There are probably cameras on your flight, but relax, they’re not on (yet)
Vitaly Kamluk, a cybersecurity and malware expert, was returning from vacation on SIA in February when his wife noticed a small circle that looked like a camera lens along the lower edge of the video screen in the seat back. “It really looked like a camera to me, but you can never be sure,” Kamluk said. So he took a photo of the circle and tweeted it to the airline. He got a quick response from Singapore, which acknowledged that it was a camera but said it had been “disabled.” He also got plenty of attention on Twitter. Now, two senators have asked eight airlines based in the US to respond in the next few weeks to questions about the cameras, including whether the airlines have used them “to monitor passengers” and whether passengers have been “informed of this practice.” “I think it’s just outrageous,” said Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, who sent the letter along with Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana. “I don’t want a camera staring at me, and I don’t think most passengers do.” Of the carriers that received the letter, at least three do not have any kind of embedded seat back screen. According to the Airline Passenger Experience Association, an airline trade group, the American carriers that do have cameras have not made them operational. The high-definition cameras and the microphones that go with them are part of a new generation of systems offered by Panasonic and Thales, the two biggest airline entertainment system manufacturers. David Bartlett, CTO for Panasonic, said the devices allowed passengers to have the same kind of interactive technology in the sky that they use on the ground. Bartlett gave a number of potential uses for the cameras, including seat-to-seat or seat-to-ground video chats, motion-activated control of movies, games and other options displayed on the screen and smart lighting that dims when the camera detects that the passenger is sleeping. Airlines, he said, could also create digitally branded frames so passengers could take selfies and share them on social media. Story has more background.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2019-04-03/general/there-are-probably-cameras-on-your-flight-but-relax-they2019re-not-on-yet
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There are probably cameras on your flight, but relax, they’re not on (yet)
Vitaly Kamluk, a cybersecurity and malware expert, was returning from vacation on SIA in February when his wife noticed a small circle that looked like a camera lens along the lower edge of the video screen in the seat back. “It really looked like a camera to me, but you can never be sure,” Kamluk said. So he took a photo of the circle and tweeted it to the airline. He got a quick response from Singapore, which acknowledged that it was a camera but said it had been “disabled.” He also got plenty of attention on Twitter. Now, two senators have asked eight airlines based in the US to respond in the next few weeks to questions about the cameras, including whether the airlines have used them “to monitor passengers” and whether passengers have been “informed of this practice.” “I think it’s just outrageous,” said Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, who sent the letter along with Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana. “I don’t want a camera staring at me, and I don’t think most passengers do.” Of the carriers that received the letter, at least three do not have any kind of embedded seat back screen. According to the Airline Passenger Experience Association, an airline trade group, the American carriers that do have cameras have not made them operational. The high-definition cameras and the microphones that go with them are part of a new generation of systems offered by Panasonic and Thales, the two biggest airline entertainment system manufacturers. David Bartlett, CTO for Panasonic, said the devices allowed passengers to have the same kind of interactive technology in the sky that they use on the ground. Bartlett gave a number of potential uses for the cameras, including seat-to-seat or seat-to-ground video chats, motion-activated control of movies, games and other options displayed on the screen and smart lighting that dims when the camera detects that the passenger is sleeping. Airlines, he said, could also create digitally branded frames so passengers could take selfies and share them on social media. Story has more background.<br/>
