S2E4 - Cameras – United & American Airlines
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Alright, this week we are going to do shorter episode mainly because I found this note that I had written myself a while back and didn’t have a chance to look into it until now.
The note says “Cameras - United, American – That’s just creepy.”
It only took a few moments for this note to remind me exactly what I was thinking about at that time.
Now, back in the first few months of 2019 a bunch of articles came out about these two airlines and possibly a few others (including Singapore Airlines).
Apparently one passenger noticed that on the seatback entertainment system, there was a small camera looking back at them.
In an article on Market Watch they explained that, “A passenger on a Singapore flight posted a photo of the seat-back display last week, and the tweet was shared several hundred times and drew media notice.”
Shortly after the media storm created by one picture shared on twitter, United, American & Singapore airlines representatives offered an explanation pretty similar to the one provided by a United Airlines Rep on an article in Engadget:
They said, "None of these cameras were ever activated and we had no plans to use them in the future, however we took the additional step to cover the cameras. The cameras are a standard feature that manufacturers of the system included for possible future purposes such as video conferencing."
These three airlines then stated that they would be covering up the cameras on all their flights to help assure passengers that they would not be recorded as they were sleeping or using the inflight entertainment systems.
Over the past few years, there have been a lot of incidents where cameras have been installed without our consent. Companies have been claiming that there are a lot of reasons why they are installing cameras. Some of these reasons include the following:
1. That these cameras offer an added layer of security
2. That they were installed by the manufacturer and that they weren’t planning on using them unless absolutely necessary
3. To deter crimes from happening
And so many others, but just about a week ago, NYDailyNews reported the following: “A California Airbnb host allegedly placed three hidden cameras in the bedroom and bathroom of a guest suite he rented to an unsuspecting couple last year, according to a new lawsuit. The couple noticed the cameras hidden in the ceilings after spending two nights at the property on Willamette Ave. in the Clairemont neighborhood of San Diego, the complaint filed in San Diego County Superior Court states.”
The creepy part of this particular situation, is that not only did think that this was a good idea, they also actively took advantage of the trust this couple placed in them.
Airbnb provides a pretty comprehensive set of rules on their website for the hosts and for any guest who use their platform to book a stay.
Their page starts off by saying “Our Standards & Expectations require that all members of the Airbnb community respect each other’s privacy. More specifically, we require hosts to disclose all security cameras and other recording devices in their listings, and we prohibit any security cameras and other recording devices that are in or that observe the interior of certain private spaces (such as bedrooms and bathrooms), regardless of whether they’ve been disclosed.”
I once looked into setting up a profile to host guests using Airbnb, and these rules were so clearly communicated that there is no possible way that I would’ve missed this one. As a result, its pretty hard for me to argue that the host simply didn’t know, or didn’t think that installing cameras (especially in the bedroom & bathrooms) would be morally and legally wrong.
Situations like this have led me to taking my own security and privacy into my own hands, but companies and other individuals make this an incredibly challenging task.
For instance, when I was buying my laptop, I searched through a bunch of websites simply hoping to find either a laptop that didn’t have a camera, or a company that would allow me to customize my laptop enough to remove this feature. But sadly, I could not find a single one that had this option.
So now I cover any camera on tech that I use on a daily basis with either a small piece of electrical tape or I purchase a small webcam cover that I can slide open when I need to use the camera.
If you decide to do this, just prepare yourself for a bunch of explaining, and a bunch of people looking at you like you are completely insane.
One other thing that you can do to protect yourself from compromising your phones and laptops is don’t plug in your device to charge using just the USB option. Some airlines, hotels, airports etc. offer charging on their inflight entertainment systems or under the seats.
In an article from WUSA9, they spoke with, “Trojan Horse Security Chief Information Officer Alexander Jones, who explained” what "Juice Jacking" is. Jones says "Juice Jacking" happens when a hacker installs spyware on a free public charging terminal and then someone plugs their phone into the station, their data is downloaded, malware is uploaded…or both.”
There are two specific things that made me realize that I should take unauthorized access to cameras very seriously.
1. In a picture taken of Mark Zuckerberg during his celebration of reaching 500million active monthly Instagram users, his laptop sits behind him on the desk. The webcam is clearly taped over.
2. The second is a Youtube video by Marketplace which covers just how easily hackers can get into your phone to track and even view exactly what your phone camera is seeing at any point in time.
If Mark is doing it, makes me think I should be too. I mean, just think of the things the man knows.
That’s all I have for you this week, if you enjoy listening to Creepy Tech, please head over to Apple podcasts or which ever platform you use and leave me a review! Thank you!