Report: Tesla Staff Shared Sensitive Footage Recorded by Cars

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Facts

• On Thursday, Reuters — citing nine former employees — reported that between 2019 and 2022, Tesla staff privately distributed sensitive images and videos captured by customers' vehicles via the company's internal messaging system.¹
• The former staff claimed footage such as naked customers, road rage, car crashes and children was shared. Less comprising images, including dogs and road signs, were also distributed.²
• Seven of the employees claimed that Tesla is able to access the location of the vehicles' footage, despite its 'Customer Privacy Notice' claiming the recordings are 'anonymous.'¹
• Its privacy policy, however, does inform customers that their data — which may include 'short video clips or images' — might be collected for Tesla's analysis. Customers are able to consent or opt-out.²
• According to Tesla, the cameras are supposed to record a car's surrounding only when it's powered on, however, one former employee alleged that some of the footage appeared to have been taken when cars were off.³
• Reuters — having reached out to over 300 former staff members — spoke with over a dozen anonymous ex-employees, some of whom said that the only footage they saw shared was for legitimate work purposes.¹

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²NBC and ³Forbes.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by American civil liberties union. Tesla's vehicles are a rolling privacy nightmare, which is why this latest report is unsurprising, albeit incredibly unnerving. The car manufacturer needs to be more forthcoming about its privacy practices, and those responsible for this unacceptable breach must be held to account. It's time that the government implements more concrete privacy laws.
• Narrative B, as provided by Not a tesla app. While these allegations should be investigated, at this point, they are just that: allegations. Tesla has been transparent about its privacy practices and has done its due diligence by implementing safeguards to protect customers' data — which the car owners have complete control of.
• Cynical narrative, as provided by Vox. The issue of privacy isn't unique to Tesla. As the world becomes increasingly automated by artificial intelligence, we become progressively reliant on someone else to protect our data and privacy. The uncomfortable reality is that this is an impossible task, and we should expect more 'scandals' like this. But that's the price of convenience, and most seem all too keen to pay it.