The plaintiff in the suit is Henry Yeh, a resident of San Francisco who owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. That model and many others have a driver-facing camera in addition to eight cameras to capture the area surrounding the vehicle. Those cameras could capture footage of the inside of customers’ homes or garages, the suit claimed.

“No one consented to Tesla’s employees using their images for amusement,” Jack Fitzgerald, one of Yeh’s attorneys, said in a statement to The Washington Post. “Mr. Yeh was shocked to learn Tesla’s systems did not adequately protect his privacy and intends to hold Tesla accountable.”

Tesla employees shared photos of family pets as memes, and distributed some footage to “scores” of colleagues, according to the complaint.

“That such videos and images were made available to Tesla employees to view and share, at will, and for improper purposes, affects each and every person with a Tesla vehicle, their families, passengers, and even guests in their homes,” the complaint reads.

In its customer privacy notice, Tesla writes that “camera recordings remain anonymous and are not linked to you or your vehicle”. If users consent to data sharing, the privacy notice says, Tesla will use the information to communicate with customers, perform business services and improve its products.

The lawsuit alleges Tesla violated that policy and customers’ right to privacy afforded by California law by storing the recordings and then allowing employees to access and share them without customers’ consent. Some recordings may have been made when cars were turned off, the suit added.

Washington Post

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