I wish your friend at Aer Lingus was on my last Aer Lingus flight then, because mid-flight I was using my camera to take photos out of the window (this was in flight, not during take off/landing) and a member of the cabin crew came storming down the aisle demanding I delete all my photos whilst telling me it's "illegal to take photos on an aircraft".
Given that I wasn't in the mood for an argument, I just apologised and said ok, because I could tell it would've only ended badly.
Realistically, I would've liked to have questioned it, and queried whether it was simply company policy or actual law, and whether she could tell me what the wording of that law/policy was, as surely you need to know what the law is in order to enforce it. Or maybe I'm wrong?
She really was paranoid though, started going on about 9/11 and all sorts, hinting that I might be some kind of terrorist. God forbid if she ever looks on a.net or youtube, she'd probably have a coronary. Quite sad really.