Internet use has grown exponentially since the network’s creation in the late 1960s. Originally conceived as a way to connect major research institutions, the Internet has become one of the world’s major communications media. In 1989, British computer scientist Timothy Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web to link scientific research sites in all parts of the world. By the early 1990s, the World Wide Web, also called the WWW or W3, had become a mainstay of Internet users everywhere. According to the Internet consulting company Nua, by 1996 the Web was being used by 45 million people worldwide and by 30 million people in North America.

With this increase in use, and with powerful search engines capable of accessing vast stores of information, many people have become concerned by the ease with which children can access information deemed objectionable, including...