Could airlines spy on us through in-flight entertainment systems?

Singapore Airlines passenger Vitaly Kamluk tweeted this picture of his in-flight entertainment system, with a small camera circled under the screen. Photo / Twitter, @vkamluk

Could your airline be spying on you as you fly? One passenger brought up the possibility after discovering a small camera under his TV screen.

Singapore Airlines passenger Vitaly Kamluk discovered the camera while travelling on one of the airlines' Boeing 787.

He took a picture of the screen and circled the small camera, then posted on Twitter to ask why it was there.

Just found this interesting sensor looking at me from the seat back on board of Singapore Airlines. Any expert opinion of whether this a camera? Perhaps @SingaporeAir could clarify how it is used? pic.twitter.com/vy0usqruZG

— Vitaly Kamluk (@vkamluk) February 17, 2019

"Just found this interesting sensor looking at me from the seat back on board of Singapore Airlines," he tweeted.

"Any expert opinion of whether this a camera? Perhaps @SingaporeAir could clarify how it is used?"

He received an almost immediate response from Singapore Airlines, who confirmed it was a camera but said it was not switched on and there were no plans to use them.

"We would like to share that some of our newer in-flight entertainment systems provided by the original equipment manufacturers do have a camera embedded in the hardware," the carrier tweeted.

"These cameras have been disabled on our aircraft, and there are no plans to develop any features using the cameras."

Hi there, thank you for reaching out to us. We would like to share that some of our newer inflight entertainment systems provided by the original equipment manufacturers do have a camera embedded in the hardware. (1/2)

— Singapore Airlines (@SingaporeAir) February 17, 2019

These cameras have been disabled on our aircraft, and there are no plans to develop any features using the cameras. Thank you. (2/2)

— Singapore Airlines (@SingaporeAir) February 17, 2019

After another Twitter user asked the airline why the cameras were there if there were no plans to use then, Singapore Airlines responded again.

"These cameras on our newer IFE (in-flight entertainment) systems were provided by the original equipment manufacturers. We have no plans to enable or develop any features using the cameras."

Hi there, these cameras on our newer IFE systems were provided by the original equipment manufacturers. We have no plans to enable or develop any features using the cameras.

— Singapore Airlines (@SingaporeAir) February 19, 2019

It made one commentator wonder if cameras could be used in the future, since IFE systems were being manufactured with them installed.

Claire Reilly, an editor for electronics website CNET, wrote in a blog post: "You can bet that the 'original equipment manufacturers' who installed these cameras weren't trying to meet a growing demand for seat-cam footage of tired plane passengers.

"We aren't livestreamed entertainment in this grim, dystopian future: We are an audience to be marketed to, data to be mined and a captive set of eyeballs to be coerced.

"Cameras are in our advertising billboards, in our devices and on every second street corner, tracking our movements and slowly building up a picture of our lives in minute-by-minute real time. Add airplanes to the mix and you have a terrifying new way to calculate your social credit score."