A Southwest pilot threatened to turn the plane around and go home if passengers didn't stop AirDropp

[Stevicus]

A Southwest pilot threatened to turn the plane around and go home if passengers didn't stop AirDropping nudes to each other (yahoo.com)

I haven't been on a plane in quite a few years, so I wasn't aware that this was even possible. Apparently, people can just send pics to random strangers who happen to be nearby.

• A viral TikTok captured a pilot threatening not to fly if passengers didn't stop AirDropping nudes.
  
  
• In the clip, the pilot told passengers to 'quit sending naked pictures' or vacation would be ruined.
  
  
• Cyberflashing isn't a new problem, and legislators are working to criminalize the act.
  

A Southwest Airlines pilot piloting a plane to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, threatened to turn the plane around and involve security if a passenger didn't stop sending unsolicited AirDropped nudes.

An August 25 TikTok chronicling the incident was uploaded by user Teighlor Marsalis (@teighmars) and has since been viewed more than 2 million times.

"So here's the deal," the pilot said over the intercom. "If this continues while we're on the ground, I'm going to have to pull back to the gate, everybody's going to have to get off, we're going to have to get security involved, and [your] vacation is going to be ruined,"

"Whatever that AirDrop thing is — quit sending naked pictures, let's get yourself to Cabo," he continued.

The incident reportedly happened before the plane was airborne when a passenger received the explicit image and complained to a flight attendant. Marsalis, who told Insider via Instagram direct message she thought the pilot handled the situation "perfectly," said she also received an AirDrop request but denied it.

In a statement provided to Insider, Southwest Airlines said the safety, security, and wellbeing of customers and employees was its "highest priority at all times. When made aware of a potential problem, our employees address issues to support the comfort of those traveling with us."

Cyberflashing, the practice of sending unsolicited and explicit photos to nearby strangers, is not a new problem. In a 2017 Pew Research Center report, 53% of women ages 18-29 reported having been sent unsolicited obscene images (compared to 37% of men within the same range). A 2021 report found that 33% of women under 35 reported having been sexually harassed online in general — three times more often than men within the same age range.

Cyberflashing is already considered a misdemeanor in Texas after legislators teamed up with dating app Bumble in 2019 to criminalize it. In California, a new bill sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom on August 22 would give unsuspecting recipients the ability to sue the senders if they're older than 18.

"Just as individuals suffer sexual harassment and abuse in their physical, non-digital lives," Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry said when the California Assembly approved the bill, "there's a growing incidence of individuals being harassed by receiving unsolicited, sexually explicit images and videos including from people they do not know."

I get a lot of spam texts and robocalls on my phones. Some of the texts are clearly links to websites of ill repute. But I've never encountered this kind of thing, where someone may be nearby and apparently doesn't even have to know my phone number to be able to send a file to my phone.

Does anyone know much about AirDrop? Has anyone here ever used it?

Should this sort of thing be banned? It does appear to cross the line of stalking and harassment.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I suppose if it's pictures of Anthony Weiner they might have a point.

 

[Nakosis]

A Southwest pilot threatened to turn the plane around and go home if passengers didn't stop AirDropping nudes to each other (yahoo.com)

I haven't been on a plane in quite a few years, so I wasn't aware that this was even possible. Apparently, people can just send pics to random strangers who happen to be nearby.





I get a lot of spam texts and robocalls on my phones. Some of the texts are clearly links to websites of ill repute. But I've never encountered this kind of thing, where someone may be nearby and apparently doesn't even have to know my phone number to be able to send a file to my phone.

Does anyone know much about AirDrop? Has anyone here ever used it?

Should this sort of thing be banned? It does appear to cross the line of stalking and harassment.

Seems our culture is becoming less mature. Not that people were any "better" in the past but culture puts some resistance to folks seeking instant gratification.
Doubt banning would do anything than cause people to find alternative ways to socially rebel.
The problem is instant gratification becomes addicting and starts to compete with productivity. We start to lose our productivity as a people which means less resources available for distribution.
European culture was one of productivity and we seem to be losing it.

 

[Revoltingest]

Seems our culture is becoming less mature.

No.
It's about having increasingly more
venues to express one's immaturity.
Anonymity exacerbates the problem.

 

[Nakosis]

No.
It's about having increasingly more
venues to express one's immaturity.
Anonymity exacerbates the problem.

I see, is it something you'd be doing having now so many venues to express your immaturity?

 

[Revoltingest]

I see, is it something you'd be doing having now so many venues to express your immaturity?

50 years ago, there was no internet
upon which to unleash my harangues.

 

[Alien826]

A Southwest pilot threatened to turn the plane around and go home if passengers didn't stop AirDropping nudes to each other (yahoo.com)

I haven't been on a plane in quite a few years, so I wasn't aware that this was even possible. Apparently, people can just send pics to random strangers who happen to be nearby.





I get a lot of spam texts and robocalls on my phones. Some of the texts are clearly links to websites of ill repute. But I've never encountered this kind of thing, where someone may be nearby and apparently doesn't even have to know my phone number to be able to send a file to my phone.

Does anyone know much about AirDrop? Has anyone here ever used it?

Should this sort of thing be banned? It does appear to cross the line of stalking and harassment.

I did a quick "google" and briefly AirDrop is a means of communication between Apple devices that uses Bluetooth within a 30' range. That would make it ideal for air travel where you have to switch off your normal connection. I'm not sure what all the fuss is, because you don't get pics just popping up on your phone, you have to accept it. Also, how would someone send a pic to a stranger, they would have to know the phone number. Or would they?

Also, I'm wondering how the pilot became aware of it? Maybe people saw other people's phones and complained?

One possible scenario would be a group of young people traveling together to a fun vacation in the sun, and sending each other cheeky pics. I don't see the harm in that. If people are having this forced on them in some way, of course it shouldn't happen.

More questions than answers.

 

[sun rise]

No.
It's about having increasingly more
venues to express one's immaturity.
Anonymity exacerbates the problem.

Why back in my day when we were all expected to be upright citizens, we had this exemplar of proper behavior to which all were expected to adhere because Western Civilization and the defeat of Soviet Communism rested on our ever alert shoulders.

 

[Alien826]

Seems our culture is becoming less mature. Not that people were any "better" in the past but culture puts some resistance to folks seeking instant gratification.
Doubt banning would do anything than cause people to find alternative ways to socially rebel.
The problem is instant gratification becomes addicting and starts to compete with productivity. We start to lose our productivity as a people which means less resources available for distribution.
European culture was one of productivity and we seem to be losing it.

I wouldn't call it rebelling. Maybe back in the "hippy" days of the '60s, but now I would think instant gratification is more the norm than the exception. Most of the goods we consume are sold by offering instant gratification.

I don't mourn the "good old days" of grim faced duty. We were long overdue for some guilt free fun. Has it gone too far? Probably. But I'm not concerned about productivity. We need less "stuff" not more.

 

[Nakosis]

50 years ago, there was no internet
upon which to unleash my harangues.

So you'd be abusing your fellow passengers with your favorite haggis recipes?

 

[Stevicus]

Seems our culture is becoming less mature. Not that people were any "better" in the past but culture puts some resistance to folks seeking instant gratification.
Doubt banning would do anything than cause people to find alternative ways to socially rebel.
The problem is instant gratification becomes addicting and starts to compete with productivity. We start to lose our productivity as a people which means less resources available for distribution.
European culture was one of productivity and we seem to be losing it.

There may be some truth to this, but it also might be cultural, which oftentimes appeals to the lowest common denominator. Somehow, people get it in their head that it's okay to do that, for whatever reason.

 

[Revoltingest]

So you'd be abusing your fellow passengers with your favorite haggis recipes?

Nah...I don't know how to do that.
So I watch the TV.

 

[Nakosis]

I wouldn't call it rebelling. Maybe back in the "hippy" days of the '60s, but now I would think instant gratification is more the norm than the exception. Most of the goods we consume are sold by offering instant gratification.

I don't mourn the "good old days" of grim faced duty. We were long overdue for some guilt free fun. Has it gone too far? Probably. But I'm not concerned about productivity. We need less "stuff" not more.

We are becoming a nation of consumers. Will end up relying on others to produce the goods we desire.
Myself, trying to consume less, produce more.

 

[Nakosis]

Nah...I don't know how to do that.
So I watch the TV.

Yes, like me. Keeping my oddness closer to the vest than the youngsters, I'd assume.

 

[Augustus]

Also, how would someone send a pic to a stranger, they would have to know the phone number. Or would they?

If your device is set to be discoverable, anyone in range can see your device and you will just get an incoming file request when they try to send.

You still have to accept the file though.

 

[Nakosis]

There may be some truth to this, but it also might be cultural, which oftentimes appeals to the lowest common denominator. Somehow, people get it in their head that it's okay to do that, for whatever reason.

Not my culture. Not that my culture was exactly productive.
I mostly remember my parents sitting in the living room, watching TV.

 

[Alien826]

If your device is set to be discoverable, anyone in range can see your device and you will just get an incoming file request when they try to send.

You still have to accept the file though.

Ah. Thanks.

 

[exchemist]

A Southwest pilot threatened to turn the plane around and go home if passengers didn't stop AirDropping nudes to each other (yahoo.com)

I haven't been on a plane in quite a few years, so I wasn't aware that this was even possible. Apparently, people can just send pics to random strangers who happen to be nearby.





I get a lot of spam texts and robocalls on my phones. Some of the texts are clearly links to websites of ill repute. But I've never encountered this kind of thing, where someone may be nearby and apparently doesn't even have to know my phone number to be able to send a file to my phone.

Does anyone know much about AirDrop? Has anyone here ever used it?

Should this sort of thing be banned? It does appear to cross the line of stalking and harassment.

With Air drop you are told you have something waiting and are asked if you want to accept it. Personally, I think you would be a moron to accept unknown files from unknown people. But then, I am not up with the zeitgeist where IT stuff is concerned.