas, etc. You cant kill a person in cyberspace (yet). Governmet feels justified in trying to regulate cyberspace because of countless years of precedent; when people create "problems" that certain others feel are dangerous, the reaction is to pass a law because that is what our societies know. But the government should back off; people will protect themselves from any "danger" they encounter in cyberspace. At last, I do apologize if ive been all over the place here, just wingin' it ya' know.

Dan Rasmussen