American Airlines' In-Flight Internet Raises Porn Questions

We’re not very far into American Airlines’ test of in-flight internet, and there are already problems. What’s the problem? Porn. Seriously.

The flight attendants have asked American to block porn sites onboard so that they don’t have to police passenger behavior themselves. Other groups have jumped on the bandwagon as well trying to convince American that there are all kinds of hazards for allowing such behavior. Personally, I don’t get it at all.

You can bring any magazine you want on the airplane now, right? And you can bring your own DVD player or computer and watch anything as well. So why is this any different? It isn’t. And American shouldn’t have to police this kind of behavior with a blanket solution that probably wouldn’t block everything anyway.

American spokesman Tim Smith says, “We always hope our customers will use good judgment on what they view while on board our aircraft, and the vast majority do just that.” That’s exactly how it should be. I’m sure problems will arise, but that’s for the flight attendants to deal with on a case by case basis.