 Welcome
to the promise of the Internet at 10,000 metres - and the questions
of etiquette, openness and free speech that airlines and service
providers will have to grapple with as they bring Internet access to
the skies in the coming months.
This gets into a ticklish area, said Vint Cerf, one of the
Internet's chief inventors and generally a critic of network
restrictions. Airlines have to be sensitive to the fact that
customers are (seated) close together and may be able to see each
other's PC screens. More to the point, young people are often aboard
the plane.
Technology providers and airlines are already making decisions. Some
will block services like Internet phone calls altogether while
others will put limits and install filters on content. And traffic
management tools that are frowned upon on terra firma could be
commonplace in the air.
Panasonic Avionics Corp., a Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. unit
testing airborne services on Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd., is
designing its high-speed Internet services to block sites on "an
objectionable list," including porn and violence, said David Bruner,
executive director for corporate sales and marketing. He said
airlines based in more restrictive countries could choose to expand
the list.
The company also is recommending that airlines permit Internet-based
phone calls only on handsets with wireless Wi-Fi capabilities.
Bruner said the company believes Wi-Fi handsets use less bandwidth
than telephone software that runs on laptops. Airlines, he said,
also could block incoming calls - and the annoying ring tones they
produce - or designate periods of quiet time.
U.S. airlines are largely taking the opposite approach. With
possible exceptions for crew and federal air marshals, flights on
American Airlines and Alaska Airlines won't have access to
Internet-based phone services like Skype.
Virgin America is also considering a ban: An airborne environment
is a confined environment, said Charles Ogilvie, Virgin's
director of in-flight entertainment and partnerships: You don't
want 22B yapping away or playing on a boom box.
Meanwhile, American, Alaska and Virgin have no plans to filter sites
based on their content. At most, an airline may manage traffic and
delay large downloads, or in Virgin's case give passengers the
option of enabling controls for their kids.
We think decency and good sense and normal behaviour will
prevail, said Jack Blumenstein, chief executive of Aircell which is
launching service on some American and Virgin flights in 2008.
In many ways, airlines are facing issues similar to those
encountered by Wi-Fi networks on the ground - at airports, coffee
shops and other public places.
Glenn Fleishman, editor of the Wi-Fi Networking News site, said
operators of public networks generally do not filter because users
are conscious that others can see what they surf.
Airplanes, however, are different because customers are in closer
quarters and are more likely to include kids.
Allowing porn could subject an airline to harassment complaints much
like an employer that refuses to clamp down, said John Palfrey, a
Harvard Law School professor: I think they have a right to
(filter), but I come up short of saying they have the
responsibility. I'd rather have the responsibility in the hands of
passengers and require them to be accountable for what they do on
laptops and airplanes.
Airborne Internet activities - such as hacking and piracy - could
raise new questions about which country's laws apply.
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Porn
failing to take off on either high def disk format
Blu-ray
struggles to find adult content
Law
enforcers and control freaks sniff around
ICANN
vote again vote against XXX domain
Those
wanting to keep using VHS tapes should hoard a VCR 
Payment
services for adult sites
For
adult websites
Creeping
internet filtering
