--- title: "Tesla Hit With Lawsuit Over Reports About Employees Watching Car Cameras" description: "After reports revealed that Tesla employees shared \"intimate\" customer images taken by the cars' cameras, someone is now suing the company over it. " date: "2023-04-11" modified: "2023-04-11" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-lawsuit-cameras" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "lawsuits" - "privacy" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Tesla Hit With Lawsuit Over Reports About Employees Watching Car Cameras ![After reports revealed that Tesla employees shared "intimate" customer images taken by the cars' cameras, someone is now suing the company over it. ]() *\Image: Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images\* ## See You in Court Following a [shocking report]() about Tesla employees secretly [sharing "intimate" customer images and videos]() taken by the cars' cameras, a Tesla owner in California has filed a prospective class action lawsuit against the EV maker for letting its employees violate customer privacy, [*Reuters* reports](). Filed by San Francisco Model Y owner Henry Yeh, the suit called Tesla's apparent security oversight "particularly egregious" and "highly offensive." While *Reuters*' original reporting about the alleged video sharing noted that the majority of the footage was relatively harmless, some of the videos did reportedly show Tesla owners' children and even a man walking towards his car in the nude. Some videos were even recorded after the car was turned off by the owner. "Like anyone would be, Mr. Yeh was outraged at the idea that Tesla's cameras can be used to violate his family's privacy, which the California Constitution scrupulously protects," Jack Fitzgerald, the complainant's lawyer, told *Reuters* in a statement. "Tesla needs to be held accountable for these invasions and for misrepresenting its lax privacy practices to him and other Tesla owners." ## Cover the Camera Ex-Tesla employee [John Bernal]() — who worked on the company's Autopilot feature and [was fired]() last year after he [posted videos]() airing his concerns about the software — [told *Insider*]() last week that workers at the EV manufacturer could indeed see the footage from car cameras. Bernal likened it to having a "god's eye" view, and admitted to putting tape over his own Tesla's cameras in response. While it is possible to disable Teslas' cameras, [the lawsuit notes]() that doing so is both difficult and ends up having a "significant impact on the functionality of the vehicle’s various safety and driver assistance features, including the Autopilot system." This prospective lawsuit filing is only the first step in a lengthy legal process, especially given that Yeh has yet to find other people to file suit with. But considering [how upset people are]() — and that Tesla hasn't yet responded to requests for comment about these allegations, let alone to deny them — it's only a matter of time before others get on board. **More on Tesla fails:** [*Tesla Driver Freaked Out After App Allows Him to Drive Off With the Wrong Car*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()