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Southeast To Start Video Monitoring Flights
NormalVisual writes "According to this article, Southeast Airlines will begin digitally recording everything that goes on during one of their flights. Moreover, they have said they will be retaining the recorded video for up to 10 years. The privacy implications here are worrying, and this sets a bad precedent, IMO." (Southeast is a charter company, not a big scheduled carrier.)
I work part time for a school bus company, so here goes. Until about a year ago, they had a ton of the boxes they install on the buses, but only 2 cameras to put in these boxes to go around. To get an idea this bus company has ~200 buses, but not all the buses have a box in them. I'd say about 1/2.
Because of this, only the real problem buses got the cameras. The cameras recorded onto a tape that looped every couple of hours, so unless they pulled the tape out of the bus for review it just recorded over itself.
One some buses, there was a switch on the dashboard that would turn the camera on and off. Sometimes it was unlabeled, other times it had some nonsense label like "Landing Light" or "Sign Light" or something like that. Other buses simply ran the camera when the ignition was on. The blinking red light would blink regardless of switch position, camera installed or not.
Sometimes they would tell the driver there was a camera in the bus, sometimes they don't. I think this was to keep the drivers on their toes more than anything else, because the cameras can also record what the driver does. Nevertheless, the driver does not have keys to open the box.
In the last year or two, all the new buses they have purchased come with cameras preinstalled. Unlike the old buses with a one way mirror, these buses you can clearly see the camera behind the glass. The trick though is that under the dashboard there is a box that holds a VCR, and they only have so many of these VCRs to go around. So while each new bus clearly has a camera, not all are recording.
I have seen footage from the new bus cameras and it is quite good too. The old ones weren't so hot. I think the new ones are digital but I'm not sure (haven't asked).
The airline is Southeast, not Southwest.
I just thought I'd point this out, before people start changing their travel plans.