Supreme Court's description of the postal system in Lamont seems
equally apt as a description of the Internet today: "the postal
system . . . is now the main artery through which the business,
social, and personal affairs of the people are conducted . . . ."
381 U.S. at 305 n.3.


In short, public libraries, by providing their patrons with
access to the Internet, have created a public forum that provides
any member of the public free access to information from millions
of speakers around the world. The unique speech-enhancing
character of Internet use in public libraries derives from the
openness of the public library to any member of the public
seeking to receive information, and the openness of the Internet
to any member of the public who wishes to speak. In particular,
speakers on the Internet enjoy low barriers to entry and the
ability to reach a mass audience, unhindered by the constraints
of geography. Moreover, just as the development of new media
"presents unique problems, which inform our assessment of the
interests at stake, and which may justify restrictions that would
be unacceptable in other contexts," United States v. Playboy
Entm't Group, Inc., 529 U.S. 803, 813 (2000), the development of
new media, such as the Internet, also presents unique
possibilities for promoting First Amendment values, which also
inform our assessment of the interests at stake, and which we
believe, in the context of the provision of Internet access in
public libraries, justify the application of heightened scrutiny
to content-based restrictions that might be subject to only
rational review in other contexts, such as the development of the
library's print collection. Cf. id. at 818 ("Technology expands