By A.W. | WASHINGTON, DC
FLYERS TRAVELLING ON one of America’s major airlines may soon notice a mysterious item on the back of the set in front: a small sticker under the in-flight entertainment screen. These stickers have appeared as the result of a public outcry in recent months over the unpublicised installation of video cameras on these screens on at least four airlines. The fuss began in February on a Singapore Airlines flight, when a passenger noticed what appeared to be a camera lens by her video screen. Her husband, a cybersecurity expert, tweeted a photo of it. The airline confirmed that it was a camera. On some of their planes with newer entertainment systems, the fitters of the interiors had installed devices with an embedded camera. But Singapore Airlines said that the cameras had been “disabled” and they had no plans to use them.
That did nothing to quell public anxiety, which only grew with news reports later the same month that some screens on the big three American carriers, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, also had cameras on-board. In March two American senators demanded that eight American carriers disclose whether they were using cameras to monitor passengers and whether passengers were being informed. The airlines insisted that the cameras were not operational, but they scrambled to cover them up anyway. United and Delta recently began covering all the cameras on their entertainment systems. American has also announced plans to do the same.
