Elon Musk Rejects Claims That Tesla Cars Are Used For Spying On China

Tesla boss Elon Musk denied that the company’s cars, which come installed with cameras, are used for spying on the Chinese government or spying in general, Reuters and the BBC reported. His remarks, delivered to a major Chinese business forum via video link, come as the US government and US companies are increasingly accusing Beijing of cyber espionage.

Reuters earlier reported that China had banned Tesla vehicles from military facilities in a move reminiscent of US restrictions on Huawei. On notices about the new directive, the Chinese military apparently cited security concerns about the cameras installed on Tesla cars.

“There’s a very strong incentive for us to be very confidential with any information,” Musk said, according to Reuters. “If Tesla used cars to spy in China or anywhere, we will get shut down.”

According to BBC, he also questioned the point of spying. “Even if there was spying, what would the other country learn and would it actually matter?” Musk said.

Tesla made history in 2018 when it got approval for its Shanghai plant, making it the first foreign carmaker to have a wholly owned factory in China. Last year, the country contributed 30% of its total global car sales.

Unsurprisingly, Musk – a well-liked celebrity in China – called for greater mutual trust between China and the US. That’s probably a tall order, given that both countries are effectively engaged in what some would call as the “Second Cold War”.

In the meantime, Washington is ramping up restrictions on Chinese companies in the wake of a massive cyber breach blamed on China. And it looks like Beijing might be following suit.

Clubhouse Announces Privacy Changes To Fix China Spying Vulnerability

Audio-based social media app Clubhouse said it would make privacy changes after US researchers based at Stanford University revealed the app’s potential vulnerability to spying by the Chinese government. The app was recently blocked by China, but Clubhouse officials conceded that conversations involving China nationals that took place before then could go through Chinese servers.

In a statement provided to the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO), Clubhouse admitted that the pings that the company sent to servers all over the world do contain user’s ID. Even though this only applies to a small part of its traffic, these servers might be located in China as well.

Hence, it will now increase the encryption and blocks within the Clubhouse app to stop it from pinging Chinese servers. The company has also planned to have these new changes to be audited and verified by an external security company.

Earlier, SIO researchers raised concerns that Agora, who provides back-end infrastructure to Clubhouse, might have access to users’ raw audio. SIO surmised that since Agora is subject to China’s cybersecurity laws, the company must turn over recordings to Beijing if requested to do so under national security grounds.

For its part, Agora told The Verge that it does not have access to identifiable user data. The Shanghai-based company also insists that voice and video traffic from non-China users does not go through China.

Beijing blocked Clubhouse last week after Chinese users began using it to discuss taboo topics such as China-Taiwan relations, the ill-treatment of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province, and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.