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Several of the world’s biggest airlines, including Qantas, have confirmed some of their aircraft have small cameras on the back of some seats, after a Singapore Airlines passenger made the unsettling discovery last month.

Vitaly Kamluk was flying on a Boeing 787 when he spotted a small detail on the monitor below the picture of his in-flight entertainment system, which looked suspiciously like a small pinhole camera.

“Just found this interesting sensor looking at me from the seat back on board of Singapore Airlines,” Vitaly tweeted, along with a photo of the odd feature.

“Any expert opinion of whether this a camera? Perhaps @SingaporeAir could clarify how it is used?”

Just found this interesting sensor looking at me from the seat back on board of Singapore Airlines. Any expert opinion of whether this a camera? Perhaps @SingaporeAir could clarify how it is used? pic.twitter.com/vy0usqruZG — Vitaly Kamluk (@vkamluk) February 17, 2019

The tweet generated a flurry of chatter on Twitter, with users agreeing it did look like a camera.

“What is the purpose of these cameras, and how do you store the information gathered by them? How do you notify passengers about these cameras?” one person tweeted at the airline.

Others had some theories for why it was there.

“A lot of these infotainment systems are running on Android tablets, so presumably the hardware was sourced from some vendor that thought cameras would be valued by consumers then got repurposed for aviation use,” Twitter user Michael Brown pointed out.

Others reported they’d seen similar small cameras on flights with other airlines.

Eventually Singapore Airlines joined the conversation to confirm that indeed, it was a camera.

Hi there, these cameras on our newer IFE systems were provided by the original equipment manufacturers. We have no plans to enable or develop any features using the cameras. — Singapore Airlines (@SingaporeAir) February 19, 2019

“We would like to share that some of our newer in-flight entertainment systems provided by the original equipment manufacturers do have a camera embedded in the hardware,” the airline said.

“These cameras have been disabled on our aircraft, and there are no plans to develop any features using the cameras.”

The airline also said the cameras were in selected business, premium economy and economy class cabins and had all been disabled, with no plans for future use.

“I was quite surprised to actually see something like a camera and as a security expert I could imagine many scenarios of misuse of such sensors which is why I decided to ring the bell,” Vitaly later told CNN.

But it turns out Singapore Airlines is not alone in having cameras embedded in in-flight entertainment screens — Qantas, Emirates and American Airlines are some of the airlines have that the same.

Qantas told CNN the entertainment screens included in-built cameras but it didn’t use them.

“The feature would require software in order to be activated, which Qantas doesn’t have and doesn’t plan to install,” a spokesperson said.

Emirates said some of its 777 aircraft have cameras that came pre-installed with the in-flight entertainment hardware it bought from Panasonic Avionics, which also manufactures for Singapore Airlines.

“It was originally meant for seat-to-seat video calls, however Emirates has never activated it,” a spokesperson told CNN.

According to The Independent, a spokesperson for American Airlines said the cameras have been installed by the companies that make the entertainment systems to offer passengers options such as seat-to-seat video conferencing.

But it also said the cameras have never been activated.

American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said cameras were in “premium economy” seats on 82 Boeing 777 and Airbus A330-200 jets.

“Cameras are a standard feature on many in-flight entertainment systems used by multiple airlines,” he told The Independent.

Air New Zealand and British Airways said they didn’t have cameras on their in-flight entertainment screens.

But not everyone thinks the cameras are a bad idea.

Aviation trade body Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) said they could be used to look out for passengers becoming sick, suspicious behaviour and possibly instances of human trafficking or assault.

“Today, airline passengers are typically tracked outside the aircraft dozens of times on a typical journey through stores, security, roadways, and airports by cameras without any permission,” APEX told CNN in a statement.

“In contrast, airlines only want to use cameras in the future with permission when technology has advanced to offer personalised service improvements that passengers desire.”

The association said fears of hacking were “misplaced.”

“The greatest risk to airline passenger privacy breaches come from their own smartphones, tablets, cameras, computers, and smart devices used in private settings,” it said.