A California Tesla owner filed a potential class action lawsuit against the electric vehicle manufacturer on Friday, accusing it of violating its clients’ privacy.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after reports revealed on Thursday that groups of Tesla staff members occasionally shared extremely intrusive videos and images taken by customers’ car cameras through an internal messaging system between 2019 and 2022.
Henry Yeh, a resident of San Francisco and owner of a Model Y from Tesla, filed the case, in which he claims that Tesla personnel had access to the pictures and videos for their “tasteless and tortious enjoyment” and “the humiliation of individuals secretly recorded.”
In a statement to reporters, Jack Fitzgerald, an attorney for Yeh, said: “As anyone would be, Mr. Yeh was incensed at the concept that Tesla’s cameras can be utilized to violate his family’s privacy, which the California Constitution rigorously protects.”
Fitzgerald said, “Tesla needs to be held accountable for these intrusions and for misleading him and other Tesla owners about its inadequate privacy standards.
Tesla did not answer right away when asked for a comment.
Tesla’s actions were described as “especially flagrant” and “extremely insulting” in the lawsuit.
On behalf of himself, other members of the same class who are in a similar situation, and the broader public, Yeh claimed to be bringing the lawsuit against Tesla for the people who owned or leased a Tesla within the last four years.
Tesla staffs were able to monitor customers’ “laundry and very private activities. We could see their children “quoting a former worker.
The complaint stated that one of the most fundamental liberty rights that society recognizes is parents’ interest in their children’s privacy.
The lawsuit requests that the court “recover actual and punitive damages” and “enjoin Tesla from engaging in its illegal actions, including invading the privacy of consumers and others.”
