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Tesla Camera Privacy

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Hayseed_MS

Spreader of "Endless Non Sequitur"
Jan 19, 2021
3,354
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Strong Badia
The China base ban made me think about the Tesla and privacy. I am new to Tesla so forgive me for asking maybe a dumb question, but what exactly is recorded in general by the vehicle and what is sent back to Tesla without my consent? Does Tesla see everywhere the vehicle is driven etc.?

Not that it would be exciting but what is transmitted without my consent?
 
I would also wonder about the microphone. I mean images are great and all, but what you say has a lot of power.
Probably, your AP info mostly. But, it would be tempting to record everything and send it back. Have AI filter through things to get something helpful.
 
The China base ban made me think about the Tesla and privacy. I am new to Tesla so forgive me for asking maybe a dumb question, but what exactly is recorded in general by the vehicle and what is sent back to Tesla without my consent? Does Tesla see everywhere the vehicle is driven etc.?

Not that it would be exciting but what is transmitted without my consent?

You might not remember but when you signed the "Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement" to get your car at the delivery, your signature meant you consented to the included paragraph:

"Privacy Policy; Payment Terms for Services; Supercharger Fair Use Policy. Tesla’s Customer Privacy Policy; Payment Terms for Services and Supercharger Fair Use Policy are incorporated into this Agreement and can be viewed at www.tesla.com/about/legal."

I think the China ban is mostly motivated by the current economic negotiation in Alaska between the US and China. Instead of talking about the economy, the US started to preach to China about respecting the Muslim population in China (as if the US has never had a "Muslim ban" and Black Lives Matter protest...) and everything went downhill from then.

China does not prohibit its military population to drive Tesla in general but it does prohibit driving or parking in military/security-sensitive areas citing the car's cameras.

It's only a gesture because what more concerning is Tesla's constant telemetry beaming from your car to the mother ship, and not just the cameras.

Also, if the US said China has been hacking into the US sensitive government materials then China can do the same with Tesla's system.

Like your cell phone, Tesla has the capability to record many things in your car: Frunk opening, Temperature set and interior/exterior temperatures, speed of your car, location of your car, habit/pattern that your car creates (how often one drives to adult entertainment locations...)

If some bad person gets hold of my cell phone or my car's data, they can figure out how to smear my good name or how to harm me such as plan an attack or assassination without wasting money to send a spy to learn my daily patterns for days or weeks.

However, Tesla, like your cellphones insists that they respect customers' privacy so there's nothing to worry about.

If you are really paranoid, you can go to your car's screen and disable the "remote access". Also, from your car's screen, you can opt-out of transmitting your cameras to Tesla. Furthermore, you should not supercharge because that's how you leave the trail which supercharger you were at, and how long...

As @68882 pointed out in the link above, Tesla can get lots of info in lots of ways both online and offline. You can ask Tesla to opt you out too.


I would also wonder about the microphone. I mean images are great and all, but what you say has a lot of power.
Probably, your AP info mostly. But, it would be tempting to record everything and send it back. Have AI filter through things to get something helpful.

Tesla microphone is currently used when you want to do a voice command. I haven't heard it could be used for other purposes. Probably, further use for the microphone is not a priority right now but I won't be surprised if its use could be expanded with a more powerful computer and more staff to code the program lines.
 
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i can imagine certain very sensitive us military installations (you know, the ones that have signs that say " filming/recording while on property prohibited") implementing similar restrictions in the near future