No, Airlines Don’t Track You With Cameras (Yet)
In the totally cool, very nice privacy news this week, you might have to protect your personal information in one place other than your laptop or phone: in the seat of an airplane.
Recently, on a Singapore Airlines flight, Twitter user vkamluk photographed an entertainment console (or television, not to mention airlines) with a camera positioned prominently underneath. What exactly is it used for, you ask? It turns out that nothing at all – at least that’s what the airline said.
“These cameras were switched off on our plane, and there are no plans to develop any of the functions, using the camera,” – wrote in Twitter airline. And it’s not the only airline with a camera issue.
Buzzfeed News originally reported that American Airlines also has at least one aircraft with cameras mounted on every television console. According to American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein, these cameras have not been “activated,” so you have nothing to worry about for now!
“Cameras are a standard feature of many in-flight entertainment systems used by several airlines,” Feinstein told Lifehacker. “The manufacturers of these systems have included cameras for possible future use, such as video conferencing between seats. While these cameras are found in some of the manufacturer’s supplied American Airlines in-flight entertainment systems, they have never been activated and American is not considering using them. ”
In other words, the manufacturer is to blame for installing cameras that American Airlines and other airlines never intended to use but bought anyway.
But let’s be honest. Watching you eat from your tray and fall asleep doesn’t catch your eye, and it doesn’t really worry about your data. Yes, you might argue that if you’re sitting on your laptop browsing Amazon and dropping your credit card left, right, and center, you wouldn’t want to be watched. But then again, why would you do this in such a public setting?
“In general, I don’t like the idea of an invasion of privacy,” Oded Weinstock, a security consultant at Paragon Security , told me. “But flights are not private, they are public domain. You are in full view of other people, you must behave in your best possible way in flight. On the contrary, if they write it down, [it is] additional safety on flights, we will feel more secure. “
When asked if these cameras could be activated, Weinstock replied in the affirmative. “Any camera connected to the system has the potential to record.”
And what will the airline do with your information anyway? Maybe a little, but if we have learned over the past few years, third parties who receive this information can become a real threat.
This seems like a minor issue at the moment, and it’s not exactly a thin camera either – sticking on a piece of tape certainly won’t hurt.