No in-flight entertainment for security reasons?

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: December 26, 2009

25 comments

According to this FlyerTalk thread, many international United aircraft have their in-flight entertainment systems disabled due to the “airshow” feature, where you can see the location of your aircraft. Sadly I’m betting United won’t be the only airline that’s playing this game.

I just don’t know what to say anymore, I really don’t. The first issue is that you can’t even really see where you are on the “airshow” feature thanks to the aircraft being half the size of the United States on the screen. Beyond that, seriously? I mean, really, is this going to keep us safe? There’s no doubt that mandatory lowering of the window shades is next.

And I think we can say goodbye to Channel 9 on United. At least this time around it’s not the pilots at fault. I can honestly say that I think we’re only encouraging the terrorists. I can only imagine the joy they’re getting out of seeing the inhumane state of the US airline industry thanks to this and the continuous security “enhancements.”

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AS Guest

December 28, 2009, 10:27 am

@sjs - can you please elaborate on your comment "racial (and certainly not religious) profiling is *NOT* unconstitutional per se." The First Amendment provides for freedom of religion and was one of the main reasons the pilgrims came to America. The Fourteenth Amendment provides for Equal Protection, effectively to reinforce the point that 'all men are created equal'. Taken together, these two clauses in the Constitution would mean that individuals are free to have any religion (or to not have one at all) and that they are to be provided equal rights by Federal (and State) governments. Religious profiling certainly seems to countervene these rights. The government does not have the right to interfere with their freedom of movement (which is also provided for, via the Fourth Amendment) on this basis. I didn't go to law school, but maybe you could tell us why this is invalid?

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sjs Guest

December 28, 2009, 7:33 am

Hate to tell you guys this, but racial (and certainly not religious) profiling is *NOT* unconstitutional per se. Better head back to law school...

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Pat Guest

December 28, 2009, 12:43 am

And Channel 9 was on for my flight from HNL-SFO. I thanked the Captain personally, twice.

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iadtowhere Guest

December 28, 2009, 12:30 am

I know you were worried about Channel 9 but I'm on United 327 Lax to Iad right now and Channel 9 is still on!

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AS Guest

December 27, 2009, 7:48 pm

@Ralph - not sure if you are trying to split hairs, but you suggested that young, muslim males be singled out. Maybe that's not racial, but religious profiling (and also unconstitutional). The practical problem with all of this is that it is a severe waste of resources. You can't single people out for what they look like. Selecting someone for screening based on what they look like (for example, a young, muslim male), is not smart security. It targets a vast majority of innocent people, and others will easily slip through the cracks. We'll always be one step behind, and that's why appearance-based profiling just doesn't work (and it's unconstitutional). It's reactive, and its a waste of resources, just like the random selection of kids and the elderly to meet screening quotas. Screening resources should not be targeting people based on appearance, they must target based on suspicious behavior. That does work. It focuses resources on the right things and people. But it requires a lot of extra training and supervision. Israel is said to use ex-counterintelligence resources for profiling and air security. I don't know TSA's hiring guidelines but I imagine it's a high-school education, not much more. As we both seem to agree, TSA is not sophisticated enough to put anything like what is required in place. TSA is also apparently unwilling to provide the transparency and accountability required to support an effective security program. Instead, we get TSA security theater, with visible wasted resources at airport, secret rules and arbitrary enforcement, and very little confidence that we are safer because of it.

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