Why China is Banning Teslas 

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China is worried about espionage... is this the "thieves being worried about other thieves" thing?

This gives other countries an excuse to ban Chinese products that can potentially used in the similar manner.

It's called protectionism. They want open markets for their products, but a closed market in their country for their state companies.

Now if the US actually has balls, they'll ban any Chinese made vehicles from near military and government area.

This says a lot more about what China are doing with the Chinese made EVs and other Chinese vehicles than it does about Tesla's.

And yet they cry if we banned tik tok.

It's sad that American companies have sold out to China and don't manufacture things anymore. It's almost impossible to find everyday items not made in China.

Anyone else remember the fitbit fiasco? They released all the GPS data that had been collected to try to make a "community" feeling among users. That way someone can see "oh, I have a many people who run laps in the same park that I do." The part that backfired is the fact that the US military had not banned or limited the use of these devices. So, you have young me, hardcore into fitness, in the military, and wearing their Fitbit as a watch. So, basically, all the time. This meant that their movements were being tracked 24/7. This lead to the outline of every base, every layer of security on every base, and the exposure of previously unknown military installations around the world. You had the obvious ones in the Antarctic, but also some in the US's southwest desert. My favorite one was a circular installation about a two miles in diameter.

After everything Musk has done for the CCP, this is hilarious

I saw this coming miles away when elon decided to build a mega factory in china. China lured him in, let him invest, provide the IP and then push him out.

i really love the fact that due to restrictions the EVs put on their users (locking thing you already paid for with software behind a subscription) the people are starting to jailbreak them. So buying a cheap chinese EV and then just turning all the unnecessary shit off will probably become a reality

now this is an absolute irony that they're afraid of what they're doing to other countries

Definitely the signal you want to send to outside investors when your economy is unstable as all hell lol.

Looks like Elon is finally learning the price of loyalty to the CCP.

Where I live South of London UK, we have quite a few very new electric buses. As a passenger, they are excellent to use. But the irony is, there are signs saying that e-bikes and e-scooters are banned from being on board!

Life lesson 187 - If someone starts insisting you’re doing something sleazy - sexual infidelity being a classic case - it usually means they’re at it themselves. Learnt this lesson early and find it to be pretty reliable across the board. Really enjoying your content Serpent, very interesting and enlightening, thank you from 🇬🇧 😊❤

Thank god Indian Gov stopped BYD from investing and launching their EV in India

Steal the tech then kick them out nothing new here 😂

Thank you for making and posting this video. spot on in regards to having the ability to listen in, record conversations and locations, maybe time to step back on some of the technology....

"A thief believes everybody steals".

China is banning Tesla`s while at the same time pretty much every other person in the US has TikTok on their phone....

I was part of a team that 3yrs ago had to rip out all the huawei network switches in the London Hyperoptic network. After it was shown that packets of data were being redirected to fixed IP's in china. So effectively recording what "Homeowners" in London were visiting on the web. Shocking. They all got crushed, so that was a massive waste of money. Huawei's HQ in Reading Berkshire UK is now an empty building, they have all long gone back home. The building was occupied by "Forensic" staff for nearly 2 months after they left. I bet they absolutely tore that building apart!.

by the way, it is insanely hard to get a court order for things like navigational data or phone activity. it takes around 3 or 4 different submissions just to get it moved forward. in the US, the separation between state and business is quite large, meaning there's a lot of bureaucratic process for law enforcement to get certain resources. it causes problems sometimes, like with Apple and the FBI a few years back, but it's still very telling that the CCP doesn't have to go through bureaucracy for your data.

How brilliant. You keep getting better and better. Unassuming brilliance. Thank you.

It’s crazy how scum a government can be to what makes them their power

No car is needed to spy. Your own phone can do it. It can spy you.

With all these over protective actions it really make you wonder what dirty little secrets they are trying to hide

Despite Tesla being an American company, majority of Teslas are now being made in China. I would be concerned that back doors are being inserted during the mfg process

It's their standard tactic of getting rid of the competition.

As a security engineer and researcher... thank you for spreading awareness. Most people outside of our field of work tend to either look at us like bigots or the Martha Mitchell effect takes over and they think you are crazy for saying something they find hard to conceive.

Its definitely something to be aware of. To a degree its a benefit versus risk thing, as in there are people that work at or visit sensitive sites that should not be using smart cars (with cameras / mikes - not just EVs!) at all. Whereas at the other end of the spectrum there are people that would never be of interest to intelligence agencies. Here in NZ, I have a Tesla and its extremely unlikely any of my travels or conversations would be of any use, however I'm aware I could be monitored by the USA (who can do pretty much whatever they want Internationally - as demonstrated time and again, not so different to what China can / will do). However the benefits of the car overwhelmingly outweigh the possibility of being tracked / monitored. I'm a bit more wary of Chinese cars for sure but would consider owning one. Yes it would be great if it was possible to stop anyone spying on your car but there is just no practical way of doing that currently (and retain all the benefits such as mobile data, safety, communications etc).

Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made.

This whole thing reminds me of when cell phone cameras just started to be a thing and military sites did not allow employees to bring a phone with a camera. Eventually every phone had one and they changed the policy just to say, don’t use your camera on site.

Tankies be like: America giving advantage to domestic automakers:: 😡😡💢🤬 China outright banning competition: 😍😍🤩💪

...because you could NEVER install hidden cameras on ANY other car .....or truck, or motorcycle, bicycle, briefcase, cell phone, sunglasses, etc... The Chinese govt truly makes me chuckle.

stealing your way to the top is an upside down rush to the bottom.

If theyre banning them, that means its been done already. Its their short term option until a more long term policy is created.

Our department at undisclosed company developed ECUs for some chinese car manufacturers. They not only "forgot" to pay after shipping the first version of the product, but learned firsthand about "monitoring and reporting" functions built-in. They were literal spying devices on wheels.

Nice video I'm so happy that my Volvo is from 97 and doesn't have that much tech inside

makes sense tbh, someone so guilty would be worried about anyone learning anything. its not the actual Tesla company that cares about espionage probably, but its anyone who can get into the tesla hardware and use it for that. should be very easy for anyone that wanted to

Whenever the CCP gets paranoid about something, they are doing that exact same thing. Another example is the CCP biolab with serious diseases breed in California which was maintained poorly and stealthy

As we say here in Denmark "Tyv tro hver man stjæler" or Thief believe every man steals.

Excellent video. Love from Stockton and Philippines.

Love the content. Thank you for the video!

I wanted to install security cameras around my house but nearly all of them are built in China. Some North American manufacturers use Chinese parts in their security cameras and then sell with their brand names.

You should also be worried about your Chinese-made EV *spontaneously catching on fire.*

This is terrifying, but needed to be said as usual. It is beyond me how many people don’t understand how easily their information can be accessed. Given all the reporting you do on china, would you ever go back? Weird question, but now I am curious.

well our local bus, is a byd(which means bid in my language), every other day has a breakdown and fun part is, it only runs twice an hour in high traffic times, otherwise its one every hour and on sunday it stops running late afternoon

The Chinese govt got mad at the videos of BYDs not deploying their airbags in accidents then catching on fire right after while the Teslas deployed their airbags and did not catch on fire.

They're worried about espionage from a private American company with no ties (or even an opposition from the current Democrat government!!) To the federal military industrial complex. So what does that tell us about Chinese EVs (scooters, eBikes, etc) being imported to the USA?

Just found you and subscribed. Thanks for being there for us, the American people.

We all have smartphones, with cameras and microphone, and we don't leave it parked outside our home...this ban...is quite a little strange, the only what this is a concern is about mapping the streets that they banned into Google maps..

No Chinese made cars for me. Thank you for informing the public on critical points.

So after TESLA investing so much in china and now china is doing this. Tesla will go need to think a lot about this.

I watched that same exact crime show and was literally just explaining it to someone yesterday so crazy

I'd put my money on the ban being related to LIDAR. I've actually been surprised that China hasn't banned Apple phones because of LIDAR (and other features).

Not to mention the home security cameras being sold and installed in our homes with data being stored on internet servers.

They are like: We have access to so many security cameras (made in China) worldwide...the CIA must have the same access to the Tesla streams...

Any vehicle newer enough or on a CANbus data system can or does have the tracking or box system as well as ability to communicate with mobile devices.. Older ones don't.

Wasn't the chinese phones sold in Lithuania collecting datas and sending them back home. Plus these phones had censor on words like HongKong, Tianamen Square, Uigurs, and many others .

The fact that they are banned is a good sign that they are not (yet)compromised with government backdoors

That's why old cars are best, easy and cheap to maintain, low cost, and what not. I've been wanting to get a muscle car for a while myself

Damn. One quiet Saturday afternoon and my 1st Serpentza video and now I'm addicted. Thanks, I think. Love from Puna ❤🌊🏝

Lol in The Netherlands we have very simular suspicions about US companies. Not as severe obviously as the suspicious we have of many Chinese tech companies, but the US isn’t all that about privacy rights either

It doesn't really matter if it's Chinese, Australian, US, or any other government. The point is that they can track and eavesdrop on you.

I've started this year to buy products that are built in America, which is nearly impossible since Washington sold out American manufacturing, but if I can't find it here, then any country other than China. The only way you defeat the CCP is to stop funding it.

Great job u are doing sir

boost audio signal? the audio recorded by a Tesla is with a mic it will just get more noisy and loud if you boost the mic. but the nearby conversations yes

I said to my wife "What a fool !" when Elon started manufacturing his cars in China . How can such a a smart man think he can trust the CCP to do business and not get his fingers burnt ?

Your car is always monitoring you and gathering data. Your voice, your face, your location, your driving habits. Everything. That is why EU is pushing for cyber security restrictions. Your car is the perfect tool for espionage and profiling... alongside your smartphone.

@1:36 didnt expect to see my city montreal lol

Simplified view points on this THANKS

Locally here in Australia our local hardware store sells smart switches (Tuya) that talks back to China and no-one bats an eye lid.

The Tesla is sending 'glitch' clips or 'questionable' clips it can't recognise when it's matching signs/roads/objects on the road, pedestrians, etc. Things it guesses at for FSD/Self Driving. FWIU, this was recently leaked by former Employees, that people were recorded talking in their garage or parking lots, or in their driveways., because the car has parking security alerts for motion/people. They now get uploaded to customers if you buy the Premium option, but they usually stay on the car's storage instead. The allegation was that the recordings also recorded people enjoying 'Business Time' because they were near the car at the time, and... the car didn't have a notion of privacy, because the intent wasn't to track people, it was to capture theft/damage to the car while parked. That ban, is most likely because China doesn't get a copy of the parking/driving video feeds. And, the problem really is that it's a Tesla only problem. Mercedes/Toyota can't do what Tesla can, and so, they get the penalty applied. The potential / future espionage problem is scale. It can record, be tracked, report back, etc. Especially a local/chinese car, because it uses an open model or fairly universal Android OS. Hidden apps can be installed with a USB, or wifi connection to local devices, if the car is on. But, unlike Skynet... what then. Most cars don't have SIM chips for 3G/4G, they use a phone as the Map/GPS device. Only Recent/Newer cars do have tracking/remote access via the ECU, which won't make phone calls, but it does allow tracking. A SIM is wired into the entertainment unit, and records engine codes or maintenance information, alongside tracking/use data, telemetry sic. They get cheap deals from the SIM provider by paying for data rates in bulk. There's potentially billions of vehicles in China, just like there's Billions of Mobile Phones. It is feasible for a cell/area to switch a large group of phones into 'spy mode' and capture audio/video... but this has diminishing returns. That data has to go somewhere. It's a problem because Dashcam quality video is too large to send over 4G. If China wanted to leverage car ECU's as spy devices, it's not impossible. Most car radios use Android and SIM chips, even if you use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, it's a video feed/stream of your phone app in some cases, capturing a phone contact list or recent SMS messages is trivial. The problems come with untagged, uncertain data when you start recording Millions of phone calls or Millions of GPS/SIM data locations per minute. If you design cars to Spy on citizens, to listen to people, there's a lot of 'dead air' and AI would also need to transcribe ... radio, music and podcasts, or at least discern the possibility when 50,000 cars suddenly denounce a celebrity for wearing inappropriate clothing, and causing an eccentric event. If it were sending Dashcam footage 24/7, there are Millions of Teslas, that would be sending Trillions of Hours of footage. BYD et al. don't record the video because they'd also have to keep copies for Police/Military, while Tesla is collecting and collating for their self-driving research. Most of it is useless. It would also be useless to Police/Military or Intel too. But, they'd still have to keep copies. And that gets VERY expensive. If BYD (sic) recorded parking video, they'd have to hand over access and people would be able to figure it out, because they wouldn't really be able to hide Petabytes of delayed, useless video data of parking lots and highway driving. It's not a shelf of drives, it's warehouses full of active storage drives that compress and label "empty parking lots" and transcribe audio / triangulate audio sources using location mapping and multiple recordings, i.e. to track motorcycles or single vehicles at night where there's no cameras, sic simply by echolocation mapping of a known tracked object and it's doppler effect. In a Tesla, It is possible to swap the SIM out by pulling the dash ECU out, soldering on a SIM reader instead of the soldered on SIM chip, which isn't a major issue. The problem is that the data flow goes into China's local server farms, including video, and then later on, up to HQ for AI processing. Without the SIM, you lose a lot of features in the car including fast charging, et al. If China really wanted the video, it's not hard to get. The car is somewhat hackable to keep recording onto SSD for 2-3 days.

Another great & compelling vid! I will go for Surfshark via your link. BTW: I'm a transport safety manager in the UK - I love the way you overlay vid of yourself on top of street scenes. May I ask what Software you use to achieve that please? Thanks.

I've had politically sensitive discussions with people from China, and they've been very nervous and quiet until they put their phones into another room - then they enthusiastically opened up with their real thoughts.

Great video! I knew that Tesla was being sort of singled out and treated unfairly at times here in China - but now I know why. Interesting stuff.

They are for sure doing this, some of the cars have 4 or 5 cameras pointing at every single seat inside.

Mega thanks

It's not only about espionage. There are many foreign cars being sold to China, that also have camera systems. Tesla is the focus, because it is the major competitor for local EV makers, which makes them the prime target for government harassment. Things will get worse for Tesla if they don't get the message and continue to outcompete the local competition.

Keep making videos like this because most Americans have no idea how nefarious the CCP is.

I work for a dealer that sells and services SAIC motor cars like LDV, MG, Maxus and whatever else. By god they're terrible cars with stupid corners cut and terrible unconventional design... Anyways, I always expected them to have some sort of espionage tech in them, however I was never worried because they always break and fall apart. They come off the factory truck with their cameras not plugged in, buckled wheels, door handles disconnected, fuel level floats bent. Let alone the fact that they never have any fuel left when they arrive in the stock yard. If you don't drive like a granny to the workshop, it'll run out. So I realised they can't really spy on me when their espionage equipment is broken. However, I suspect they intentionally have them break down so often so that people get a new one with the latest espionage technology lmao. They stupidly cheap, stupidly meaning a stupid decision. Don't buy them, advice from an LDV tech. Did I forget to mention that they spray glue on the brake lines and fuel lines??? They clearly know it's going to fail, instead of making them properly they just spray glue over the connections and call it a day. Idk about you but I'm not trusting some Chinese glue to save my life when I need to brake.

Very interesting!

True story. I bought a chinese made IP camera years ago and when installing there was actually some pretty malicious spyware onboard the cameras onboard webserver. It went straight into the bin.

What's strange about authoritarian systems is, that such extreme control strongly correlates with their bad economy and financial problems. They never think about it this way. Good to see you back Winston.

Are all Huawei phones a problem? I was thinking about buying P30 pro

I really appreciate your work and perspective, thanks for good info and context, and good luck, God bless, you are a hero mate. Subscribing, ok. 👍

FYI Surf Shark advertises monthly prices but charges you up front for the whole 3 years and auto renews on your credit card unless you call them and cancel. They should be upfront and say you are going to be charged upfront for the whole 3 years and not insinuate you are going to be charged monthly.💩

I love how Winston is still picking on Demuro hahaha

is it because they can be hacked and overloaded (accidently on purpose) like samsung galaxy 9?

9:10 not only that, software could trigger other functions depending on the words the mic captures, especially when you say something "politically taboo", the car's onboard computer could engage comunications with police enforcement's computers, even shut down the car, lock you inside it, while they come to pick you up. This tech applications will be supported by the actual functional AIs developed in china, not the jokes they show in tech conferences.

As someone who has the misfortune of repairing a few chinese cars for a car dealer pal, I can tell you that if you own such a thing,being recorded is the last of your problems😂😂.

Even Chinese billionaires were complaining about china spying on them by "hacking" their iPhone...

very good insight information, you are fantastic

Very good..Very informative show..excellent 😊

This is what bugs me... I grew up in a country with an oppressive regime in power. It was bad enough but back then but at least, they didn't have cameras on every corners and electronic devices were not as capable and abundant as they are now. People still had some level of privacy that they could maintain. I notice a stark difference in the attitude to privacy between generations. This is of course only on average but older people tend to be cautious and reluctant to give up their rights to privacy. Younger people don't think twice before they download an app like tic toc or use a device that can spy on them. They think people who still use cash are troglodytes or just plain stupid. So much easier just to tap with the phone, right?! (Yeah, I also tap sometimes.) The reality is that any aspects of privacy you give up, it's practically impossible to claw back, later. Since the majority of people just "goes along with the program" the remaining concerned minority is swept along with them. That's with governments but the same thing is playing out with large corporations who just prey on your privacy, just for a different purpose. Technology is so powerful today that criminal organizations like the CCP can easily misuse that power and become a parasite that's almost impossible to get rid of. Good luck, China! 😥

I saw a video with BYD remotely starting vehicles claiming it needed to do it to to “maintain the engine”. Then the customer was told there was a “remotely pushed update” and when he requested his rights not be violated there was a huge passing of the buck. What if they started it under the wrong circumstances? What if they shut it off while he was driving? This was one of many stories of violating owners rights, apparently. Wouldn’t ever trust them.

Battery Fires also.. they change engines in Japan .. a lot going on

Makes sense.