[sneak]

Tesla probably has to give it to the government without a warrant or probable cause, like Google and Apple et al do.

The government can toss you in jail if they don’t like the cut of your jib, and this data lets them find a way to do so quasi-legally. Small data-hungry startups can’t really damage you with this data by comparison.

The privacy ship has sailed. If you want location privacy, rip out the GSM transceiver in your car and turn location services off on your phones.

Even then the GSM towers are following you and selling your location tracks, but at least it’s slightly harder to tie to your other data then.

[dotBen]

I get the point about government access and agree it's a sad state of affairs.

The difference is Tesla has a lot to lose if they can't demonstrate adequate consumer protection of the data from theft/unauthorized access - and significant consequences if a breach does occur. They should also have high quality engineering talent to make sure exploits don't occur.

A small startup doesn't have the same burdon on penalty for breach and probably far lower quality of eng talent.

This is why I reluctantly concede to Google and Tesla tracking my location, but not random startups.