Employees of American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier and one of a few airlines experimenting with in-flight Wi-Fi internet access asked the company to filter access to pornography and other inappropriate material on the flights.

The request comes after only a few weeks of the Wi-Fi internet trial. Flight attendants as well as some customers have voiced their concerns that some of the passengers may be offended by the material.

Although the request does raise the problem of freedom of speech, it can be argued that this is rather a problem of common decency; imagine your child being inadvertently exposed to the images while peering at the laptop of the person sitting next to them.

Tim Smith, a spokesman for American Airlines has recommended using just that, common sense and decency in handling such issues, adding that “Customers viewing inappropriate material on board a flight is not a new scenario for our crews, who have always managed this issue with great success,” he added, pointing out that passengers can easily bring personal DVDs or video files on their computers and watching inappropriate materials all the same, without needing an internet connection.

Smith continued, saying that American Airlines will “obviously access this concern as well, including the number of actual incidents reported and any other related issues,” upon review of the feedback from the 3-6 month trial program which has started on August 20.