With Tesla from the Federal Council: Did Leuthard and Sommaruga take American spies for a walk?

The electric car manufacturer and the Federal Office for Armaments (Armasuisse), which purchases the state limousines, gave their approval years ago. They assured: the vehicles would neither record conversations nor send them to a Tesla server in the United States. Everything according to federal guidelines.

Nevertheless, the question of whether Leuthard and Sommaruga were driving American spies around in their official Tesla is also a matter of political concern. St. Gallen SVP Landraad Roland Rino Büchel (58) wants to know from the Federal Council during question time in the National Council next Monday whether there are cars driving around in Switzerland that are equipped with a so-called ‘guard function’. And whether information obtained in this way is passed on to other countries.

Blick asked these questions to the highest Swiss data protection officer (Edöb) Adrian Lobsiger (65). He makes it clear: “All Teslas are equipped with monitoring mode.” He therefore recommends switching them off in public spaces, i.e. in road traffic and in public parking lots and parking garages.

Private individuals are not allowed to film in public spaces

Because: “Private individuals in Switzerland are generally not allowed to film in public spaces,” said the data protection officer. The cameras installed in vehicles would particularly raise questions about two principles of the Personal Data Protection Act.

On the one hand, they violate the required transparency because the cameras run secretly and those involved do not know that they are being filmed. On the other hand, they violate proportionality. Because: A permanent registration of all road users is not necessary and therefore disproportionate. The Edöb recommends turning off surveillance mode, at least in public areas.

Swiss must agree to data transfer

But most importantly, because the US does not have an equivalent level of data protection to Switzerland, Tesla can only transfer the data of its Swiss customers with their consent. According to Edöb, this is usually obtained when concluding the contract. “Voluntarily, after clear and extensive information.”

But the data protection officer’s comments also make it clear: no one can guarantee that Tesla data from the Federal Council has not flowed to the US. It will be interesting to see what the government says on Monday in response to Büchel’s questions.