Monday, August 5, 2019

Wallet, Keys, Bag Packed... Ooopps, Forgot the Post-it Notes

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 videoconferencing 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. more