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

Posted by BeauHD on from the time-to-buy-some-stickers dept.

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.

21 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Well yeah... by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Funny

    Probably quite a lot of them do, with the screen units being integrated and similar units used across airlines.

    I really doubt they are being used though, or else you would see porn based on captures from them.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Well yeah... by fermion · · Score: 2

      Here is my argument. Airlines spend huge sums of money cutting every ounce that they can. The entrertainment systems are bought by the thousands, and are just stock items that fell off the back of a truck. It is hard to believe the cameras would be there if there was not some valid use case.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    2. Re:Well yeah... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2

      I really doubt they are being used though, or else you would see porn based on captures from them.

      American Airlines: "We're not using the cameras . . . and if the DHS and NSA we're using them . . . we would not be allowed to tell you."

      How come the DHS and NSA always get the best homemade amateur porn . . . ?

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    3. Re:Well yeah... by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 2

      In American Airlines, seat-back entertainment system watch YOU!

    4. Re:Well yeah... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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!

    5. Re:Well yeah... by _merlin · · Score: 2

      They're waiting until they have enough bandwidth on/off the planes to offer video calling at extortionate rates. It's like seat-back phones.

    6. Re:Well yeah... by jwhyche · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    7. Re:Well yeah... by prisoner-of-enigma · · Score: 2

      Where there are cameras, there are always microphones, listening in on private business conversations. Insider trading worth billions.

      This presumes you have a means to record, transcribe, read, evaluate, and summarize "conversations" in an extremely noisy environment spread across thousands of planes and perhaps millions of passengers a day. No matter how much "insider trading" info you might gather, the costs of such a system would greatly eclipse it.

      Further, do people really have these conversations on commercial jets in the first place? Most of the time I see people keeping to themselves, not jabbering away. And executives with the crucial info aren't on commercial flights anyway; they're on business jets.

      So yeah, your idea isn't plausible.

      --
      In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  2. Why do you expect privacy on an airline? by damn_registrars · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re: Why do you expect privacy on an airline? by c6gunner · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yep, like that Princess Diana chick. Never had to worry about a camera in her life.

    2. Re:Why do you expect privacy on an airline? by Dirk+Becher · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:Why do you expect privacy on an airline? by the_skywise · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

    4. Re:Why do you expect privacy on an airline? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

    5. Re: Why do you expect privacy on an airline? by chiefcrash · · Score: 2

      You mean Diana, Princess of Wales

      She lost the title "Her Royal Highness", not the courtesy title of Princess of Wales...

      --
      Show me on the 1st Amendment bobblehead where the moderator touched you...
  3. Re:Note to self... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

    Vaseline also works -- it's even deniable. You touched the screen with greasy hands...

  4. Re:privacy concerns? by Tulsa_Time · · Score: 2

    Superglue

    --
    5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
  5. Re:privacy concerns? by WaffleMonster · · Score: 2

    I'm honestly not worried in the slightest about someone having a video of me being bored and uncomfortable for 9 hours at a time.

    Personally I find it unacceptable. Way too creepy.

    I guess if someone is really concerned about this they can always travel with a roll of electrical tape.

    Easier to simply chose a different airline.

  6. Re:privacy concerns? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Those of us who came out of the WWII period are greatly concerned about things like this. Today's citizens have been so spied on by everything from schools, to their computers, to their cell phones, to store cameras, they don't find anything wrong with their loss of privacy. I live to avoid being spied on, including using cash for everything. I at least still have my integrity, a private life, and a soul intact.

  7. Offering Skype video calls? Meet George Jetson... by Pezbian · · Score: 2, Informative

    My craptop has a camera and I'm not paranoid about some NSA prick somehow watching me take a shit while catching up on the latest VanossGaming video. Joke's on them if they do.

    We ached for video phone calls for decades, but now that it's dead-easy we're all monkey about it. Grow up, humanity. Nobody cares about your mundane life.

    --
    In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
  8. Poor thing... by Pitawg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  9. Airlines Drive the Requirements by ddiepo1514 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've worked in in-flight entertainment (IFE). I can say that yes, the hardware is generally shared by multiple airlines. However most Tier-1 airlines will push for, and some will demand completely custom feature sets and UIs for their entertainment systems. The IFE business is about being able to say yes to what the airlines want now, and being able to predict what they want in the future, and delivering it on schedule. The most important (and backwards) thing is that the airlines drive the requirements for these systems, So if the airline says "it was just what was available" then that's false -- if they really didn't want a camera, there wouldn't be a camera. Period. There's a lot of other potential privacy related concerns with in-flight entertainment too. There's various ways to for the IFE system to be able to greet you (especially the premium seat customers) when you arrive and sit down, such as "Hello Mr. X, would you like to request your usual beverage before takeoff?". Know that the airlines want to track what you're watching too -- mostly in aggregate so they can keep the most popular stuff around, but I'm sure it won't take them long to try to personalize that for you too (because, clearly passengers want that, right?). The airlines are all about monetizing IFE systems, just like everything else about flying. Things like forced ads are the beginning. Personalizing the ads to you as a next step.