Elon Musk is worried about sharing the coordinates of his assassination.
According to a report by Reuters, Tesla employees were sharing aggressive videos and photos recorded by customers' car cameras via an internal messaging system between 2019 and 2022. The tapes contained humiliating moments, driving rage incidents, and collisions.
Furthermore, some employees can see the location of the recordings, which could reveal where the Tesla owner lives.
Tesla claims that its customers' privacy is paramount, but the report strongly suggests otherwise.
Interviews revealed that the video of the customer's car was circulated between employee pairs and groups where memes were unavoidably produced.
A cybersecurity and privacy expert called the sharing of sensitive videos and photos by Tesla employees "morally reprehensible," and according to one employee, a video of a crash in 2021 showed a Tesla driving at high speed when it hit a child riding in a car. A bicycle spreading "like wildfire" through Tesla's office in San Mateo, California.
However, the invasion of privacy may be less exciting but more insidious. Another former worker claimed, "We can see inside people's garages and their private properties.".
Let's imagine a Tesla client had something unique in his garage. People were sharing those types of things, you know.
The uploaded video reportedly also shows a person being pulled into a car against their will and a naked man walking up to his car in a garage.
The people who shared the material are, and may still be, the data bots whose job it is to help machines learn automated tasks, including driving and parking.
Tesla has hired hundreds of people since 2016 to review the footage and identify pedestrians, street signs, construction vehicles, and other items hitched to cars on the road, in parking lots, or in people's garages.
Tesla has increasingly automated the process and closed its data classification center in San Mateo, California last year.
It does, however, have a second base in Buffalo, New York, where Tesla reported in February that there were 675 employees, up 54% from the prior six months. This coincides with Tesla's transition from ultrasonic sensors to Tesla Vision cameras on the Model 3 and Model Y.
Of course, Elon Musk appears in the report. According to two workers, a submersible car was discovered and shared by an employee a few years back while it was kept in a garage.
And it was the white Lotus Esprit submarine that appeared in the classic James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me. Musk purchased a piece of cinematic memorabilia for $968,000 at an auction in 2013 and has owned it ever since.
Neither Elon Musk nor Tesla as a brand responded to requests for comment or direct questions.
This isn't a surprise, since Musk shut down Tesla's press relations department long ago.
That means Tesla doesn't have anyone to calm this story with, but we should note that some former employees who were contacted said the only sharing they noticed was for legitimate work purposes, including asking colleagues or supervisors for help.
However, the report also indicates that moderators were sharing or viewing the shared footage.