Tesla wins award

Tesla won the Big Brother award for Mobility in September.


(German)

The Big Brother awards are for companies, institutions or persons that show overreach, when it comes to data protection and data gathering.

In Tesla’s case, it is for the collection and storage of sensor data around the cars. Also the T&Cs that allow them to do just about anything. The car, in standard configuration, is not GDPR conform and needs many of the integrated services and sensors to be deactivated, before it is technically legal to drive it on the road. Also, stopping the (now illegal) transfer of the sensor data to the USA would also render things like self-driving modes inoperable.

The Education Minister for Baden Würrtenburg, Susanne Eisenmann (CDU), also became one for moving the whole education platform onto Microsoft 365, which breaks GDPR conditions, especially as the decision was announced after Privacy Shield was declared null and void and storing data on services belonging to US companies has become untenable.

(Problems include: Windows 10 telemetry data is considered not GDPR compliant (Microsoft won’t let people see all the data and it is encrypted, so it can’t be determined if it is compliant and it can’t be completely disabled - which, according to GDPR should be the default state), data cannot be sent to the USA, as Privacy Shield is no longer valid and it cannot be stored on servers belonging to companies governed by US law, because they are subject to the Patriot Act, CLOUD Act, FISA Courts and National Security Letters, among other things, all of which are completely illegal when used to access EU citizen’s data.)

H&M also received an award, for its storage and processing of PII at its customer services centre in Nuremberg.

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