April 13, 2023
Tesla is facing a class action lawsuit in California over claims that its employees accessed the cameras on customers’ electric vehicles (EVs) to observe and share images of naked customers and the inside of CEO Elon Musk’s house.
The lawsuit alleges that Tesla broke privacy laws by allowing employees to view and spread these images through internal messaging, which was not restricted in any way. The EVs come equipped with cameras used for driving assistance and self-driving features, which could be accessed by staff with ease. The lawsuit seeks financial compensation and legal costs on behalf of the affected drivers.
The plaintiff, Henry Yeh, who owns a Model Y, claims that Tesla’s intrusion into the privacy of customers in their homes and vehicles is highly offensive to a reasonable person. The company has stated that the images it collects “remain anonymous,” but former staff have claimed that the images contain location data, which could identify individuals.
Tesla’s policy stated that it would not misuse videos or images captured of customers in their vehicles, but the lawsuit alleges that this policy has been violated.
Tesla has not yet commented on the lawsuit.
The sources for this piece include an article in Telegraph.
