Tesla recently made changes to Sentry Mode in Germany after Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (the Federal Consumer Association, or vzbv) sued the EV maker. The association was concerned with data privacy. Little did it know that something much bigger was about to unfold, thanks to Reuters.
The media outlet put three of its finest journalists to work after reports that Tesla was sharing private images and videos captured by its BEVs. These guys contacted more than 300 former employees and managed to get more than a dozen to confirm the situation. In other words, Tesla was not only filming its customers without their knowledge: its employees were also sharing the material among themselves.
According to Reuters, that all began in 2019. That was when the EV maker started data labeling things for Autopilot and Full Self-Driving on its own. Before that, Tesla had hired a company called Samasource to do that job, but it was not very happy with the results. Soon after the EV maker started the data-labeling work, its employees began sharing personal videos and pictures on Mattermost, Tesla’s internal messaging system.
Photo: YouTube/Philip Koopman
The employees Reuters talked to said the material was shared as jokes and memes, often with shocking footage, such as a vehicle running a boy on a bicycle. The idea was to share “cool” stuff with other team members. Some of the former workers thought that had an effect on promotions: the “funny guys” would be assigned to leadership positions. In a way, it is almost as if these Tesla workers were trying to emulate Elon Musk’s behavior on Twitter.
The shared videos often portrayed “scandalous stuff,” such as “scenes of intimacy,” even if the former employee who said that denied they saw nudity. They also saw “embarrassing objects,”“sexual wellness items,” and things they would not want anyone to see in their own private lives. Ironically, there was a prize for the best data labelers at the San Mateo office: getting a company car for a day or two. The employees who won feared being surveilled by the BEVs. Some even pledged never to buy a Tesla after what they saw at the company.
Photo: AI Addict/John Bernal
John Bernal is a former ADAS test operator who was fired for publishing YouTube videos that showed FSD does not work as it should. Identified as AI Addict on Twitter, he shared the Reuters article stating that he “once saw data from China where a Tesla struck 5 elderly pedestrians in a crosswalk at approximately 62 mph with AP activated.” According to Bernai, “it was also shared in private Mattermost chats.” Not long ago, Chinese authorities forbid Tesla vehicles from entering military facilities in the country.
Curiously, an anonymous website called “Crazy Days and Nights” has spoken about similar situations involving a “celebrity CEO,” usually the way it refers to Musk. On May 29, 2021, the author said cases of employees hijacking“the car cameras” had been happening for as long as two years. That matches with what Reuters said about the images and videos being shared since 2019. The difference is that the blog accused “the celebrity CEO” would do that on purpose because he would love “to see celebrities.” Allegedly, “there are several files of people having sex in their cars.”
Photo: Tesla
Reuters tried to get answers from Tesla and its main executives. It contacted Elon Musk and Andrej Karpathy, but did not hear back from any of them. At least it did not get a poop emoji as reporters trying to contact the Twitter press department started receiving.
This is not the first data protection infringement involving Tesla – even if it may be the one that will make its customers more concerned. On May 3, 2020, the white-hat hacker GreenTheOnly helped me break the news about how Tesla dealt with old computers it replaced in its cars. The EV maker just threw them in the garbage, which is not the most environmentally responsible thing to do. They ended up on eBay and other classified ad websites, and the hacker bought four units to take some tests. He was shocked by what he found.
Photo: AI Addict/YouTube
As GreenTheOnly told me at the time, the computers had “owner’s home and work location, all saved wi-fi passwords, calendar entries from the phone, call lists and address books from paired phones, Netflix and other stored session cookies.” The hacker said that Netflix session cookies allowed hackers to take control of these accounts, while Spotify passwords were stored in clear text. God knows what else he found while investigating those computers and several others he bought after that.
GreenTheOnly tried to warn Tesla about the situation before going public, but the company refused to warn the affected customers apart from one. To the hacker, the EV maker said it would let them know about the situation, but it had not done it until I published the article. Three of these customers learned about the story when I contacted them, and they were flabbergasted by the situation. Some considered taking legal action against Tesla, but I never heard back from them. Apparently, the story died as if it never happened. Perhaps the new Reuters story about data privacy will have more relevant repercussions.
Hey @Reuters as a former Tesla AP employee I can confirm I once saw data from China where a Tesla struck 5 elderly pedestrians in a cross walk at approximately 62mph with AP activated.
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