Recent reports indicate that German authorities are investigating Tesla for possible data protection violations. Handelsblatt newspaper revealed that the Brandenburg data protection office in the state where Tesla has its European gigafactory has indications of data protection violations by the electric car manufacturer. The US automaker has allegedly failed to protect data from its customers, employees, and business partners. This was revealed through 100 gigabytes of confidential data that were leaked to the newspaper by a whistleblower.
Handelsblatt’s report indicates that customer data could be found in abundance in the leaked data set called “Tesla Files”. This dataset includes tables that contain more than 100,000 names of both former and current employees, the social security numbers of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, private email addresses, phone numbers, salaries of employees, bank details of customers, and secret production details. The leaked data is said to have violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which states that companies must report personal data leaks to the relevant authorities.
The data protection supervisory authority in the Netherlands, where Tesla’s European headquarters is located, has been notified of the case. Tesla has also filed a preliminary report to the Dutch authorities. However, neither Tesla nor the Brandenburg data protection office were immediately available for comment.
According to the report, a lawyer for Tesla stated that a “disgruntled former employee” abused their access as a service technician to obtain this information. The company will take legal action against the suspected ex-employee. The whistleblower alerted German authorities about the data protection breach in April.
The leaked files reveal thousands of customer complaints about the carmaker’s driver assistance systems. Around 4,000 complaints of sudden acceleration or phantom breaking were reportedly received by Tesla.
The Brandenburg data protection office spokesperson was quoted as saying that the matter would become more serious from a data protection point of view if the evidence becomes substantial. The breach could be a significant violation of GDPR regulations, which can carry substantial fines.
This is not the first time that Tesla has been accused of data protection violations. Last month, Reuters reported that some Tesla employees shared highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras via an internal messaging system between 2019 and 2022.
The data protection violations could lead to significant fines for Tesla if the evidence becomes substantial. The company has a legal obligation to protect customer data and notify relevant authorities if personal data leaks occur. The breach could also lead to a loss of customer trust and damage Tesla’s reputation.
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