Three of the largest airlines in the world have admitted that some of their aircraft are equipped with cameras installed behind the passenger seats.
American Airlines, United Airlines and Singapore Airlines have new backpack entertainment systems including cameras.
They could also be in planes used by other carriers.
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The companies that make the entertainment systems equip them with cameras to offer passengers options such as seat-to-seat videoconferencing, according to a spokesman for American Airlines.
But American, United and Singapore all say that they have never activated the cameras and do not plan to use them.
A passenger from a Singapore flight tweeted last week a picture of the seat's seat screen, prompting other airline travelers to voice their concerns about their privacy at 30,000 feet.
Vitaly Kamluk, who photographed the camera during her flight, suggested carriers cover the lenses with stickers and said it would be easy for airlines to monitor passengers with them.
"The cameras are probably not used now," he tweeted. "But if they're wired, operational, delivered with a microphone, it's smart hack to use them on more than 84 planes and spy on passengers."
American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said the cameras occupy premium economy seats on 82 Boeing 777s and Airbus A330-200s.
"Cameras are a standard feature of many in-flight entertainment systems used by several airlines," he said.
British Airways said L & # 39; Independent none of his planes had cameras on the back of the seats.
Singapore spokesman James Boyd said the cameras were installed on 84 Airbus A350s, Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s and 787s.
But a spokeswoman for United told reporters on Friday that none of her entertainment systems had a camera – before she apologized and said that some of them did not have a camera. ; had.
Delta has not answered questions regarding some of its entertainment systems, which look identical to those of American and United.
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The airlines said they had not added the cameras, claiming that the manufacturers were integrating them into the entertainment systems.
US systems are manufactured by Panasonic, while Singapore uses Panasonic and Thales, according to airline representatives. Neither Panasonic nor Thales immediately responded to requests for comment.
Additional reports by AP
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