ABSTRACT
The abundant data on the extent of Internet use shows that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for a myriad of uses. At the heart of the controversy surrounding supervised release restrictions on Internet use is the tension between the broad discretion courts may exercise in the area of supervised release conditions and the Internet's pervasiveness in modern society. In general, courts may exercise considerable discretion in determining whether to sentence an offender to a term of supervised release and what the conditions should be, limited by the class of felony. Some courts have concluded that a member of modern society cannot afford to be without Internet or computer access, and, thus, generally have overturned prohibitions on Internet use during the supervised release period. While beneficial in countless ways, the advent of new technologies over recent decades also has given rise to numerous new types of crimes as well as new methods of committing crime in general.
