PORNOGRAPHY ON THE INTERNET

Pornography on the internet is a concern [COVER STORY, July 3], but it is not really of any significance. The real issue is that governments and politicians are worried about the global freedom of information that the net represents. They are using high-profile, low-significance stories to sway public opinion and give them the power to clamp down on the net. Censorship for the sake of children would be only a first step. The would-be censors don't give a damn about protecting young minds; they want to control them. But the freedom of information on the Internet is beyond them: the individual is empowered. STEPHEN GARRIGA Woking, England

Why is everyone so concerned about what children see on the Internet? Parents allow their youngsters to be bombarded daily with the garbage they see on television. Face facts, America. It is up to parents to take care of their children, not the U.S. government. Leave the Internet alone. It is the last bastion of complete freedom. JAMES E. KIRKLAND Arlington, Texas

You've apparently concluded there's far too much "shocking" and potentially dangerous pornography lying in wait for the unwary out here on the Internet. I disagree. But your overly sensationalized "Cyberporn" cover reminds me of the most dangerous and insidious words in America today: "A new study shows ..." CHRISTIAN NELSON Rockford, Illinois AOL: MoodyRiver

If we lose our kids to cyberporn, free speech won't matter. NANCY JEAN KELLY Elkhart, Indiana

The information highway truly has something for everyone. Although I don't personally enjoy all the types of material there, I will fight to keep them available. Children, and some adults, don't have the experience to properly assimilate their environment, whether it is the Internet, TV, radio or happenings in the schoolyard. Parents, teachers and others must prepare children for their future while controlling their present. Adults, however, have earned the right to make decisions about their own lives without interference. I'm logging on to the net today. BARRY STEELE Seneca, South Carolina

We will always have sexual predators among us. Although mechanisms to block online porn are certainly worthwhile, the secret to protecting children is to educate them. All youngsters are less vulnerable to danger if they are taught to recognize it and are given strategies to deal with it. This fall the National Center for Assault Prevention, which has been a leader in abuse-prevention education, will make available to schools and libraries a kit to be used in teaching children and parents how to have a safe journey on the information highway. This technology will be with us for the rest of our lives, and there are many ways we can teach children to avoid the dangers and make the online experience an exciting and safe one. PAT STANISLASKI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR National Center for Assault Prevention Sewell, New Jersey

I've surfed the net for years and have never come across pornography. I guess you have to know where to find it. SARA BURNS Moscow, Ohio AOL: Malvenida

The issue of computer pornography has been blown way out of proportion. I am 17, so your report encompasses my age group. For kids to get this material, they must know where to look. And for every bulletin-board service that carries pornography, there are at least 10 that do not, just as with magazines or movies. My friends and I have access to such material, and we don't look at it. The U.S. government has no right to censor the Internet or computer bulletin boards. ALAN TOMS Miami Via America Online

You may have been shocked at what's on the Internet, but no more so than I was when I saw the drawings accompanying your story on cyberporn. They reflect the same fascination with sick sex that net porn feeds. I can keep my kids from logging on. Must I now also keep them from reading Time? PENNIE THURMAN Naperville, Illinois

Parents should not allow their children to enter the net without supervision and guidance. Predators prosper wherever there is no watchful eye. That can be in a park at midnight or in a site on the net. JOHN P. CARROLL Toms River, New Jersey AOL: JaCARR

Re Robert Thomas, the so-called Marquis de Sade of cyberspace, who works very hard selling pornography to computer users: I wouldn't feel comfortable having him as a next-door neighbor or seeing his guests pull up in his driveway. I would certainly not be relaxed if my children went to play with his. Money isn't a neutral commodity. What you sell is what you are. MARI MARGARET CLAUSEN Heidelberg, Germany

Your report was over-hyped and under-researched. Yes, there is a vast amount of erotica on the Internet, but exactly how much of this perverted smut is accessed by American children? As an experienced cyberjunkie, I know that the probability of an innocent third grader "accidentally'' logging on to a sex link is very minimal. Contrary to every parent's fears, children are not bombarded by explicit images every time they venture online. CLAIRE TELLING Tokyo

Many of us are in agreement on the issues of security and access on the Internet, but the global sex village will not suddenly die out just because of this controversy. A new version of the red-light district is here: the "online" district. JAYESH LAL Etobicoke, Ontario

Your blatant use of questionable data from an undergraduate research paper is nothing short of reprehensible. It is obvious that both you and the Carnegie Mellon undergrad had axes to grind, and the truth wasn't gritty enough. JIM JOHNSON Muskegon, Michigan AOL: JLJPixe18

While I am not necessarily in favor of censorship and all the inherent problems it presents, I do feel strongly that something must be done to prevent deviants from destroying the minds of future generations. BARBARA K. LAMB Maple Shade, New Jersey

Isn't it ironic that in a decade when freedom is a strong theme throughout the world, the U.S. allows itself to move in a direction that resembles that of Iran? How many Americans will find themselves jailed because of censorship laws? Why do Americans allow themselves to be bullied by extremist religious leaders and hysterical conservatives? Why is so much prison space occupied by perpetrators of victimless, "moral" crimes? BOB ROWELL Collingswood, New Jersey

Your article on cyberporn rightly points out the potential for misleading children, but you completely miss the easy solution: ask the program writers of mail-handling systems why they have not put in place simple means of parental control. Maintaining a list of newsgroups unacceptable for children would make a major difference in access to available porn. A law requiring those who design Internet mail systems to implement secure parental control would allow parents and teachers fuller control of what children have access to, and would satisfy everyone except those who object to such control. PETER SCARGILL Newcastle, England

Researchers at a university took 18 months to study almost 1 million computer porn files and yet arrived at such unsurprising conclusions. Hasn't pornography always been popular and lucrative, whatever the format? STEPHEN HISLOF Tyneside, England

Dear Senator James Exon, could you kindly explain: How would you make other countries respect your proposed U.S. anti-cyberporn law? THOMAS HAHN Gerbrunn, Germany

The Internet is an admitted anarchy not policed by anyone. People have been persuaded by the participation of commercial giants, such as banks, that access to the Internet is a necessity for education and commerce. But would banks open a branch in a community that had no police presence? Should parents allow their children to visit such a place? DAVID LAW Salisbury, England

Sex is good, not awful, and most people know it. MAX ALLEN Toronto

TROUBLE FOR THE WORKING POOR

Your report "Working Harder, Getting Nowhere'' [NATION, July 3] was true. The rich are getting richer and the middle class is paying for them through hard work and extra-long hours. When is the worker ever going to win? COLLEEN KOSLEY Pottstown, Pennsylvania Via America Online

Why does everyone always think education is the panacea for poverty? My husband and I attended private schools and colleges, and we hold master's degrees. We have been employed in our chosen fields since graduation. Come bill time, however, we find ourselves sending partial payments as a stalling tactic. To avoid the high cost of day care-an expense our combined earnings couldn't begin to cover-we work opposite shifts. Our parents have even taken over our car payments. We often marvel at the fact that two well-educated white-collar workers like ourselves are worse off financially than most of our less-schooled, blue-collar neighbors. ANA M. WAGNER-HOFFMAN Germantown, Maryland Via America Online

The U.S. used to be a compassionate nation, but no more. Executives try to get the most work out of the fewest people at the least cost. As the gap between the haves and the have-nots widens, we haves had better watch out! I fear for my country unless we increase the minimum wage and help the working poor feel hopeful again. It is shameful. ELLEN FRIEDMANN Cypress, California

LAST ACT OF CONTRITION

Jack E. White's cynicism notwithstanding, the action of the Southern Baptist Convention in asking forgiveness from blacks for its role in defending segregation was very significant [DIVIDING LINE, July 3]. You know Baptists are serious when they use the word sin to describe racism. True, Baptists should have repented long ago. True, they could have been key players in the civil rights movement. But they didn't, and they weren't. The past is deplorable, but it is also irreparable. Are we to go on hating one another forever? The real tragedy would be if blacks took as long to forgive the sins of the past as whites have taken to confess to them. MARK WARNOCK Fort Worth, Texas

As a Northern Baptist participating in the Southern Baptist Convention, I rejoiced greatly at the resolution against racism because it was not only about the past but also about the future. It pledged to "eradicate racism in all its forms from the Southern Baptist life and ministry.'' It is unfortunate that you did not quote one word from the resolution. DENTON LOTZ, GENERAL SECRETARY Baptist World Alliance McLean, Virginia

APOLLO 13 GLITCHES

I am pleased that critic Richard Corliss noted the attention to detail by the makers of Apollo 13 [CINEMA, July 3], but there were some errors in the review. The names given to the command and lunar modules of Apollo 13, Odyssey and Aquarius, were not, as the article implied, derived from the entertainment-industry products 2001: A Space Odyssey and Hair. Astronaut Jim Lovell's book clearly states the derivation of the names: Odyssey because Lovell "plain liked the ring of the word," and Aquarius from Egyptian mythology. Otherwise, the review was well written, and should bring throngs to movie theaters to witness what happened 25 years ago. I hope most of the seats are filled by those who were too young to experience firsthand the tension of that stressful week in 1970. BLAIR LEATHERWOOD Sacramento, California AOL: BlairLwood

I am a former NASA flight-control-division member who played a small part in the Apollo 13 rescue, and I am looking forward to seeing the film. But I was disappointed that the caption for your photograph of the real-life Apollo 13 crew misidentified Ken Mattingly as Jack Swigert. JOHN A. RIORDON Hereford, Arizona