Alternative measures = Education! (Score 1)

It's amazing how much crap, stereotypes and prejudices are hidden in a comment like the one you just wrote...

So what is to be done? Maybe it's time to restrict who has access to the net.

Right, and who is going to be responsible for determining who is allowed to stay and who should go? Are you going to be that person? Why should you be allowed to access the net if it really is just a place for offensive material?

Well firstly we need some kind of age limit - 16 or 18 would seem appropriate since there is a lot of offenisve material out there that we don't want our kids seeing. It would also restrict the net to people mature enough to take responsiblity for their own actions, which can only be a good thing.

Wonderful! First of all, I don't see how anybody can enforce that, and even if you could, nobody should dictate whether or not my 10 year old son is allowed to surf the internet. That is for me and my wife to decide, and should be based on the level of maturity, respect and tolerance that a particular person has, not merely on age.

Secondly there should be some kind of examination process to weed out those people who aren't desirable.

The only "examination" that would work is to educate the people using the Internet properly. And by properly I mean, that they learn the values of respect and tolerance for all those other cultures, groups of people, ethnicities, etc. that are able to coexist in the Internet thanks to precisely the opposite of what you are advocating: NO big grother imposing his/her criteria upon them.

The "perfect solution" that you talk about is pretty clear. Live and let live. Be tolerant and open as to what you can find and learn from other people, and don't think that you have even a glipmse of the truth, because the truth as such, does not exist.