In its breathless coverage of how Tesla and Elon Musk “helped crack the Cybertruck explosion case”, the Telegraph inadvertently reveals a stark truth that should alarm anyone concerned about fundamental civil liberties. The report lauds the role of Tesla’s data in the investigation, noting how the wealth of information transmitted by the vehicle allowed “Tesla employees and investigators to establish the cause of the explosion and where the vehicle had travelled from”.
It goes on to explain that “using information from Tesla’s charging stations, police were able to retrace the car’s journey from Colorado to Las Vegas”.
Then comes the slippage – the part that, until now, no mainstream media organisation has been prepared to say out loud. It should give us all pause.
For years, those of us raising concerns about the implications of such technology have been dismissed as “conspiracy theorists”, “right-wing reactionaries”, or “disinformation pedlars”.
