The Supreme Court convenes in only a week, to hear arguments on the constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), an attempt at legalized censorship that would put Internet users under strict guidelines like those required of the networks.

"People should be wary of censorship. Its neither necessary nor desirable that all communications be G-rated," says Marc Tietig, a legal scholar and ACLU board member. "The Internet is particularly amenable to technological control by individual parents and other child-minders to keep inappropriate material away from children. Conversely, heavy-handed and broad government control of the Internet would undoubtedly do irremediable damage by stifling provocative ideas."

On March 7, a New York Times headline read: "On Web, New Threats Seen to the Young." The front page story, by Seth Schiesel, stirs parental fears about unsavory ideas and images to which children might be exposed. "If cyberspace has become an after-school playground," writes Schiesel, "parents may be surprised at some of the characters lurking there."

Anheuser-Busch ads, particularly those found on that company's website, "The Pad," have come under particularly hostile fire, primarily for making certain sexual innuendoes and commentaries. Budbrew J. Budfrog, from Budweiser TV commercials, is cited, being described as an imaginary college fraternity president. He enjoys, says the ad, "hanging out on the beach with a hot babe, a cold Bud and a folio edition of the Kama Sutra in its original Sanskrit." The reference to the Kama Sutra, an ancient Indian work, is considered particularly objectionable because it details a host of possible sexual positions other than the traditional face to face "missionary" position, the only position deemed proper by Christian Coalition members who perpetually trumpet the illegality of both oral and anal sex.

The Times article, also hoping to scare prospective Internet users and others, suggests that users who give websites identity proofs, including their ages, will find their names placed, without permission, on marketing lists. "The Times is trying to smear every website in America," commented media critic, Reginald Forester. An even angrier Internet user, Gene Dansforth, characterized the Times as willing to promote censorship for financial reasons. "If the beer companies are already advertising on the Internet," he says, "it spells big ad revenue losses for conventional magazines and newspapers."