Wednesday, March 27

Southwest Airlines passenger disrupts Houston flight with nude cyber-flashing photos


A calm pilot did his best to defuse an unsettling situation aboard a recent Southwest Airlines flight out of William P. Hobby Airport, according to a recent report published by Insider’s Mara Leighton.

The incident in question was documented in part by TikTok user Teighlor Marsalis, who recorded a video of a pilot speaking to passengers aboard a flight from Houston to Cabo San Lucas. An unknown individual on the flight, which had yet to take off, had allegedly sent nude images to other passengers on the plane, according to Leighton, and Marsalis’ video captured the pilot’s measured admonishment of the perpetrator.

@teighmars @robloxsouthwestair takes airdropping nudes very seriously. #AEJeansSoundOn #WorldPrincessWeek ♬ original sound – Teighlor Marsalis

In pitch-perfect pilot voice, the plane’s captain explained that if the individual sending explicit photos persisted, he would be forced to turn the plane around and ruin what many likely had hoped to be the beginning of a pleasant, flasher-free vacation.

“So here’s the deal, if this continues while we’re on the ground I’m going to have to pull back to the gate,” the pilot says. “Everybody’s going to have to get off. We’re going to have to get security involved, and vacation is going to be ruined.”

“So folks, whatever that AirDrop thing is, stop sending naked pictures and let’s get yourselves to Cabo.”

Marsalis told Leighton that she received an AirDrop request while aboard the plane but denied it. The flight appears to have continued without incident, and a Southwest Airlines spokesperson issued a statement in the immediate aftermath of the occurrence saying the wellbeing of the airline’s customers and staff remains its “highest priority at all times,” according to Leighton.

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On Friday afternoon a Southwest representative said the company had no new information to share regarding the incident.

The act of “cyber flashing,” or sending unsolicited digital images featuring explicit content, has been the subject of a number of state-level legislation initiatives across the United States in recent years. In 2019 Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 2789, which categorizes cyber flashing as a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine.

Sponsored by Texas state Rep. Morgan Meyer, the bill states recent advances in communication technology have led to the “increasingly prevalent occurrence of individuals sending sexually explicit images to an individual without their consent.” Laws against the physical, in-person act of public flashing and indecent exposure do not cover digital occurrences, the bill states, and this gap has left cyber flashing victims with little or no recourse against those who send lewd images to their devices without permission.

Texas’ law describes the act of cyber flashing as “sending lewd images, such as those containing nudity and sexual acts, via text message, social media, and online dating apps” without the consent of their recipient. It also outlaws the sending of “covered genitals of a male person that are in a discernibly turgid state.”

Speaking to CBS DFW in 2019, Austin-based attorney JT Morris said Texas’ cyber flashing law would be difficult to enforce due to its broad definitions and scope.

“It reaches things that arguably could cover images related to medical advice or moms sharing information about breastfeeding or their babies’ health—things like that which certainly can’t be criminalized,” Morris, a First Amendment law specialist, told CBS.

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In August California lawmakers passed a bill of their own that, if signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, will allow victims of cyber flashing to sue offenders over the age of 18 for as much as $30,000 as well as the cost of attorney’s fees.

Other states drafting legislation against cyber flashing include Virginia, New York and New Hampshire. Vermont currently has laws against sexting and the distribution of revenge porn, which includes specifications for explicit digital images of a person sent without their consent.




www.chron.com

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