The Senator advertises his measure as a weapon in the struggle against obscenity and indecency on the electronic highway.

Industry executives say the electronic highway will almost certainly be littered with the wreckage of failed experiments.

The entertainment business," Mr. Jones says, "impacts the human mind, which is the determination point of the electronic highway.

He also pointed to the emergence of the 'electronic highway', where books can be ordered through computerised electronic mail.

So far none of Simon & Schuster's 64 best sellers from last year have turned up on the electronic highway.

The internet is often referred to as a vehicle for investor relations or the "electronic highway" for business transactions in the United States.

"We are in the written communications business, and that business is going down the electronic highway," said John Buckley, the company's chief operating officer.

They want a "common carrier" lane on the electronic highway so that, as with the telephone system, everyone has affordable access to the new technology.

After all the attention given to the electronic highway, the focusing of attention on the social aspects brought a breathing space.

They and we travel hopefully, but warily, down the electronic highway together.