Online safety: Filters or laws?

Now that the Internet's "the gateway to both the richest and the raunchiest of human expression," is legislation or filtering a better way to protect children? This Scripps Howard article does a good job of framing the debate that has tied US courts up in knots for years. The bottom line for parents is that - though filtering is undeniably flawed - it's better than nothing if you need a little help in keeping kids from seeking out the worst of the Web (if they obey a family rule to use only filtered search engines, they're not very likely to stumble on it - see "Searching with 'Mamma'" for safe-search examples). And for filtering software options and views, see "NetNanny failed" and my April 9 issue.