Airplane Internet Access May Come with Censorship
Long flights are boring places. Even if you pack a book (or 200), a portable video game system, and a magazine or three, at some point you're bound to get bored of all your available options and want something else to do. With the promise of mid-air Internet access, you could be downloading new stuff or just playing online games whenever you exhaust your carry-on entertainment reserves. But, a debate is growing over whether airborne travelers should be allowed to surf anything they like, or whether their access should be locked down tighter than the PCs at an elementary school library.
The argument is over whether people can be expected to act responsibly with their computer usage online. Will people take the opportunity to make loud, tasteless VOIP (as in calls via Skype or similar services) phone-calls and disturb the entire cabin? Will lonely businessmen start perusing adult sites while sitting in coach class next to unwilling participants who'd rather not see their naughty content of choice? The AP's take is that all this and worse will be happening; people will be doing all sorts of lewd and uncivilized acts with their Wi-Fi connections. However, Ars Technica has a much more realistic perspective, likening mid-air Internet access to what you'd find at any Starbucks; people working quietly and in general not disturbing anyone else.
What's your take? Will Internet access from flights make long journeys better or more irritating?
From Slashdot, AOL Money & Finance, Ars Technica
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
troy @ Dec 28th 2007 8:20PM
i think internet access on flights will help out. since you put plugs in there so you can plug in your laptop, this is the next logical step. people will take their own responsibilities on what is appropriate and what is inappropriate, and well if they don't know how that's why you have flight attendants.
of course this just means the rise of ticket prices and possibly making more room on the airplane and having less seats.
ann kishiku @ Dec 28th 2007 8:41PM
Think of the noise factor. Imagine trying to relax after the long line and here tap tap tap tap the whole trip with serveral passengers.
john mournian @ Dec 28th 2007 8:58PM
Keep the Internet off of planes! Look under seat in front of you; there is a box that is full of electronic crap for your idle minds and it also reduces the amount of room you need to stretch your legs. Want a stroke? play your games.
Better to take a book and enrich your mind. You say time is wasted for business; how much time will you lose of your life if you expire from a stroke?
Smokescreen
Brian @ Dec 28th 2007 9:18PM
I see nothing wrong with Internet access on airplanes and I oppose censorship! There are too many snoops in our government as it is and they should allow adults to access anything they want to so long as it's legal. Otherwise, they would be violating free speech.
Dj in Portland @ Dec 28th 2007 9:28PM
If someone is annoying you with their internet activity and you are sitting at Starbucks, you can just get up and move to another table or you can just leave. You don't have that option on an airplane. I'm in favor of the internet being available on the airplane and I'm also in favor of reasonable controls on what is available.
MEG Ryan @ Dec 28th 2007 9:38PM
who gives a shit ????
get a life
if the internet is all the poor sap has
who cares
ha ha
David J @ Dec 28th 2007 9:50PM
Ann: Obviously, you don't travel much or you'd know that even sans Internet, people pull out their laptops, work or play games on planes and the tap-tap-tap of their keyboard is barely audible.
John: You also obviously don't travel much or know how to use the Internet for more than e-mail or message boards. Books are great and my shelves overflow with them. They're also a pain to travel with and, oh, yeah, if I have the Internet in flight, I can read, say, every New York Times article on Bhutto over the last few years.
DJ and others: What kind of Internet activity can be bothering you? It's one thing if the person doesn't have the mute on or doesn't bring headphones. But if I'm watching something you don't like, here's a hint...STOP LOOKING AT MY SCREEN! LOOK AT YOUR OWN BOOK, iPOD OR SCREEN!
ARRELL @ Dec 28th 2007 9:57PM
It seems to me that some planes have restrictions to when you can use a cell phone because it could interfere with the planes functioning systems. So how would that plane do with 50 cell phone internet connections with some scum bag looking at porn while your child looks over the seat for a quick educational flight... Or getting some final instruction to his underaged date he has arranged to meat at the airport... And I didn't mispell that...
Dan MacBride @ Dec 28th 2007 10:02PM
American Airlines or any other airline can not violate your right to free speech. They are under no obligation to protect speech and can restrict speech as part of posted company policy. The Government and ONLY the Government can not violate your right to free speech.
Dan MacBride @ Dec 28th 2007 10:18PM
Did I really read a person saying censorship sucks no matter where you are and then request people not be allowed to use cell phones? That's a joke, right?
Johnson's Tool Shop @ Dec 28th 2007 10:31PM
Censorship sucks no matter where you are, airline stewards and stewardesses certainly can't be expected to be internet police, they can barely get the drinks out to passengers nowdays. Using the internet while flying hurts NOBODY. Just PLEASE don't allow Cell Phones, in such confined places, listening to others private calls is bound to lead to a hostile environment.
Peace to All!
Thom @ Dec 28th 2007 11:05PM
i think there concern has more to do with how ligit the sites are that passengers access an why not the content of them.
john thompson @ Dec 28th 2007 11:24PM
who flippin cares..??? whats the big deal...??? what...??? you automatically believe everyones gonna look at porno sites...???...get a live...flying on business trips is a waste of time..at least then you could get something done ...instead of flirting with the stewardesses all the time....oh...wait....maybe we really don't need the internet up here after all...j.t....
Peter @ Dec 28th 2007 11:52PM
First things first...How do you use the internet when you can't even use a laptop on most flights because the seating room is so tight? If the person in front of you pushes their seat back they are ptactically in your lap and it isn't possible to use your laptop for surfing or anything else. As for porn, what is stopping people from viewing the porn ALREADY on their laptops, ipods, video appliances, DVD's, etc. The human race might not deserve a lot of credit but it does deserve some--most will be appropriate in their activities. And let me break it to the naive'...some people have actual sex on planes. Point is that most people are civilized, some are not and there's nothing much that can be done about the latter because they just don't give a f*** (flying or otherwise).
John @ Dec 28th 2007 11:57PM
Back 20 0r 30 years ago when they didn't have
internet access, I don't recall folks on planes
whippng out smutty magazines and testing the
censorship laws.These days more often than not we
are treated like cattle,rubber-stamped,put on
hold,etc. Now at 20,000 feet, with all this time to kill, they want to regulate our toys too ?
Kara @ Dec 28th 2007 11:57PM
Allowing cell phone use in flight would be far more obnoxious that allowing internet use. On a bus or in a cafe, you can get up and change your seat, but on a plane you are trapped. However, I think the airlines should be able to block porn sites, though I'm not sure how they would do that.
Kris @ Dec 29th 2007 12:52AM
Why can't the airlines simply impose a set of basic rules (as on any other public transit system) i.e. no music or sound other than via headphones. And perhaps have a section of the plane for internet use and a section for non-internet use (the way we used to do with smoking and the way some restaurants are now treating cell phone users.
If I was going to be taking a long flight I might be willing to pay a slight premium charge for the use of a wi-fi connection in a wi-fi section of the plane. I can also see myself on the other side of the equation: perhaps paying a slight fee so that I DO NOT have to sit in the section where everyone has a laptop.
web @ Dec 29th 2007 12:57AM
PORN....I had people asking me to watch!
Pam @ Dec 29th 2007 1:11AM
I would worry more about nosy neighbors watching what I'm typing and where I'm going.
ricky whitten @ Dec 29th 2007 1:47AM
control,control,control gets more invasive. Just how much Nazi control shit are Americans able to take.Fascism is a Hellish government. Slavery for regular folk, as the corporates,elites and Beelzebush type pukes get it all!