Passengers who fly Southeast Airlines will be under the constant eye of digital video cameras providing a live feed and recordings of their faces and activities for security purposes.
Wired News said the Florida-based charter airline plans to store the video for up to 10 years and could use face-recognition software to match faces to names and personal records.
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“One of the strong capabilities of the system is for the corporate office to be able to monitor what is going on at all times,” said Scott Bacon, Southeast’s vice president of planning, according to Wired. “From a security standpoint, this provides a great advantage to assure that there is a safe environment at all times.”
Although such a measure is not required, Southeast believes it’s only a matter of time before the Federal Aviation Administration and Homeland Security Department makes it mandatory for all airlines.
Privacy and consumer groups, meanwhile, are alarmed, Wired said, particularly with Southeast’s plan to retain the video.
“What’s the point of keeping track of everyone when nothing happens on the flight?” Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the civil liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the news magazine.
Tien said along with tracking personal information, the airline would have a record of such things as conversations between spouses and books or magazines read by passengers.
Wired said privacy advocates are skeptical of the system’s effectiveness and believe it will likely only cause anxiety for passengers.
The manufacturer of the video system, SkyWay Communications of Clearwater, Fla., acknowledged the system would not prevent determined terrorists, such as the 9-11 hijackers, from overpowering a plane.
But David Huy, SkyWay’s vice president of sales and marketing, argues it would help law enforcement identify and track criminals, Wired reported.
Pilots could check the cabin before opening the cockpit door, he said, and airlines could use the records to defend themselves in lawsuits over situations like air rage.
SkyWay says up to 16 cameras can be installed throughout the plane, either covertly or overtly.
“It enables us to monitor the activity in the aircraft in real time,” said Huy, according to Wired. “We feel this will be very important. The federal government is looking at mandating some camera security and surveillance.”
Cameras will not be installed in restrooms, he said.
Michelle Petrovich, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security department’s science and technology bureau, said video cameras in flights, while not mandated, “are just a number of technologies out there that we are considering in reference to security.”
“We haven’t made a decision or awarded a contract yet,” she told Wired.
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