Porn on the Plane? And Why is Gay-Hating Marriott Still Offering In-Room Straight Porn?

I had a conversation with a newsstand employee in Vegas last Summer about this issue, but we were talking about people buying a copy of Hustler and then boarding and sitting in a very crowded plane with porn. I just didn't consider what would happen with the advent of airborne web surfing.

Portfolio.com did consider this, however, and Joe Brancatelli writes about it at this link:

American and its internet provider, Aircell, brought the porn problem on themselves. Before launch, they decided to bar the use of voice-over-internet sites such as Skype. But they chose to leave the rest of the Web accessible at 40,000 feet and rely on the discretion of passengers and the attention of overworked flight attendants. After all, executives at both companies pointed out, passengers don't need the Net to get in-flight porn. They could load it onto their laptops before they fly or bring along a couple of DVDs.

After hearing from its flight attendants' union and getting some, well, icky publicity, American beat a hasty retreat. Last month, the airline announced it was "working with Aircell to implement technology to filter pornographic content." Delta Air Lines, which will soon offer Aircell internet, says it will bar in-flight porn too. And with the exception of Virgin America, which is scheduled to launch its first internet trial this weekend, so will several other carriers preparing to test in-flight Web access.

Unfortunately, we've reached the "slippery slope" part of this column. Smut in the skies is just the latest iteration of a problem that has vexed airlines and passengers for decades, for at least as long as carriers have offered in-flight entertainment. What's "appropriate content" in a mass-market business that involves the uniquely cramped, cheek-by-jowl atmosphere of an aircraft tube?

Later in the column, Brancatelli writes about the pressure one hotelier has faced from those who want them to stop offering in-room porn. Spanktravision, anyone? - with apologies to David Spade.

That one hotelier? It's J.W. Marriott, funder of Prop 8 here in California, which makes money from selling porn to businessmen and women and then takes that money that they make from porn and use it to deny me and others rights.

Two guys  or women can't get married to protect their children's rights but Marriott can sell porn. Give me a fuckin' break.