If you want to read Vanity Fair online or check up on boingboing.net‘s latest posts, you’ll have to do it somewhere other than Denver International Airport, which blocks some content on its free Wi-Fi network. Airport officials told The Denver Post they use filtering technology to err on the side of promoting a family-friendly atmosphere. For a dissenting point of view, the Post tracked down David Byrne. Yes, that David Byrne, founder of the Talking Heads. “Give people some credit,” Byrne, who was blocked from boingboing.net while connecting through DIA to an Aspen workshop last month, told the Post. “And the more credit you give them, the more they respond. It’s just trusting people’s discretion.”
According to the report, the filtering software appears to be blocking less than 1 percent of 1.7 million Web page requests a day. Still, reporter Michael Booth took note of the apparent double-standard as he pointed out that while travelers cannot download images from the latest Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, they can surely gaze at the bathing beauties at the newsstands where the magazine is prominently displayed. Airport spokesman Chuck Cannon said, “That’s a little different than pornography, though I guess others may disagree.”
