American Airlines Has Cameras In Their Screens Too (buzzfeednews.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: A viral photo showing a camera in a Singapore Airlines in-flight TV display recently caused an uproar online. The image was retweeted hundreds of times, with many people expressing concern about the privacy implications. As it turns out, some seat-back screens in American Airlines' premium economy class have them, too. Sri Ray was aboard an American Airlines Boeing 777-200 flight to Tokyo in September 2018 when he noticed something strange: a camera embedded in the seat back of his entertainment system. The cameras are also visible in this June 2017 review of the airline's premium economy offering by the Points Guy, as well as this YouTube video by Business Traveller magazine.

American Airlines spokesperson Ross Feinstein confirmed to BuzzFeed News that cameras are present on some of the airlines' in-flight entertainment systems, but said "they have never been activated, and American is not considering using them." Feinstein added, "Cameras are a standard feature on many in-flight entertainment systems used by multiple airlines. Manufacturers of those systems have included cameras for possible future uses, such as hand gestures to control in-flight entertainment." After Twitter user Vitaly Kamluk saw a similar lens on Singapore Airlines and tweeted photos of the system last week, the airline responded from its official Twitter account, saying the cameras were "disabled." Still, the airlines could quell passengers' concerns by covering the lenses with a plastic cover, if indeed there is no use for the camera.

Comments

Why do you expect privacy on an airline?

[damn_registrars]

I get that privacy should be expected in certain places. But on a airline, you already have a seat that is assigned to you. You will be in that seat for most of your journey. If you really need privacy for something while flying, you can use the lavatory for that. What are you concerned about someone seeing you doing while you're on a plane? We have security cameras on many public buses and trains, and airplanes are not that different in their current application.

If you really want to put some electric tape over it to make yourself feel better while in flight, go for it. But why are we expecting privacy from a company that already has a lot of personal information on us?

Re:Why do you expect privacy on an airline?

[Dirk Becher]

You do have limited privacy on an airplane insofar as that it isn't recorded and uploaded somewhere else. Sure, your seat neighbor might write in his blog that you scratched your balls 20 times during the flight, but without evidence its his word against yours and most of it is forgotten by the time you leave the plane.

Recording you means that people can study your behaviour in fine detail, forever.

Re:Why do you expect privacy on an airline?

[the_skywise]

I get what you're saying but... are you going to flip your your tablet and hold it up to the seat back display?

Re:Why do you expect privacy on an airline?

[Anonymous Coward]

The airlines do have a ton of information. They do canvas tracking on their websites, they tie into credit card companies, and the have very, very identifying information on you. They share information with DHS. Even if the airlines don't use the cameras, will DHS?

If you really need privacy for something

That's where I have a problem. The word "need" is the dangerous one. Once you frame an argument in terms of "need," that person is now on the defensive: you've given the airline the right to surveil, carving out an exception for people who "need" privacy. Once the airlines feel they have that right, the definition of "need" will narrow.

Never accept "need" as a verb in statements about rights, whether gun ownership ("why do you need one?") or privacy ("why do you need not to be recorded at all times?") or free speech ("why do you need to say such things?") or wealth ("why do the rich need so much money?") or education ("why do you need to go to college?") or anything else. "Need" is a word they use to take away your rights.

Poor thing...

[Pitawg]

You poor little thing. Are you one of those young'uns whose parents put your whole embarrassing childhood on-line, causing you end-less embarrassment from every new contact you had growing up? "Spread the sour tummy!" is your goal now? Make the others feel as bad as you do, attempting to convince everyone to fail the same way you or yours did?

Grow up. Privacy is there because you and others will make something common in the past and present illegal/immoral/non-politically-correct in the future. Those who did not attempt to retain privacy in their lives will be punished for these things, by the companies, states, neighbors, peers, or just more downers like you. Are you not seeing what is going on around you?

Privacy is not something others give or allow you. It is something you yourself fight for, to acceptable levels, at all times possible. Once you "I don`t care", and give up the information or item to anyone, you give up your own privacy. No one else did.

Re:Well yeah...

[Anonymous Coward]

Vendor: We have this generic hardware we built to accommodate all possible uses. It's $1,000 each.
Airline: Well, it has a camera and our customers might get freaked out about that.
Vendor: We can customize it to remove the camera, but we'll have to redo the certification process for the hardware, and that'll cost about $500,000, and since you're only buying 100,000 of them, each one will cost an extra $5.
Airline: Camera it is then!

Re:Well yeah...

[jwhyche]

I'm sure there are some valid uses for the camera. Just not in this case. Here is probably what happened. Some engineer looked down a catalog for a part that he need, in vast quantities he needed. He come across a standard lcd screen and it just happened to have a camera on it. There you go, no conspiracy theory here.