Denver airport wi-fi blocks dodgy sites

DENVER INTERNATIONAL in the US is kind enough to offer all those stranded inside it free wi-fi, but, according to the Denver Post, "free" does not mean free in every sense of the word.

The airport allegedly censors its wireless connection, preventing weary travellers from accessing such "potentially racy sites" as BoingBoing.net, (Common themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney and politics), perezhilton.com (gossip about musicians, actors and celebrities), Vanity Fair magazine web site and even Sports Illustrated swimsuit site.

All this despite the fact that the airport, according to The Seattle Times, sells hard core pornographic magazines in its newsstands and bookstores.

Emulating its heroes, Iran and Pakistan, and using the same kind of censorship technology employed by the governments of Kuwait, Oman and Sudan, Denver's airport officials say that they'd rather deal with people complaining about censorship than people complaining about others viewing objectionable content on their laptops. Who these shockingly nosey individuals, who sneak up on travellers and spy over their shoulders in departure lounges, could possibly be, one can only wonder.

Then again, maybe the airport has deeper motives for the ban. We think it might be due to the falling sales of certain airport newsstands. µ