Dashcams captured soldiers entering vehicles, moving around, and typing security codes
Military personnel deleted recordings after discovering them inside the rented cars
A shortage of alternative vehicles kept the cars in military use
Rental cars used by the Norwegian army during an exercise in Oslo filmed soldiers and stored the recordings inside the vehicles without anyone noticing, reportts have claimed. The clips showed troops getting into and out of the cars, their movements and locations, and gate codes they typed while facing the camera. Despite finding the footage, the military kept using the vehicles for the rest of the exercise because it had very few alternative cars available. Why the recordings alarm people
Public sensitivity about personal data is already high, so any device that silently stores images of people attracts immediate scrutiny. Soldiers typing access codes within view of a recording lens is a serious breach of routine security, whatever the nationality of the car’s owner. Gate codes protect restricted areas, so anyone who accessed the clips could have learned how to enter them without authorization. The cameras were standard dash cams that soldiers had mistakenly left switched on, so recordings accumulated in the cars with nobody reviewing them. Soldiers found the clips by chance while browsing the vehicle menus because they were bored, and they erased the recordings afterward. What the evidence shows about China’s role
The entire situation became a more sensitive topic after learning that the rental operator is part of a corporate chain that ends with a company based in China…