Delta to Block Porn on In-Flight Wi-Fi

by Jordan Yerman | October 4, 2008 at 10:41 am

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Using airline Wi-Fi for surfing porn... admit it, you thought about it-- not about actually watching, of course, but about how an airline can manage the viewing of "objectionable" content in coach class, where simply not looking at your neighbor's screen is not an option. If I'm stuck in the middle seat, I can't avoid seeing the spreadsheet on the laptop to my left, so what if I were a 7-year-old, and the spreadsheet was The XXX-Files?(Yeah, I know, they always use children in their hypothetical situations, but still)

However, how big a problem is this, really? Anyone who wants to watch porn (or even pr0n) on a plane can jsut bring a DVD, or download the video before leaving home, right? I'm just not entirely convinced that this is a real-life problem- I've logged a lot of coach-class hours, and have never once seen anyone watching porn, nor has anybody I know.

Oh, and anyone who has ever gone through a departure lounge knows that they sell adult mags in the airport bookstores.

While most of the early adopters of in-flight Wi-Fi have said they will only filter certain types of traffic and not web content itself, relying on flight attendants to handle case-by-case complaints of passengers attempting to join the solo mile high club right from their seat. Which they obviously weren't too happy about.

So unhappy that the flight attendant union began putting pressure on American to block porn content on their just-launched service (would you want to be the person to come between some crazy perv and his porn on a cross-country haul? Me neither).

Delta previously said it planned to rely on flight attendants to handle inappropriate situations, such as pornography surfing. But after feedback from customers and attendants, the airline changed its policy and is working with Wi-Fi provider Aircell to use a system to block inappropriate content.

Content-blocking, no matter how well-meaning the motives behind it, tends to be ineffective; either by missing the target content, or by catching too many dolphins in the tuna net.

Then again, what about violent content, as opposed to adult content? Plenty of violent films show on those seatback screens for junior to have a look at.

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