Re: <nettime> VW

[Heiko Recktenwald <heikorecktenwald@googlemail.com>]

Am 25/09/15 um 21:01 schrieb t byfield:

> A few thoughts about the VW scandal
>
> The VW scandal may not seem very nettimish, but I'll argue that it is.
> This'll take a while, because it is, as they say now, #epic. If you're
> interested, read on.

I completely agree but for a completely different reason. Maybe the
German media theorists should look closer:

> In a nutshell, over a period of at least a decade, VW systematically
> set about designing, testing, implementing, maintaining, and upgrading
> an undisclosed system that enabled its diesel cars to deceive
> environmental regulators. The core of this system was software that
> enabled a car to 'know' when it was being tested for emissions and to
> dramatically reduce its emissions. VW claimed that it possessed some
> magical technology that allowed its diesels to achieve high mileage
> and low emissions without the need for a urea-based additive -- a
> liquid that, like gasoline or engine oil, requires its own special
> tank. Compared to diesels made by other manufacturers, VW's cars were
> cheaper and less of hassle to operate and maintain, and their resale
> value remained much higher.

My point and the US code and the needs of the environement is not what
VW did in the lab, but what it did later. It did what it did in the lab
and later It turned those filters off.

The US authorities did change parameters in the lab and found that
cheating device. Lets call it a bug and the manager who did it a hacker.
Things like this happen. My problem is that morals -- because I dont see
any fraud -- shall decide the nature of the device.

The US code says: Dont turn those filters off.

Details at www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-06/documents/defeat.pdf

The authorities say that they dont know anything of what cars are doing
on the road and the nature of the regulation software is the regulation
of filters.

Wrong?

IMHO there is a lot of confusion and legaly there may be nothing.

The problem is the nature of regulation. There have been cases of
cheating devices in the 90. See how those cases were solved in that
text. There must be some cooperation. This is the way regulation works.
We had holy rules but they were worth nothing. Everybody knew it and
nobody did care. You cannot change this overnight however nobel your
case may be.

All other questions depend on it. You had a wonderfull characterisation
of current Germany. Thanks you VW for the VW-library. Maybe "Das
Skandal" should be less dramatized too.

Please correct typos etc, thanks and

best, H.


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