Gopher Menu
----------------------------------------
I'm boycotting Cathay Pacific, Cathay Dragon, and HK Express.
August 02nd, 2019
----------------------------------------
(HTML) The following was posted on BoingBoing earlier today
When airline seatback entertainment systems started to come bundled with
little webcams, airlines were quick to disavow their usage, promising
that the cameras were only installed for potential future video-
conferncing or gaming apps, and not to allow the crew or airline to spy
on passengers in their seats.
Enter Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, the country's flagship airline, which
has just amended its privacy policy to reveal that it is recording its
passengers as they fly, as well as gathering data on how individual
passengers spend time in airport terminals, and even brokered data on
their use of rivals' hotel and airplane loyalty programs.
But don't worry, the company promises it will take "commercially
reasonable" cybersecurity measures to keep all that data from leaking.
Separately and in unrelated news, Cathay Pacific insists that it was
using "commerically reasonable" measures when it suffered the fucking
massive data breach it suffered last year (up to 9.4 million customers
affected!). So I'm sure it'll be fine.
> According to a new report from Forbes, the Hong Kong flag carrier has
> amended its official personal data collection policy to allow the air-
> line to compile a database with detailed information on passengers’ use
> of in-flight entertainment systems (IFE) – including, but not limited
> to, images recorded by seatback cameras, customers’ activities at air-
> port terminals and even data obtained about membership activity in
> competing hotel and airline loyalty programs. The airline further says
> that the collected data will be possessed by the company for “as long
> as necessary.”
>
> The airline is also making clear that its best efforts to protect
> intimate details about passengers is far from foolproof, calling its
> cybersecurity measures “commercially reasonable.” In November, company
> executives were called out by Hong Kong lawmakers who accused the air-
> line of misleading the public about the seriousness of a massive data
> breach which may have compromised the personal information of as many
> as 9.4 million customers.
(HTML) Cathay Pacific: Our Seatback Screens Are Definitely Recording You [Jeff
(HTML) Edwards/Flyertalk]
(HTML) Posted by Cory Doctorow
11:20 AM Fri Aug 2, 2019
(HTML) Content license: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0
It's not as-if they fly anywhere which I want to go that isn't covered by
either Delta or a mainland airline.
----------------------------------------
(DIR) Back to phlog index
(DIR) gopher.zcrayfish.soy gopher root
This phlog entry has been read 1498 times.
Future direct comment submission has been disabled for this phlog entry.
Comments are still accepted by email, please send to zcrayfish@gmail.com
Be sure to include the post title in the subject line! Thanks!
Comments have been left on this post:
a small dab of super glue on the camera lenses should take care if the
video.
Posted Sat Aug 17 01:14:13 UTC 2019 by 178.17.170.135
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Probably, but I would recommend using a reversible method to lessen the
likelihood of being arrested. Stickers come to mind. BTW, many of the
competitors to CX/KA/UO, such as AA, DL and UA have covered up the
cameras on their entertainment system, as they never used them to begin
with. CX has had a hard time lately, and they really could show their
customers that they are NOT CREEPY by fixing this camera issue.
Posted Sat Aug 17 21:38:24 UTC 2019 by zcrayfish
------------------------------------------------------------------------