But when it comes to the latest effort by the Utah Legislature to control pornography on the Internet, there should be no long wait for a court determination. In fact, there should be no wait at all.

Utah's newest Web porn law has already been thrown out. At least three times.

Sadly, though, we are looking at another lawsuit. It will cost Utah taxpayers more money. It will cost the Legislature more of its already diminished stockpile of credibility. And the law will lose.

The American Civil Liberties Union and a group of local booksellers and artists have sued in federal court to block the enforcement of Utah's new law, which manfully but ineffectually seeks to tag Internet sites with content that is "harmful to minors" and thus make it easier for parents to block from their home.

The old Utah law defines material that is "harmful to minors" as just about anything that is about sex. The new Utah law dispatches the attorney general to troll the Internet for such content on Utah-based Web sites and to prosecute those who have not labeled their sites in a way that makes it easier for Internet service providers or individual consumers to block them.

Other lawmakers have been there, done that, and struck out.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1997 struck down the federal Communications Decency Act on the grounds that it was far too likely to banish from the virtual public square all sorts of information - playful, beautiful or useful - that adults and even children should be able to view due to a Web site owner's fear of being prosecuted for offending the sensibilities of some far-away prosecutor.

A similar law passed by the New Mexico Legislature was set aside, first by the federal district court, then by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (which also covers Utah), on similar grounds.

The courts have repeatedly, and rightly, concluded that the Internet cannot be policed in such a way that it only carries material suitable for children. And it cannot be governed in a way that encourages self-censorship which is, in the 10th Circuit's words, "a harm that can be realized even without an actual prosecution."

There are things on the Internet to be afraid of. The government shouldn't be one of them.