American Airlines to filter porn sites on its in-flight internet

American Airlines, the largest United States-based carrier, has decided to filter pornographic websites on in-flight internet service.

In a statement, American Airlines said it plans to filter pornographic content from its new in-flight internet service, named GogoAmerican, after it received complaints from customers and family groups as well as concerns from flight attendants and other employees.

American Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of the AMR Corporation, is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the United States, adjacent to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. It operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, as well as flights to Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Japan, China, and India.

It was in August 2008 that American Airlines, in a six-month trial, introduced in-flight internet service on some of its Boeing 767 jets that fly between New York and San Francisco, Los Angeles and Miami. The internet service, which is provided by wireless-communications firm Aircell, costs $12.95 for flights longer than three hours and $9.95 for shorter trips. The carrier intends to expand the in-flight internet service to other routes if the trial proves successful.

The airline explained in the statement: “Since the launch of Gogo, American Airlines has not experienced any reported incidents of customers viewing inappropriate content via the Gogo service. However, we believe this is an appropriate measure to take. Aircell will work with American Airlines to implement such content filtering technology and policies as they deem appropriate to ensure the best possible in-flight Internet experience for their passengers.”

However, neither American Airlines nor Aircell has commented on what type of filter that would be installed and what content would be blocked.

American Airlines said it would not initially filter or block pornographic content, but instead flight attendants would respond to passenger complaints, using existing guidelines, about inappropriate Web surfing.

Several activist groups, including Focus on the Family, the conservative Christian group, have already expressed concerns that children could be exposed to pornographic websites that are viewed by passengers seated nearby. In a recent statement, an analyst for media and sexuality at Focus on the Family had warned that “passengers who openly view porn where children can see it may be violating federal harmful-to-minor laws.”

The New York Times newspaper quoted the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union which represents flight attendants of American Airlines, as telling officials of the airline: “It is unfair for flight attendants to be expected to police internet content during flights. Flight attendants are already responsible for handling passenger complaints about fellow travellers viewing inappropriate material, such as magazines or DVDs.”

Delta Air Lines, based and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, has decided to block “inappropriate” websites from its in-flight service, which the airline plans to implement on its entire domestic fleet.

Many other major airlines, including Southwest Airlines, the low-cost airline based in Dallas, Texas, the United States, and Virgin America, another low-farfe airline based in the United States, have announced that they would offer in-flight internet in 2009.