A few days back I watched a SomeOrdinaryGamers video, in which he states to drive a Tesla car, despite expressing the obvious privacy concerns surrounding the built-in camera system; but doesn’t seem to consider the privacy-impact to those around the vehicle, he chooses to drive through public streets. And another example being Rob Braxman, while ironically, both known to frequently criticize other public-facing, internet connected surveillance systems (like Ring for example).
If it was “just” a cabin camera, staring you straight in the face every time you drive your car (and you’re somehow okay with that), it would still be a terrible look in context with your channel content, but at least it is contained to you personally. But knowingly driving these surveillance nightmares on wheels through public streets, subjecting others to that surveillance, while you represent pro-privacy channels online, is just inexcusably hypocritical to me. But perhaps it might just be me, so what are your thoughts?
The dumbfuck YouTuber who pretended to be an engineer loves Teslas? Amazing. On the nose.
Also, don’t get your privacy advice from YouTube. A horrible idea.
Wasn’t aware of him pretending to be an engineer haha. I would argue it varies greatly on YouTube, just like it varies coming from other sources: all with a healthy dose of skepticism. Rob’s content may be valuable to me, as it tends to raise awareness on subjects which other channels won’t address, or only address when it finally receives mainstream coverage. These channels typically don’t provide anything new to me, but given the number of subscribers to these channels, there’s quite some people that do seem to actively engage with the content; and may therefore be influenced by it, which is primarily why I gauge the content periodically.
techlore?
Naomi Brockwell?
not so “horrible”, i think
isn’t techlore the one who said iphones are better for privacy than even linux computers? 🤣
I’ve been following their content pretty closely, and I do not recall anything of that sort. They did recommend iPhone over stock Android, which is accurate.
So until you can produce a source to that claim, I call horseshit.
I mean yes I could see that for average person. Nothing makes a Linux computer private. You can still use chrome. Allow ads to track you, tons of people don’t use ad blockers. I mean saying a default iOS device is can be more private then default Linux PC I could see it.
did he? when, where? context?
techlore is an up to date privacy source for me. Their commentary on recent events is sometimes helpful
it was a few years ago now, i won’t be able to find it, but it was on youtube.
i won’t be able to find it
That’s a very lazy follow-up to quite a broad claim. Please do provide evidence.
Even Braxman isn’t too bad if you can separate the information from his product advertisements and his… personality.
If you are a privacy advocate and driving a Tesla, you are a grifter.
This isn’t, “You can’t criticize capitalism while being in a capitalistic system.”
Tesla is one product among hundreds of consumer choices. They are choosing to drive around with the equivalent of 9 Ring and Flock cameras taped to themselves.
All cars are spying on you.
For real, you can drive a Ford pinto
Tesla is one product among hundreds of consumer choices.
Reminds me,… I have heard priv advocates propose a consumer label. Like we have nutritions labels on food products but for privacy.
Their idea is, there are so many products. It is almost impossible for average consumer to even know how much data their car, blutooth gizmo, or smart TV collects. With a mandatory label, they could be better informed. Companies could even compete on it. Just like car co’s first bitched about car safety features but later competed to have the best safety ratings.
But that label idea would need teeth. Gov agencies tasked to test it. And enforce compliance. That’s the hard part.
I do like Rob’s content occasionally, whenever he doesn’t repeat, that which he has discussed a million times before. But yes, I totally agree with the rest of the comment.
Alec from Technology Connections brought up a good point in recent video about EVs. He mentioned how Tesla owners are a special kind of EV driver and don’t actually care about EV technology or green(er) vehicles; they only care about their Tesla. I’d imagine this is part of that mindset. Tesla can do no wrong in their eyes, even if it goes against their normal morals and beliefs.
Yeah it’s just a status symbol to so many
tesla is the apple of cars in many ways
I drive an EV and i didn’t care about ev tech or going green. I just want amazing performance, not having to do oil changes, and not having to stop by the gas station every week.
Plus it’s easy cheaper to operate. I got mine for 25k after rebates 8 this was a few years ago) and it still sells for 18-20k 4 yrs later. With insurance and charging im at $220 a month for total operation costs. Easy cheaper than my old gas cars.
If all the financial incentives disappeared, I think this would apply to most EV drivers in general. But I do agree Teslas do seem to appeal to a different demographic: one that is more interested in aesthetics, performance and technology. So yeah, maybe they’re blinded by the sex appeal the car has to them; and do away with reasoning to justify the unjustifiable. Which does align with the impression I got, when reading Rob’s responses to the criticism he received on Odysee.
As a gearhead, I’ve always thought of Teslas (at least the model s plaid ludicrous trim) as actually filling in a similar spot as the Bugatti Veyron, but 15x more attainable price. The people who said veyrons were their favourite cars in 2010 are the same people who have a model s.
I saw a gearhead on YouTube refer to a Tesla as an “appliance” and thought that was great.
One million percent, right down to the design language being “ooohhh this works really well in a wind tunnel”.
I guess when you have no knowledge of engines and your car doesn’t have one, you have to fixate on other stuff. Shame they don’t fixate on the fact that they’re driving mass surveillance tools.
I don’t have a problem with this.
Advocating to change the status quo, doesn’t insulate you from having to live in it.
If you want a nice new electric vehicle, (any vehicle really) in the US today you’re going to have to buy a spy mobile. No way around it.
In no way does having one mean you can’t push for public awareness and government regulation to improve the current privacy environment.
You can call it hypocritical. It’s not. It’s pragmatic.
Just disconnect the antenas. In some cars, you can even unplug the telematics system.
Sure but try doing it when you still have to pay for it.
If you don’t practice what you preach, your words are shallow in my opinion, and you shouldn’t expect anyone to take you seriously. And can we stop pretending like a “nice new electric vehicle” is a must? It’s as pragmatic as having a Ring doorbell camera (at least from the perspective of a less technically inclined person), but yet these very same channels won’t spare such “big-tech” products (which Tesla wouldn’t classify as of course…). Ring cameras are technically (but not practically) restricted to private property, rather than a 360 degree camera roaming public streets; but yet you actively scrutinize the first, while remaining suspiciously quiet about the latter. Please come again, at how that is not peak hypocrisy.
If you want a nice new electric vehicle, (any vehicle really) in the US today you’re going to have to buy a spy mobile. No way around it.
Nobody has to drive a “nice new vehicle.” If your job is advocating for privacy, you should set a good example by driving an old car. (Or moonlight as an urbanist and ditch the car entirely, for that matter.)
I have a newer vehicle just pulled fuse to modem.
You can call it hypocritical. It’s not. It’s pragmatic.
its not like you cannot obscure the unwanted cameras on your own vehicle
I watched SomeOrdinaryGamers for a few years and it became quite uninteresting near the end of that period. I stopped completely when he told his audience not to buy Nintendo Switch 2 and went ahead and bought it shortly after. That guy is not honest or genuine.
I’m not a big fan of the channel either, but the channel keeps getting featured in Invidious’ feed; leading me to sometimes watch a video of his, often to gauge the opinion of him, and more importantly, a large chunk of his (seemingly impressionable) audience.
He’s a charlatan who claimed he was an engineer
Ayup I agree wtih you.
It’s one example of a general prob. So much of tech now betrays the privacy of NON users. There are calculator apps, weather apps, prayer apps, fitness apps for phones. They scrape contacts. I’m in my friends contacts. Now a million data broker companies track my social graph despite I don’t give it tot hem.
And Facebook ofc. They build Shadow Profiles on NON users. You never used FB? Well FB still buidls a profile of you. You can tell a lot about someone just from metadata. Who are your friends? Now we can infer your politics. Your educational level. Your hobbies.
Oh, gmail too! When gmail started it was “Your new mailman will read your mail”. But in reading your mail it also reads MY mail.
I guess, most ppl just do not think about it. They give personal data as much thought as I give my toothbrush. Personal data is invisible. We cannot touch it. Out of sight out of mind.
Yes, and everything you’ve touched, Rob has at least criticized on his channel; but somehow doesn’t apply to his Tesla car… I sometimes wonder how much these privacy advocates care for other’s privacy, versus their own and simply yapping about it.
Never heard of that guy myself but yeah I guess it’s human nature… we are good at rationalizing what we want to do.
Personally I’m kinda torn. I would like an EV for environmental reasons. But all EVs seem to be horrible spyware on wheels. Even worse than internal combustion cars. Which already are pretty bad. At least newer ones are. My old ass car isn’t. But a modern EV? It’s so invasive.
So I stick with my old ass car. But I grind my teeth. Because I want a lower impact vehicle. I use a bike or bus when I can. But sometimes Ican’t.
Producing a new vehicle requires a lot of resources, and so did the older vehicle you’re driving right now. So it might ironically be more environmentally friendly to keep driving that vehicle (especially since a lot of EVs are running on gray energy, and all the newly produced and installed “green” infrastructure also required a lot of resources). The human contribution to climate change appears to be due to industry (and especially globalism): yes, the same industry trying to sell you a solution to the problem they’re largely responsible for (and trying to gaslight you into believing you are). Sure, “consumers” play a role in it, but is largely due to incentives created by the industry; and their unwillingness to meaningfully change (instead of resorting to greenwashing, or moving to a subscription economy instead of throwaway). But lowering impact doesn’t hurt (that is if you aren’t substantially inconvenienced by it: including limited in your ability to move freely and independently), but primarily comes from consuming less instead of more: not discarding a perfectly functional item, and substituting it for a newly produced one.
Those are very good points. Some of that tied into my choice to keep my old car until the wheels fall off.
Eventually I’ll have to replace it. Then it’ll be either antother old but less old combustion car, or an EV. But all the EVs leave such a bad taste with the surveilence.
Same here, until the government goes from the carrot to the stick approach I guess (because of poor adoption-rates). :) Yeah, I really don’t understand how cameras in and around one’s personal vehicle, which aren’t under the control of its supposed “owner”, flies with anyone (especially privacy-conscious persons)…
but muh convenience!! and you shouldn’t care about privacy either!
Considering those youtubers have their faces on camera very often, I don’t see how being recorded by a Tesla hurts their privacy at all.
As for invading the privacy of the public at large by driving a Tesla, there are cameras everywhere.
Still, anyone driving a Tesla is not someone I’m going to for privacy advice and I wouldn’t listen to Braxman no matter what he drives.
I get what you’re saying, but at least they control what they share on their channels, unlike a Tesla car that might disclose intimate moments not intended for sharing (including of others captured in effect). There are a lot of gaps in camera coverage, especially in the public space (at least here in The Netherlands), but if these mobile camera systems move through the streets, you capture a lot more than the relatively few stationary cameras would. I do value Rob’s content from time to time, whenever he covers subjects which I believe are underdiscussed (EV surveillance not being one of them haha).
