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Airlines Plan To Filter, Censor In-Flight Internet Access
BlueMerle notes that the much-vaunted arrival of internet access in the friendly skies may come at the cost of heavy content filtering by the Airlines. Ars Technica's commentary is prompted by an Associated Press article which does its best to make checking your email seem sinister. "Seat 17D is yapping endlessly on an Internet phone call. Seat 16F is flaming Seat 16D with expletive-laden chats. Seat 16E is too busy surfing porn sites to care. Seat 17C just wants to sleep. Welcome to the promise of the Internet at 33,000 feet -- and the questions of etiquette, openness and free speech that airlines and service providers will have to grapple with as they bring Internet access to the skies in the coming months."
God forbid anyone regulate behavior in a situation where they are liable for the results. The airline has 100+ strangers including children and overprotective, on edge, a little under the influence parents. They have a duty to keep order on their plane. I'm not sure that I, while I have no problem with porn and have even *gasp* watched it, would want to see a giant gangbang going on right next to me, while my rowmate eyes it longingly.
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Thank you.
Seat 17D is yapping endlessly on an Internet phone call. Seat 16F is flaming Seat 16D with expletive-laden chats. Seat 16E is too busy surfing porn sites to care. Seat 17C just wants to sleep.
...And seat 14C has established and maintained a single encrypted tunnel to a non-resolving IP, over which
he appears to have routed a high volume of bidirectional traffic.
Seriously, using airline-provided internet access doesn't magically take away the standard rules for the use of any public-access short-term ISP, whether libraries or coffee shops or just someone's open WAP - Encrypt everything!
Of course, in the current political climate, that would probably have the gestapo waiting to "ask" me a few questions on landing, but I refuse to give up best-practices out of fear of boogey-men.
I wonder what would happen if I'd open this on an American airliner? Would people care? Probably, they'd all go nuts!
It still depends on how they do it. Laws exist concerning the interception and alteration of communication and there are no exceptions in them for when you are on private property. They have to get your consent on any filtering, but rest assured that they will or "no internet for you."
On the other hand, there's no way to filter a properly encrypted channel, so instead of waving the technical restriction like a red rag in front of geeks, their best bet may be to simply tell people "no porn, no gore and let other people sleep" and, when someone doesn't follow the rules, do the same they do with drunk passengers.
>Besides, even when you are in another country, regardless of their less restrictive laws, you still must abide by the laws of where you claim citizenship, or risk be arrested on your return to home soil.
ehh... No... Otherwise there would be oodles of people getting arrested for smoking pot legally in Holland. When abroad you are actually subject to the laws of that country, not your country of citizenship.
Yes there are situations where a country will act even if the act is not carried out on in the country of citizenship (eg child prostitution) but that is relatively rare.
A citizen is nothing more than the right to vote and not be persecuted by your own government. With respect to the law everybody in the country regardless if they are a citizen or not has to respect them.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
You had the kid knowing full well what the world was like and how it was trending. Now you want everyone else to change so your job of raising a child will be easier. Forgot to account for changes in society, eh? Did you assume that we would remain static?
It's not up to YOU to decide what I can or cannot see as an adult taxpaying citizen who subsidizes your child.
Seems we are at a crossroads here...
Blar.
To answer the latency issue.
;-) ) If you're going to watch porn get a window seat and use one of those laptop privacy filters, so no one else can see it (an aisle seat with privacy filter depending on placement of the laptop means anyone walking up the asile can see you), at this point carry on with your teasing of yourself as you can't... finish... your experience. Sounds like junior high to me ;-)
;-)
No, in the current incarnation VOIP won't work with air travel, well, not like a traditional phone call, it'll be more like walkie talkies, say "over" when you're finished speaking and it's the net person's call.
It's much like trying to use Satelite internet access to make voip calls, you can do it (some people do, hell, some people even do it well), but it requires some serious packet shaping as a home user, as VOIP won't be allowed on airlines (it's not in the accepted use list on any airline that currently gives net access) it should remain as such, and cellphones should also remain banned, I'm sorry but in this whole advancing society thing / free speech we've completely missed the right to peace and quiet, having idiots yelling into voip/cellphones on the airplane (you see you have to raise your voice because there's so much other noise in the cabin from the whole defying the rules of gravity) you would either need to have specially designed software/hardware ala bose, or well, have a conversation that can be heard from rows away. Anyways, porn... Sadly, surfing porn is in fact a big deal. Much like watching hard core porn in your truck while you drive (or your passenger doing so, whomever was doing it in California that got ticketed), that's not ok. Sorry folks, there's no ifs and or butts. We're fucking lucky we're getting a decent pg-13 movie @ the airline, and you think there's any remote chance they'll let you watch porn? As the saying goes, think of the children! Even if you believe the parents are the only ones that have the responsibility to insure the kids watch what they want them to allowing pornography on a video screen in a non age restricted part of any public (or quasi public) environment is just, well, sorry, that's rude people. Much like walking around with your cock/tits hanging out. Go ahead, bring a playboy on an airplane (which for the record IS NOT PORN. It's nudity, there's a difference, at least for now. And playboy has some amazing articles, the girls are entirely fake, but the thoughts in the articles are not.) try to read it, see what happens. Most US airlines will say, read something else if it's obvious, hell, some will even classify High Times as offensive. If you watch porn on your laptop, um, yeah, see how that goes, if I can clearly see the screen and think others can I'll help educate you on the whole good manners thing as this is a communal world, not just your private Idaho. (And it should be noted I have more porn than most small countries, I'm not offended by porn, except maybe 2 girls 1 cup, but that's not porn in my opinion, that's... well, yuckie
The future MIGHT be different, but for now, no you can't do VOIP, no you can't watch porn (it's like being at work, do you watch porn in your office?), use common sense people, even if you're newspaper reporters. If this was digg, I'd bury this story as it's pointless.
And just a small personal note, while you all are doing whatever you're doing with the network, I'll be playing with wireshark, so perhaps you should also not check your bank balance nor send email on a non secured connection
A.C as I'm not entirely sure of the legality of my last sentience.
Airlines should be dealing with etiquette violations as they happen, not by filtering content. If someone is talking too loudly, ask them to stop. If someone is looking at porn(and another passenger can see it) ask them to stop. Porn is available everywhere, but rarely do you see someone looking at porn while at a coffee shop. I think that these stories are a little sensationalist.
Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
More to the point, does anyone seriously think the woman wants to be chatted up? I have been lucky enough to sit next to some very pretty women over the years, and while they're polite, they make it pretty clear that they want to read, work, or whatever. (Of course, this being /., the female persepective is solely lacking.)
What was once true, is no longer so
That was the dumbest post in this whole thread. And that, my friend, is really saying something.
The "Common Courtesy" argument IS used to suggest to other people how they could act.
But it only has validity when the issue in question REALLY IS "common courtesy."
Whether you (and the other 25% of the people here arguing on your side) care for it or not, we, as a society, have established a set of customs and rules on how one should act. You may have heard of this before, it's called "ethics."
Now, your personal morality should prevent you from exposing a child to porn or offensive language. But even when it doesn't, if you intend to be a productive, respected member of society, you're expected to abide by our collective ethics.
Furthermore, it just so happens that these ethics are so widely held that MOST of them are law. And the ones that aren't may very likely still be prosecuted in a civil court.
If you don't like the fact that the huge majority of Americans have coalesced around these "rules," then you're more than welcome to remove yourself from society. People do it all the time.
And if you chose to just flaunt the collective ethic, don't be surprised if it lands you in jail, on the receiving end of a lawsuit, or at the receiving end of a fist moving at a fast clip.
Because if you decided it was your right to watch your Blondes on Blacks Part V in front of MY kid, and you refused to relocate yourself or cease your inapropos behavior, i would DEFINITELY take the matter in to my own hands. Literally. Because you can count on the fact that a parent is going to protect his child with a LOT more force than you are going to use to protect your laptop OR your nose.
And really, if that were to happen, who would you be to make issue over it? After all, you decided to flaunt the "common courtesy" of illegally exposing children to porn. How can you possibly complain when an offended parent flaunts the "common courtesy" of not swelling your face to match the ridiculous size of your head.
Get over yourself. You're part of a society. If you don't like it, leave.