Tesla employees open legal can of worms for Elon Musk's electric car company
In a new scandal for Elon Musk’s class-leading electric car company, a new revelation has brought yet another legal headache for the high profile tycoon – and raises important questions about what can be done to censor internal staff discussions. Although Tesla has been accused of monitoring staff communications, it may well be that the company was looking in the wrong places (or for the wrong materials).
Tesla Inc. has consistently emphasized the importance of privacy for its electric car owners, stating that in-car cameras, designed to assist driving, were engineered with privacy protection in mind.
However, between 2019 and 2022, multiple Tesla employees allegedly shared invasive videos and images captured by customers' car cameras through an internal messaging system, according to interviews with nine former employees conducted by Reuters. Modern Teslas can have up to 8 cameras fitted as standard.
Some recordings showed Tesla customers in compromising situations, such as a man approaching a vehicle completely naked. Other shared footage included car crashes and road-rage incidents. In one instance, a 2021 crash video depicted a Tesla speeding in a residential area and hitting a child on a bike. The video spread quickly within a Tesla office in San Mateo, California, via private one-on-one chats, as reported by a former employee.
Other shared images were more innocuous, featuring pictures of...
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