Edit: I wouldn’t want to touch a Tesla even if it was gifted to me. Seeing the founder behave the way he does (latest incident: Changing Twitter’s logo to a shitcoins image) makes him extremely unsympathetic to me.
On paper. But there are plenty of examples of companies doing things that they shouldn't be doing.
The important question is: what would the consequences be to a German car manufacturer given similar circumstances?
At which point the Data Protection Authorities (GDPR enforcement) would get involved. They would almost certainly levy a hefty fine against the auto manufacturer.
As far as I can tell, German companies are very good at keeping their shenanigans under wraps because they know that being caught has terrible consequences. Occasionally they slip up and then you see what a complex conspiracy they've been operating.
Probably attempted to be hidden in collaboration with the German government like they did with Dieselgate.
Also: working in R&D doesn't necessarily give you insight into what operations people are up to and what kind of access they have to sensitive data. I've looked at plenty of companies in Germany and not all of them are lily white in this respect. MB may well be one of the better ones, I haven't looked at them in particular. But they use an awful lot of components from companies that have a less good reputation.
And then there was this:
https://dieselgate.legal/news/bosch-leaks
Which mentions MB explicitly.
They also had things like this happen:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/mercedes-benz...
I'll reserve judgment, but this is a less than stellar record from my perspective.
The founder title is one that a company gives to individuals crucial in the early formation of the company. Musk clearly qualifies.
I'm saying all this because I think it's very lame that Musk critics try to say he's not a founder of Tesla. Hate Musk all you want, just use real criticism and not this sophomoric "he's not a Tesla founder" stuff.
In some countries, "moral rights" ban the practice of buying and selling the right to change facts like authorship.
That line made me shiver with disgust... good for those countries.
Given that point, doge is an avatar of stupidity personified (caninified?) and so is a good fit for Twitter.
From a game theory perspective, "being first" is a Schelling point. That makes a huge difference between Dogecoin and Bitcoin.
> Privacy is taken extremely seriously here in Germany.
Yes, to the point nothing can get done anymore and e. g. having an outdated, non-digitalized healthcare system.
Tesla is doing it wrong. But Germany is also doing it wrong - just on the other extreme.
The system may be slow and not very digital but it is very much not outdated. As someone who has seen a friend go through a terminal illness and has researched quite a lot about cancer treatments, the care you can get in Germany is top notch. And all that for free (except for hospital bed that you have to pay sometimes if you stay longer than a set amount. Which is about 11EUR if I remember correctly). Yes things can be improved and privacy can be a hurdle but it is not quite a bleak as HN commenters make it out to be. I would take it over having everything beging top notch digital without any regards for privacy like it is in the US. (and often very poor or non-existent non-digital solutions)
There was only one "Dieselgate company", Volkswagen Group. BMW and Mercedes-Benz had nothing to do with it. And yes, I would rather buy a car that cheats on emissions tests than a car which spies on me. That's an easy choice (or would be, if I had any real confidence that VW cars truly don't spy on their users too. Which I don't.)
As a counterpoint, BMW started putting feature behind premium subscriptions couple years ago such as steering wheel. Such micro transactions are really hard to combine with privacy.
I find this hard to believe considering their numerous lies about their car emissions and the extent they went to cover it up.