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."

Comments

OMG censorship!!!

[The_Mystic_For_Real]

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.

Re:OMG censorship!!!

[SterlingSylver]

I support this sort of filtering for the same reasons that I support the rules prohibiting cell phones on planes. Now, ignoring the safety concerns of cell phones, the second that two or three business travelers start competing to be the loudest person so that their incredibly important conference call can hear their thoughts on the Johnson proposal is the second that other passengers start acquiring arguments for reasonable homicide. Idiots on the web can only be an even worse idea.

I don't mind people checking their e-mail, but if airlines wish to enforce civility while I'm paying $150+ for a 1.5 hour flight to DC with a bunch of philistines...I say more power to them.

Re:OMG censorship!!!

[YrWrstNtmr]

Children will see things eventually, so instead of hiding the truth from them, as an adult give them some parallax and understanding on what they are seeing.

The problem with that is that it is not up to you to determine when I should have a teaching moment with my kid.

Do you invite your kids into the room when you and the wife are gettin it on? Do you surf porn with your 6 year old? Have you explained the finer details of tubgirl to her?

Re:OMG censorship!!!

[egomaniac]

Atheists are ipso facto stupid. Like anti-gay fundamentalists, atheists have the ludicrous belief that they can make pronouncements about an emotional phenomenon which they do not experience. All people who even glimpse the complexity of the universe experience awe and wondrous exhilaration with such profundity that it cannot be described as anything other than a religious experience. Einstein understood this. You do not.

Do you believe in Odin? Zeus? Ra? Queztalcoatl? The Great Spirit?

No?

Based on the fact that you're a self-righteous prick, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you're Christian. Mankind has dreamed up ten thousand different gods. You don't believe in 9,999 of them. I don't believe in the same 9,999 you don't believe in, plus I also don't believe in the God of Abraham. Evidently not believing in 9,999 gods doesn't make you stupid, but not believing in 10,000 gods makes me stupid.

I'd like to believe that there's some logic or reason behind this, but there's no logic behind religious delusions. Sad that so much time and energy is spent defending fairy tales.