President Clinton is taking a hands off approach to the Internet, believing that it should be free from any special taxes and government regulations, with the aim of promoting electronic commerce. At the release of his policy document on electronic commerce on Tuesday he touted industry self-regulation and a market driven, tariff free arena, rather than a regulated industry; he is backing industry efforts to preserve Internet privacy, and encouraging the development of access tools to enable parents to protect children from pornography, following the demise of the Communications Decency Act (CI No 3,191). There appears to be no let-up, however, on the restrictions on encryption exports. The President intends to send a delegation to Europe to discuss his policy, and will ask Congress to ratify World Intellectual Property copyright protection treaties.