Volkswagen, Free Software and Economic Incentives
The
automotive industry has been in the spotlight after a massive scandal at Volkswagen, using code hidden in the engine
management software to cheat emissions tests.
Volkswagen
programmed its car engine computers to detect the EPA's emission tests, and run
dirty the rest of the time.
In real
driving, the cars exceeded emissions standards by a factor of up to 35.
It has long
been known that such software is spying on the habits of the driver and this
data is extracted from the car when it is
serviced and uploaded to the car company.
VW being
caught is the exception and this is hardly surprising; proprietary software is often malware.
In fact,
experts generally agree that there is no means other than software freedom to counter the
might of corporations like Volkswagen and their potential to misuse that power,
as demonstrated in the emissions testing scandal.
Using free
software would not have stopped Volkswagen from programming it this way, but
would have made it harder to conceal.
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