Jeff Atwoodhow you know your brand is in serious trouble: a single friend of mine told a potential date he drove a Tesla and she said "ew"
Charlie Stross@codinghorror I would have *liked* a Tesla until about 2-3 years ago. But touchscreen-only controls are a no-no, the "full self-driving autopilot" bullshit was obvious and stinky at 500 metres, the horror stories about racism/sexism on the factory floor are appalling, and the CEO going full red-pilled alt-right was the final kiss of death. (Like VW's Nazi cooties in the 1945-65 era.)
Rich@cstross @codinghorror There's also the thing where Elon and others at Tesla can at least plausibly listen to any conversation you have in a Tesla cabin. Varying levels of alarming depending on who you are and what you do with your life, but regardless, just...no.
dxzdb@rich @cstross @codinghorror Wow - I didn’t hear about THAT!
I might have bought one someday - but not now.
@dxzdb Yep, it was pretty widely covered not long back (the ACLU seems like one of the more trustworthy sources): https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/tesla-camera-scandal-is-the-latest-lesson-in-dangers-of-letting-companies-record-you
To be clear, there are a *lot* of questions about the reports, but can I imagine senior Tesla execs having unchecked, routine access to customer video? Yes, yes I can. And as numerous examples of "oh, no-one would misuse this" backdoors have demonstrated, if it's there, it'll 100% be misused for the purposes of shits, giggles and paranoid CEOs.
