The cyber marketplace doesn't check IDs. It doesn't concern itself with enforcing state laws or local ordinances regarding the sale of beer, wine and liquor. It doesn't collect tax.
Anyone with a credit card and access to the Internet can purchase beer, wine and alcohol in cyberspace: a practice that circumvents the state liquor store and tax systems and can conceivably place dangerous products in the hands of minors.Federal legislation sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would allow states to seek help from federal courts to enforce their liquor laws with out-of-state companies. Putting a cork in cyber-bootlegging is sound public policy.
It should help keep alcohol out of the hands of minors. To purchase alcohol on the Internet, computer users must "certify" that they are of legal age to purchase the products. In most circumstances, that's achieved by clicking with one's computer mouse an icon on an electronic order form. Plug in a credit card number and an expiration date and the alcohol can be delivered to one's doorstep in days.
It is illegal for Utahns to purchase alcohol in this manner because state law limits wine and liquor sales to state liquor stores or private clubs. But Utah's previous attempts to prosecute such companies have been stymied because courts have ruled that Utah has no standing in federal court or in other states to prosecute businesses beyond its borders. Hatch's bill, now before a conference committee, would close those loopholes.
Beyond health concerns, the bill would help address some financial issues. People who buy wine or spirits via the Internet are doing an end-run on state liquor stores and tax systems. In essence, the state is cheated out of revenue.
Hatch's bill, which received strong support in the House, has drawn together unlikely allies. Beer and wine wholesalers are endorsing legislation sponsored by an LDS bishop who has never tasted alcohol. The wholesalers back the bill because it would force all alcohol producers through the same regulatory hoops.
Smaller and lesser known wineries and breweries contend that the Internet and direct-mail sales help give them a toehold in the competitive marketplace because many state liquor store systems ignore their labels for better-known brands. That may be the case, but what of the state's interests? Doing business by mail or via cyberspace shouldn't exempt such producers and their customers from state liquor control or tax laws.
Hatch's bill respects the rights of states to chart their own courses regarding the sale and taxation of alcoholic beverages. While it is impossible to regulate the wildly expanding cyber frontier, states should have some say-so in regulating the sales of adult products.