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Some Airliners Confirm Cameras Installed On Seat-Back Screens

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Are we being watched while flying 30,000 feet above the ground? Airlines are taking some heat after a Twitter user named Vitaly Kamluk, snapped a photo of a camera on the entertainment portion of the seat in front of him, on his Singapore flight. His tweets went viral and drew media attention, sparking privacy accusations launched towards airlines. As a result, Buzzfeed was the first to report that indeed, there are tiny cameras on backseats of some American Airlines planes as well.

As reported by VIN News, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Singapore Airlines have all admitted that there are cameras installed on the seats of some of their newer planes. It is likely that there are also cameras on planes operated by other carriers. The airlines all maintain, however, that they have never activated these cameras and have no plans to so. According to an American Airlines spokesman, the entertainment systems installed onto each seat were premade with the cameras attached, to afford the flight with future options including seat-to-seat video conferencing.

Ross Feinstein, AA spokesman, said cameras are present in “premium economy” seats on 82 Boeing 777 and Airbus A330-200 jets. American has a fleet of more than 1,000 planes in all. “Cameras are a standard feature on many in-flight entertainment systems used by multiple airlines,” he said. Singapore spokesman James Boyd said cameras are installed on 84 of their Airbus A350s, Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s and 787s. The airline has a total of 117 planes.

On Friday, a United Airline spokeswoman repeatedly first told a reporter that none of its entertainment systems have cameras, but later issued an apology and said some of their planes do. On Saturday, Delta followed up, likewise confirming that some of its in-flight entertainment screens have the miniature cameras.

The airlines all agree that they had not ordered the cameras, but rather that the manufacturers had them preinstalled onto the entertainment systems. American’s systems are made by Panasonic, while Singapore uses Panasonic and Thales, according to airline representatives.

More than two years ago the presence of the cameras was made known people in the aviation industry, but not to the public. “Now they’re facing blowback from a small but vocal group questioning the value of the system that isn’t even active,” said Seth Miller, a journalist who wrote about the issue back in 2017.

“The cameras are probably not used now,” Kamluk wrote in his viral tweet. “But if they are wired, operational, bundled with mic, it’s a matter of one smart hack to use them on 84+ aircrafts and spy on passengers.” He suggested airlines should put tape on the camera lenses to put passengers at ease.

Neither Panasonic nor Thales responded immediately for comment.

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