
Former VW Executive Is Arrested in Croatia in Emissions Case - tosh
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/business/VW-dieselgate-arrest-croatia.html
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xiphias2
I wish these people were treated as mass murderers. The man years taken away
from many peoples lives should be estimated, and his case should be taken as
seriously as a serial killer who took away the same amout of lives as him and
other people in the conspiracy.

I'm suffering from the effects of air pollution in my young age for the last
10 years (I'm 39 now), and I can't do anything to reverse my sickness.

~~~
nexuist
This could be solved by a carbon tax. If the company lied about their
emissions and got caught, you could retroactively charge them to make up for
the difference, and then any profit they would have gained from skirting the
regulations would be nullified. Other businesses would see this new
environment and adapt or die.

American businesses don't avoid (domestic) child labor because it's illegal,
they avoid it because the potential charges for getting caught make the whole
endeavor unprofitable.

~~~
amelius
> This could be solved by a carbon tax. If the company lied about their
> emissions and got caught, you could retroactively charge them to make up for
> the difference, and then any profit they would have gained from skirting the
> regulations would be nullified.

Yeah, but what if the CEOs moved on? Or secured their profits?

I think carbon tax is the way to go, but on top of that we need criminal
justice.

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _Or secured their profits?_

What does this mean within the context of tax evasion?

> _we need criminal justice_

There is a reason Al Capone was booked on tax evasion. Showing an executive
wilfully defrauded a test is difficult. Responsibility is too diffuse. Proving
tax fraud is much easier—executives personally sign off on books.

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thefounder
Now let's see how many from GS go to jail for the 1 MDB fraud. I may be wrong
but I felt the VW fines/jail terms were politically motivated(i.e Trump
doesn't like the Germans/EU at this time)

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thepangolino
I still don't really get what they did wrong? What their cars did was
essentially equivalent to studying the test instead of studying for the test.

~~~
kohtatsu
The test is a measure of impact. They intentionally lied about the impact of
their cars.

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gregopet
> It is unclear why Mr. Eiser went to Croatia, where he was no longer
> protected by German law.

Carelessness? Germans migrate to the beautiful Croatian coast en masse during
the holiday season, most of them passing through Slovenia. He may have thought
he was safe in Croatia or simply didn't give it a second thought.

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bredren
>Among other things, equipment needed to reduce emissions of poisonous
nitrogen oxides would have taken away space needed for a high-end sound
system.

What component of this sound system took up so much space? Modern amps are so
small.

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lazyjones
What's so interesting about this 2 months old article today?

~~~
tosh
I was wondering what happened to the engineer because he is mentioned in the
fast.ai book chapter on ethics in data science and stumbled upon this article.

> It's not just a moral burden, either. Sometimes technologists pay very
> directly for their actions. For instance, the first person who was jailed as
> a result of the Volkswagen scandal, where the car company was revealed to
> have cheated on its diesel emissions tests, was not the manager that oversaw
> the project, or an executive at the helm of the company. It was one of the
> engineers, James Liang, who just did what he was told.

[https://github.com/fastai/fastbook/blob/master/03_ethics.ipy...](https://github.com/fastai/fastbook/blob/master/03_ethics.ipynb)

~~~
lowdose
> It was one of the engineers, James Liang, who just did what he was told.

Everyone is an independent agent and would like to avoid the most obvious
Godwin here.

~~~
nexuist
Admittedly it is a bit easier to blame the independent agent in this case
where he lives in a state that provides a strong safety net and healthcare. In
the US, where you depend on your employer for healthcare, you could make the
case that this form of free will to reject unethical projects does not exist
because of the leverage your employer has over your life.

~~~
lowdose
Is this leverage intentional or a side effect?

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rightbyte
As I understood the cheating, it was just skipping exhaust warmup during tests
since the car was to be turned off at the start after driving it warm. Did it
acctually have any effect overall?

~~~
smichel17
> skipping exhaust warmup during tests

Total aside, this is something that bothers me about my dishwasher. It has all
the certifications for energy and water efficiency, but "for best results" the
manual also recommends getting the water hot beforehand, by running the hot
water in the sink. I wonder if the energy and water rating would still be as
good if the dishwasher did that itself.

~~~
zhte415
I have a dishwasher. My hands. Quite effective. Running water, sponge and
soap. Takes less than 5 minutes.

For hot water have a 180L solar water heater on the roof. Never paid for hot
water since. It even works in freezing winters, -20C.

I also have an awesome dryer that's lasted over 10 years. It's a thin rope
across my balcony accompanied by some wooden pegs. Does the job every time.
When it rains, have a rack.

~~~
vikramkr
Hand washing is effective, but not efficient.

[https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-much-water-do-dishwashers-
us...](https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-much-water-do-dishwashers-use/)

You are using more water than a dishwasher would.

~~~
solinent
Also, the dishwasher is very effective at disinfecting since it uses steam.

