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American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

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Re: American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

#101

Post by cimmanom »

netsharc wrote: post #60

To me this is just a distraction. Yes there's a hardware camera. I will bet some money that they have not been used nefariously by AA or SQ. Some are raging about the non-existant theoretical privacy violation (again, not 100% non-existant, but I will bet money there's no surveillance through this camera), meanwhile we are ignoring actual privacy violations being done by e.g. Facebook or Twitter, or the millions of a…

Is it that hard? I've seen one get stuck on an Ubuntu boot screen (of a 5+ year old Ubuntu version, no less) with messages about loading MySQL.

I mean, at least they weren't using Win98, but that's a pretty low bar.

Re: American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

#102

Post by jonahx »

exabrial wrote: post #94

Security concerns aside, I thought the cameras were there so you could swipe in front of it to turn the infotainment system on? Is there proof they are recording? Planes have weight limitations. A long-haul 8-12hr flight for 300 passengers is a significant commitment to storage space and the weight of said drives.

1 TB fits on a flash drive these days. If they were transferring semi-regularly when grounded and recording in SD, you'd be talking on the order of a few pounds.

Re: American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

#103

Post by cimmanom »

cbhl wrote: post #8

Most of these are just COTS Android tablets. When they reboot the IFE, you sometimes see the Android soft home/menu button on the bottom. It's easy enough to repair, too -- just apply some opaque tape to the camera.

What seems more likely to me is just that the frames they put these things in cover the cameras anyway.

Re: American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

#104

Post by kortilla »

jackhack wrote: post #80
netsharc wrote: post #60

To me this is just a distraction. Yes there's a hardware camera. I will bet some money that they have not been used nefariously by AA or SQ. Some are raging about the non-existant theoretical privacy violation (again, not 100% non-existant, but I will bet money there's no surveillance through this camera), meanwhile we are ignoring actual privacy violations being done by e.g. Facebook or Twitter, or the millions of a…

>>I will bet some money that they have not been used nefariously by AA or SQ. not yet Given the last 20 years of bad behavior from tech companies overall, and the steady erosion of privacy in nearly all quarters, I question your confidence and must ask "based on what ?"

AA isn’t a tech company. There revenue isn’t based on selling eyeballs.

Re: American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

#105

Post by MrStonedOne »

derekdahmer wrote: post #79

Most airplanes have built-in CCTV cameras whose explicit purpose is to record everyone in the cabin for the entire flight. So do MUNI buses. Instead people are raising the issue of a stock camera that's obviously not being used to record. There would be no way to keep that a secret, everything in an airplane has to be FAA approved.

A CCTV camera from an angle far(relatively) away at the front and back of the cabin isn't the same level as one in the device staring you in the face.

How long until that camera gets enabled to do eyetracking for ad and premium services tracking. Whos to say its not already?

Mixed it in with facial recognition so they can sell that data to other ad agencies and now you see the problem with allowing the camera to exist at that location in the first place.

Re: American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

#106

Post by CydeWeys »

devinmrn wrote: post #84
filmgirlcw wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Also, it’s techbcially “private” space which means they can record you, but there needs to be a notice somewhere. I’m sure there’s something hidden in the air passenger terms of service or whatever, but still!

It's interesting how the expectation of privacy varies from person to person! Since members of the general public are in close proximity I generally wouldn't consider an airplane cabin a place where I could have a reasonable expectation of privacy. In places that are intentionally restricted from view by others, like my own home, a hotel room, etc. I'd have an expectation of privacy.

People by and large keep to themselves on airplanes. If someone was recording you with their cell phone for the duration of the flight, I promise you, you wouldn't like it. The resultant footage wouldn't particularly be any different than if it was recorded by the seatback in front of you, though.

If I'm going to, say, a concert, or especially a taping of a TV show, I have a much higher expectation of ending up in some video footage. But people often sleep on planes. They're not expecting to be recorded.

Re: American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

#107

Post by Cpoll »

exabrial wrote: post #94

Security concerns aside, I thought the cameras were there so you could swipe in front of it to turn the infotainment system on? Is there proof they are recording? Planes have weight limitations. A long-haul 8-12hr flight for 300 passengers is a significant commitment to storage space and the weight of said drives.

One 10TB drive, maybe more if you want a redundant array? I can't see this taking up any weight.

Re: American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

#108

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #37
imgabe wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's when you bring your own tablet with some downloaded movies. I mean, yeah, it's conceivable that someone could try that. It is also conceivable that it would fail miserably.

Nah, that's when you bring you "I'm paying attention"-mask to pretend you're paying attention.

So you're wearing a mask to pretend to be watching an ad so you don't have to actually watch the movie that you want to keep watching?

Re: American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

#109

Post by jalgos_eminator »

mnm1 wrote: post #2

How can you have privacy concerns in a completely public space?

Imagine if cameras could read your retinas and identify you like in Minority Report (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bXJ_obaiYQ). Though we're not there yet, facial recognition tech is almost ready for something similar.

Re: American Airlines Has Cameras in Their Screens Too

#110

Post by kortilla »

bpye wrote: post #52
filmgirlcw wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think part of this is exonolies of scale, but also the basis of how much faster/cheaper it is to build/maintain an Android-based interface is my thought. Delta and GoGo just launched a “wireless IFE” on the new A220 that is basically just a customized Android tablet sucking down/streaming the IFE stuff from a server either in the back of the plane or from satellites using the 2k WiFi system (likely the server on th…

Using WiFi would be very surprising for most content, but it would be interesting to have live TV on aircraft.

Delta has live tv but I think it comes in from a non-WiFi path because it seems to come and independently of the WiFi service.
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