About two months ago, a talented gay friend of mine, who designs computer websites, invited me to his home for dinner. In his 20's, and a recent graduate of a local university, he lives with his handsome boyfriend in a modern, well-designed apartment here in Broward County.

          We will call this gentleman Bobby. He drives a nice car, has nice friends, and enjoys a healthy gay life. He has a great job, and he does it well. After dinner, he showed me some of his creative designs, which were truly impressive. His knowledge of the internet and his mastery of computer skills was awesome.

          Then Bobby said there was something else he wanted to show me. He took me to a variety of photographs that he had downloaded off the internet. The photographs were stunning, but not because they were beautiful. Rather, they were stunning because I was shocked. The pictures were scores of obviously underage young men, many involved in sexual acts with each other. Some were involved in nude and sensual poses. They were all completely downloaded and readily retrievable off his computer, either to print out or transmit to others.

          Bobby was proud of the pictures he had saved. They were some of the hottest he could find, he claimed. I began to read him the riot act. What Bobby did not understand was that these photos were blatantly illegal to possess, save or transmit on his computer. What Bobby did not grasp was the frightening dimension of the Child Protection and Computer Pornography Act of 1996, or even the state laws governing the same. The possession of each such photograph is a third degree felony, punishable by five years in jail. The promotion, delivery, distribution, dissemination, publication, or transmission of any such photograph or video is a second degree felony, punishable by up to fifteen years in jail.

          Bobby is not alone in his world of ignorance. I am betting that hundreds of gay and straight men enter chat rooms to have discussions with individuals who represent themselves as underage. You could be making the mistake of your lifetime, and your life may be radically altered forever because of that lapse in judgment. Although I have written about this in HOTSPOTS!, TWN and Scoop before, let me say it again; Don't even think of going on-line with someone who intimates, suggests, or declares themselves to be underage.

            First of all, you have no expectation of privacy in these 'private chat rooms.' Second, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Agents, as well as scores of local police agencies, now have specialized computer pornography units that go on line posing as underage male and female, gay and straight teenagers. They initiate and recruit adults to engage in discussions about phone sex, solicit for blind dates, and encourage the transmission of illegal photographs. Where people foolishly cooperate, they are swiftly arrested, and criminally prosecuted, subject to extraordinarily harsh penalties. It is not just public humiliation that you are exposed to. It is very real incarceration. You would be considered a sex offender, a child abuser, or a pervert. They do not treat you well.

          I am not here to write a column that protects indecent acts by people who knowingly are trying to solicit young children. I am here to tell my friends like Bobby, good people who are sometimes very unaware of the laws, that their behavior may be far more serious and unlawful then they ever dreamed possible. You don't think that this can happen to you or your friends. But after 20 years of practicing law, I know they do.

          My direct advice, free of charge, is that those of you who have discovered the fun and fantasy of the internet keep those fantasies in your pants. Don't you dare transmit them on-line to someone who purports to be underage. Even if you are joking. Even if you think they are joking. Even if you sense that everyone on line, including you, is making things up that you reasonably and logically and justifiably suspect are untrue. Don't fucking do it. Police officers are playing the role of sexually active teenagers, and they may be videotaping the conversation to use against you in court. They are not fooling around, though you may be.

          You might also think it is cool to collect and download a pornographic collection off sexually generated web-sites. It is not cool. It is dangerous. Look, I know that only a bare and microscopic percentage of people actually get caught. But you ought to know that if you do, your consequences could be grave. Let's take Bobby, who is 23 years old, and routinely lets his teenage high school neighbor over to play computer games and use the computer. Suppose she mentions to her mom that she saw this porno on his computer, and mom mentions it to dad, who then mentions it to the local vice unit. We are talking about hundreds of arrests statewide, many of them in South Florida.

          The internet has become the great new gay frontier. Each night I cruise cyberspace, downloading daily baseball transactions, checking out fascinating web sites like the ones I recently encountered on aerospace technology, or an intriguing one paying tribute to organized crime. You can access almost every book ever published, every movie ever made. But gay men are dick hunters, and I have found that 7 of every 10 gay men I know also use the internet for gay chat rooms and pornographic retreats. The AOL parties they run at the Saint are not for guys who met chatting about 'Gone With the Wind'.

        Even more frightening for people that use the internet regularly is the new federal law that targets individuals who are adults but simulate being underage. In other words, it does not matter if the picture is that of an adult if that adult is making it seem that he looks underage. Accessing a photograph such as this can also make you criminally liable for the possession of simulated child pornography. This even includes creating or 'morphing' computer generated images to look like children even those photographed may have actually been adults.

         I don't tell people whether to read the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review or Screw Magazine. I can only ask you to understand that all frontiers have risks that people are unfamiliar with. I know couples that have met on the internet. It's a great tool, and the U. S. Supreme Court recently held that Congressionally imposed restrictions were illegal restraints of speech. That does not mean all acts are protected. I just want to make you aware of what can and has happened, maybe to someone you know. What you do with the information is now up to you.

      Let's face it. Thousands of people now creep into cyberspace every night, 16 year old males in search of females, or 66 year old men in search of 16 year olds. It just seems that for every straight chat room there are seven gay ones looking for dungeons and debauchery. Why pay for a phone call to 1-900-Leather when you are just a modem away from computer copulation? What exactly do you do with Cybersex, though- ejaculate onto your computer? Sorry, I don't do sticky keys. I do warnings. This column has been one. As lawyers say, govern yourself accordingly.