The old in-flight porn debate has reared its big ugly head. With a slew of US majors bringing WiFi connectivity on board their aircraft, the question of whether they should regulate content is now splattered across the news.
American Airlines, which recently became the first US carrier to offer broadband, has opted to provide unfiltered Internet access to passengers. In the event that someone complains about their neighbour's decision to view explicit content, then it will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis by the sky police, aka flight attendants, says this Fox report.
A number of other international operators are said to be planning the same strategy. But is this something we should really be concerned about? Haven't blokes been bringing racy magazines on board aircraft for eons? And haven't they been generally pretty discreet about it?
Okay, a laptop screen sitting (oft precariously) on a seat-back tray table ensures a wider audience. And yes, if I'm travelling with my four year old daughter and some guy (or gal) in the seat beside me is downloading the hardcore stuff, I'll probably ask him oh-so-politely to have some bloody decency.
However, I'm simply not convinced the issue will pose a real problem. When Boeing launched its now defunct high-speed Connexion service, everyone wondered if the skies would turn Triple X. It just didn't happen.
Indeed, the real story here is that in-flight broadband - and more specifically Aircell's air-to-ground broadband service Gogo - is in fact working well! The initial reviews are rather good. And Aircell is pleased as punch, as you can imagine.
"Aircell on American has been a phenomenal success. The system, network and service have all been outstanding (as we knew they would be)," says an Aircell spokesman, adding: "The passenger response has been great and the results to date have exceeded even our expectations."
To wit, the person who is handling Aircell exec John Happ's interviews at the upcoming World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA) conference and exhibition in Long Beach "is on AA Flt. 19 from JFK to LAX right now and she was able to log into the schedule on Aircell's servers while in flight and e-mail to let me know that John can meet with you at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at booth #255", an Aircell spokesman told me yesterday.
Fantastic!
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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