Two US senators send letter to Tesla CEO Elon Musk after Reuters probe

Two U.S. senators wrote to Tesla CEO Elon Musk asking about employees sharing sensitive images captured by cameras in customers’ cars.

“The apparent and willful disregard for Tesla’s customers’ privacy is unacceptable and raises serious questions about Tesla’s management practices,” signed by Senators Edward J. Markey and Richard Blumenthal. said in a letter seen by Reuters. “We encourage you to take all necessary steps to ensure that images and videos collected with your consent from Tesla vehicles are subject to strict privacy protections.”

The letter, citing a Reuters investigation last week, found that between 2019 and 2022, a group of Tesla employees made undisclosed, and sometimes highly intrusive, attacks from customers’ car cameras via internal messaging systems. reportedly disseminated

According to former Tesla employees, the recordings included a child who was hit by a Tesla car while riding a bicycle, and a man who approached the car completely naked. A video was also shared of the submarine that appeared in the James Bond movies and was parked inside the garage that Musk purchased.

Musk and Tesla could not be reached for comment. Neither company responded to detailed questions about the Reuters investigation.

A letter from Democrats Markey and Blumenthal gives Musk until May 5 to answer a series of questions about sharing camera images. This includes whether Tesla executives were aware of the practice, why internal policies failed to prevent it, and the company’s intent to prevent vehicle camera recordings from locating Tesla customers. i promise.

Reuters reported that seven former Tesla employees said they were able to see map locations in camera recordings, potentially confirming where Tesla owners lived.

Markey and Blumenthal have previously raised concerns about Tesla, including its marketing practices and the safety of its self-driving technology.

Following a Reuters report last week, California-based Tesla owners filed a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco, accusing the company of violating customers’ privacy. Tesla employees claimed they accessed customer data for “tasteless and illicit entertainment” and “secretly recorded humiliation of people.”

((Reporting by Steve Stecklow, Waylon Cunningham, Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Janet McBride))