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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.
_____
Thank you.
It's their own service their providing, they can do whatever they want as far as filtering. I should have the same ability to sleep on an airplane like I did before they introduced internet access. I don't need to be sitting on a plane hearing a bunch of priests telling the passenger ahead of them how immoral pornography is, or hearing a people yell and scream if someone bring up goatse.
I mean, really, you geeks can't go without porn for 3 or 4 whole hours?
Here's a thought: close Firefox, shut the lid on the laptop, and *gasp* actually talk to the girl sitting next to you. You just might find that you'll be enjoying the real thing, rather than rubbing one out to pictures of it.
If you can't last more than a few hours with porn, you may have a problem.
Having said that, since when does someone need internet access to view porn? I have porn on my macbook pro right now, but when I flew out yesterday and pulled it out for a bit of in-flight entertainment, I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Basic common courtesy kept people from watching porn while they travelled without internet access; the same thing will keep them from watching porn with internet access. Those few asshats who can't restrain themselves, well, they're asshats regardless of internet access.
I've also spent a fair bit of time travelling by train, which already come with free wi-fi. I've yet to see anyone browsing hotbabesxxx.com during the trip.
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo - H. G. Wells
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.
Already someone could watch porn, movies or games with extreme violence, or other adult (and possibly offensive) material on their laptop. For that matter, someone could just bring a Playboy magazine on the plane to pass the time. With the possible exception of people trying to use VOIP (I wonder if the latency would be low and consistent enough), I really don't see how this brings up many etiquette questions that aren't already present on a plane. This just sounds like a lame excuse for filtering to me.
"You call it a new way of thinking; I call it regression to ignorance!" -- Operation Ivy
I can upload on you tube, the panic on the airplane as we crash. Or IM my closes friends
Martian_Kyo:Hi! ;)
Friend:Hey, what's up?
Martian_Kyo: Well, me...but not for long
Friend: Heheh What do you mean?
Martian_Kyo:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3Ar3A11G01n9+oD1e
Friend:?
Martian_Kyo has signed out
I wonder what would happen if I'd open this on an American airliner? Would people care? Probably, they'd all go nuts!
>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"
If they allow access to SSL sites, then how would they stop you from using an SSL VPN to your office/home to get to any site/service you want? If they block Skype, then use your SSL VPN and go through that...
I'm sick of all this motherfucking fucking on this motherfucking plane!!!
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
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.