Have you tried actually browsing at some of them? The restrictions in place on web sites you can visit can be ridiculous. At Heathrow, I wanted to look for a Beretta Jacket - no, it is unsuitable to browse. One afternoon in T2, I managed to get a list of around 100 websites that were not accessible - all were legal, not containing violence, pornography, illegal material or any other reason to bar access.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Have you tried actually browsing at some of them? The restrictions in place on web sites you can visit can be ridiculous. At Heathrow, I wanted to look for a Beretta Jacket - no, it is unsuitable to browse. One afternoon in T2, I managed to get a list of around 100 websites that were not accessible - all were legal, not containing violence, pornography, illegal material or any other reason to bar access.

Nope.. I usually VPN..

Given what a Beretta is, and allowing for elementary filtering rather than sophisticated, that's not too surprising.

A colleague tried some VPNs - and bars were on some of those too.

And? what is wrong with Beretta? Illegal? No. Immoral? No. Obscene? No.

?
I did say "elementary filtering rather than sophisticated". A Beretta is a gun. You were at an airport.

Obviously you couldn't buy and receive one there before take-off, but a potential interest in guns could trigger a block.

The person constructing the filter could easily just have been searching for keywords.

Clearly an unnecessary block. All I was doing was suggesting what may have happened.

MI5 are on MHC's case now.

I know why ... but there is no reason.

What is illegal about having a gun at an airport? Provided it is licensed and the person has "good reason" there is no problem BA passengers take hundreds of guns a week through Heathrow.


They do not stop access to pornography though!