Flight Stewards Voice Concerns Over Porn on the Plane

With several major airlines beginning to offer in-flight WiFi to passengers, it seems more than a few are concerned that, unless some kind of filtration process is employed, some passengers may watch porn on the plane.

If you’re a frequent flier, chances are you’ve seen a few couples endeavour to join the mile high club only to be busted by a flight attendant. However, now that WiFi access is coming to planes, flight attendants figure they have one more thing to worry about.

According to a report in Bloomberg, airlines planning to deploy in-flight WiFi have received numerous complaints from both flight attendants and passengers. David Roscow, a spokesperson for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, said the union raised the issue with management but have yet to make without making a formal request for filters

Unfortunately, it might not be as easy to block porn as airlines think. Taking into account the fact that when you’re traveling on a plane you’re free to bring your laptop, MP3 player (the contents of which are generally not questioned after you pass security) and any books and magazines you want it seems like a storm in a teacup to all of a sudden be worried about what passengers are doing with their laptops on the plane.

As Ars Technica was all too quick to point out, even if certain sites were blocked on in-flight wireless networks, there’s nothing to stop passengers from watching DVDs on their laptops and so, nothing to stop them watching their entire porn collection on the plane if they wanted to. This, coupled with the fact that if airlines or service providers start blocking websites or flagging particular words, they may have to regulate all content viewed on the plane makes it a very sticky subject to broach.

Further Reading

ArsTechnica
Bloomberg