Tesla will now inform consumers that their vehicles’ “sentry mode” could possibly violate data privacy laws in Germany, Reuters reports.
The new warning is a result of a recent lawsuit by the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband; vzbv) that was filed last July, and is far from the only case against Tesla concerning the usage of its cameras, with cases “in countries from China to the Netherlands.”
Vzbv claimed that Tesla had been dishonest by not informing consumers through their advertising of the possible data privacy violations they could unknowingly commit.
Tesla issued a “cease-and-desist declaration” following a trial in Berlin and committed to “no longer advertise that way,” vzbv said in a statement.
Tesla manuals in the United States state that “it is your sole responsibility to consult and comply with all local regulations and property restrictions regarding the use of cameras.”
A Berlin data protection agency spokesperson said that the responsibility falls on the driver to disable the vehicle’s cameras in public spaces, as was also asserted by the personal data watchdog in the Netherlands this past February.
