In-flight cell call ban advances in Congress
A bill that would stifle in-flight cellular calls despite emerging technologies that finally make them feasible is headed for the U.S. House of Representatives.
The proposed Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace (HANG UP) Act was approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on a voice vote Thursday. It would make permanent the long-standing ban on such calls by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Federal Communications Commission. The next stop for the bill will be the full House, after which companion legislation would also have to be passed by the Senate and signed by President George W. Bush. A companion measure has been introduced as part of an FAA reauthorization measure in the Senate.
Cellular calls in flight have long been illegal because of concerns about interference with both aviation systems on board and cellular networks on the ground. But some regions of the world are now moving ahead with in-flight calling systems. Earlier this year, Emirates Airline began offering an in-flight cellular service, and the European Union recently opened the door for countries to hand out licenses for offering such services.
But Representative Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon who co-sponsored the HANG UP Act, is worried about a creep toward in-flight calls over the U.S.
"Polls show the public overwhelmingly doesn't want to be subjected to people talking on their cell phones on increasingly over-packed airplanes. However, with Internet access just around the corner on U.S. flights, it won't be long before the ban on voice communications on in-flight planes is lifted," DeFazio said in a statement. Cash-strapped airlines could end up charging some passengers to use their phones while charging others to sit in a phone-free section of the plane, he said.
American Airlines recently carried out a soft launch of a Wi-Fi in-flight broadband service from Aircell called Gogo, and Virgin America plans to offer the same service by the end of this year. American said it doesn't plan to allow voice calls over Gogo and that Aircell will use technical means to prevent them.
The bill, designated H.R. 5788, wouldn't ban Internet access, e-mail or text-messaging.
In a Harris Interactive survey earlier this year commissioned by Yahoo's Connected Life Americas division, 74 percent of respondents said cell phone use on airplanes should be restricted to silent features. There were 2,088 adults in the U.S. surveyed.
IDG News Service
Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world
On Twitter now
legislation
Powered by TwitterOn Twitter now
legislation
Brian Proffitt
Microsoft/Novell: Breaking Down the Coupon Numbers
Esther Schindler
Drupal's Dries Buytaert on Building the Next Drupal
Tom Henderson
Top Ten General Operating Systems Rants
pasmith
PS3 motion controller delayed; goes up against Project Natal
sjvn
Neolithic Windows security hole alive and well in Windows 7
claird
Perl source code comparison makes for good reading
James Gaskin
Learn How To Print Pages In Order with Ink Jet Printers
mikelgan
Cell phones don't create stress or interrupt much
Sandra Henry-Stocker
How to: The Unix Interview
Where Google Chrome security fails: the password
I heard mention that the Chrome OS will have some sort of encryption available a la bitlocker. If it's possible to encrypt personal data using another password or key, then it may have potential for very secure data.... And Ubuntu has an 'encrypt home directory' option, perhaps google should follow suit.
- Dann
Join the conversation here
Quick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.
- Ubuntu advances: Why Ubuntu server installations will surge in 2010
- Social media marketing: How to make friends with benefits
- More...
Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.







I'm not sure I understand
I'm not sure I understand how anyone can be for restricting freedom when the only harm is annoyance. Freedom to talk is a right. Freedom from annoyance isn't.An airline could make the choice to restrict talking on phones on their planes, but we really shouldn't want the government to place any restrictions on speech. That's just scary.
Leaving aside the rather
Leaving aside the rather juvenile me-me sentiment of your first paragraph, if you read the report you'll see that they don't want to limit your free speech (which refers to communication over any media) but rather the noise you make when your lips start flapping.It's called skype. Or AIM or
It's called skype.Or AIM
or MSN
all these have voice technology.