Legislation to protect the youth of America from indecent material is nothing new. While the medium in this case, the Internet, is different, the spirit of such regulation, and its enforcement, is well-rooted in this country. Pictures of naked people do not constitute the currency of the "marketplace of ideas" and are therefore not worthy of First Amendment protection. Any attack on patently indecent material is no infringement of anyone's civil liberties.

Granted, the measure enacted by the Congress may also be difficult to enforce. But members of the government are elected to promote the priorities of their constituents, be they economic or, as in this case, social.

Complete reliance on parental monitoring of a child's computer use at home or elsewhere cannot keep smut from our children. As such, government, in its role of representing the social interests of its citizens, must step in.

Allowing local governments to make such laws would be a more appropriate solution, as a local government represents fewer people and as such is a better barometer of its citizens' social values.

But the underlying premise is the same: government does have a role in protecting children from indecent material.