Since the early 1990s, it has been all but impossible to ignore the media hype prompted by the sudden advent and appeal of the computer-mediated communications context. However, as alarmist tales of alleged online dangers have moved to the fore, legislators in some jurisdictions have called for new regulatory measures to limit its communicative potential. This dissertation undertakes a socio-historical analysis of this phenomenon. Influenced by the historical perspective of Ithiel de Sola Pool (1983), its initial goal is to illuminate how the introduction of print, common carrier and broadcast-based communications technologies has prompted key social actors to advocate, or create, particular regulatory regimes and practices. This will show how certain political, economic and moral interests and agendas have shaped the uses and development of previous communications technologies. Following this analysis, an examination of the rhetoric underlying contemporary efforts to regulate the online medium is presented. This will bring focus to how new communications technologies are defying traditional, territorially-bound models of regulation and control. Thereafter, a case study of the communicative roles and relationships that have informed present-day regulatory initiatives is undertaken. Guided by theoretical and methodological insights culled from the sociological literature on moral panics, it uses relevant print and online media sources to expose specific meaning-making practices that triggered the outbreak of an international panic over the alleged pervasiveness of online pornography in mid-1995. This will highlight the extent to which the mainstream media---via representations of the interests and agendas of actors and groups from a range of societal sectors---have influenced new communications policy debates. In addition, it will demonstrate how the online medium's unique communicative potential has empowered some of its users to reinterpret and counter the agend

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