Cybersecurity Expert Questions Existence of Embedded Camera On SIA's Inflight Entertainment Systems (yahoo.com)

Vitaly Kamluk, an information security expert and a high-ranking executive of cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, went on Twitter with concerns about an embedded camera in Singapore Airlines' (SIA) inflight entertainment systems. He tagged SIA in his post on Sunday, asking the airline to clarify how the camera is being used. Yahoo News reports: SIA quickly allayed his fears of unwanted surveillance by assuring Kamluk that the cameras have been disabled, with no plans to use them in the future. Not all of their devices sport the camera, though -- SIA explained that only some of its newer inflight entertainment systems come with cameras embedded in the hardware. In another tweet, SIA affirmed that the cameras were already built in by the original equipment manufacturers in newer inflight entertainment systems. Kamluk recommended that it's best to disable the cameras physically -- with stickers, for example -- to provide better peace of mind. In 2017, entertainment device developer Panasonic Avionics said it was studying how eye tracking can be used for a better passenger experience. As the report mentions, "Cameras can be used for identity recognition on planes, which in turn, would allow for in-flight biometric payment (much like Face ID on Apple devices) and personalized services."

Comments

Re:Yeah Right

[gl4ss]

I love how people are just ignoring the obvious reason for it - video calling.

they just want to charge , but didn't actually finish building the system and nobody would use it anyways for their prices.. much like "free wifi" on flights for 10 megs of data or whatever.

charging for calls and all that was always a wet dream for the airlines. problem is nobody wants to pay for it and the systems outdate themselves before they're even in use. like for video calls they would need to choose what app to use nowadays.

on many flights you can call or instant message another seat. another feature nobody uses ever.

my favorite useless feature was usb slot for viewing photos and pdf files on the crap screen. why no movies? because it was outdated already and they want you to view their inflight library, which they give you free anyways. but let's be honest who in their right mind would prepare to read pdf files off an usb stick on a plane? friggin nobody thats who.

this one flight had a smartphone looking wired remote for the inflight system. also totally useless and unly useful because the ui for skipping forward in a movie in the actual device was so goddamn laggy..