Last week, several attorneys general professed to be shocked -- shocked! -- that minors can order alcohol online and have it delivered to their homes. A sting set up by New York's AG yielded video taped evidence that Federal Express and United Parcel Service handed over express deliveries of beer and wine to kids under the age of 18... doing so *without* checking IDs as is required. Ever quick to blame an evil new medium, the attorneys general denounced online alcohol sales, vowing to ban them nationwide. It must be an election year, for only then are issues so oversimplified, and facts so misused.

800 number sales of beer and wine have been sold and shipped for years, but I haven't heard of a single Attorney General slamming the brakes on that practice. Mothers Against Drunk Driving say they've never heard of this "problem." Neither have California's alcohol regulators. But mention the internet and people jump. [Never mind that high school kids don't tend to buy 25 dollar cases of beer -- they prefer $8 MeisterBrau, thanks. Plus, its a heck of a lot easier to get an older sibling or friend to buy it down the street than it is to borrow Mom's credit card, order the alcohol, and wait a week for it to be delivered. Ask a cop what kind of alcohol they find when they bust up a keg party and whether it was bought online.]

What's left unsaid, or buried beneath attention grabbing headlines, is that alcohol distributors are upset about competition and states are worried about losing revenue. New York State's attorney general is honorary chairman of a coalition of beer and wine distributors... the very people concerned about losing business. Local and state governments get a hefty bit of their income from the distribution of alcohol and all its associated taxes. Many local governments by controlling alcohol thru ABC stores, are actually in the business of selling booze.

Congress created this mess back in 1933 as a political compromise to end prohibition. Alcohol makers have to sell their products to distributors, who in turn sell it to stores, who then sell it to you. Over the years, the system has cut off smaller wineries and brewers from stores, and so catalog, telephone -- and now internet -- sales have become their bread and butter. But you can imagine the entrenched interests in keeping out a technology that allows direct sales to consumers.

So is this a case of "protecting" kids against the dangers of the net? Not even close. It could be perceived as a threat to the state sanctioned alcohol distribution monopolies that have persisted since prohibition. But entreprenuership and giving consumers access to smaller wineries are more laudable goals than lining the pockets of large distributors. How about the threat to tax dollars? Most of the internet alcohol firms have already offered to pay those fees. No, this is a story about exploiting our fear of technology in the name of defending antiquated alcohol distribution policies.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly do not condone underage drinking, nor do I think that the shipping companies should go unpunished for failing to check IDs. To the politicians I say wake up and deal with the issue in a 90s kind of way. Reactionary attempts to regulate the internet are doomed. As Apple would say, Think Different.

words in brackets were edited from final piece