Tag Archives: Included’s

Your New Car Is Tracking You In Ways You Don’t Even Realize – And Tesla Is The Worst

On one hand, Privacy Not Included’s deeper dive into Tesla notes that Elon Musk’s electric car company pledges in its privacy policy that your data will never be “sold, tracked or shared without your permission or knowledge.” On the other hand, Tesla’s past actions have shown that the company can’t entirely be trusted in that regard. Back in April, Reuters reported that photos and videos taken by Tesla vehicles’ outside-facing cameras were freely shared among company employees. This included everything from a random customer approaching his car naked to a peek inside Musk’s garage. The following month, a whistleblower helped break a story about customer data breaches, as well.

There are other issues, too. While Tesla gives the option to opt out of data collection, it stresses that the data collection is required for “certain advanced features such as over-the-air updates, remote services, and interactivity with mobile applications and in-car features such as location search, Internet radio, voice commands, and web browser functionality.” It gets worse, though: Tesla further states that “This may result in your vehicle suffering from reduced functionality, serious damage, or inoperability” because “we will not be able to know or notify you of issues applicable to your vehicle in real time.” Yes, Tesla says that opting out of data collection could brick your car.

Overall? Not great.