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GreggBadichekSecondEssay 5 - 14 Jan 2016 - Main.GreggBadichek
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| META TOPICPARENT | name="SecondEssay" |
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | | | -- By GreggBadichek - 13 Jan 2016
Introduction | |
<
< | Car companies increasingly use lower-emissions technology to conform with governmental regulations intended to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Modern cars use software containing millions of lines of code to measure their emissions, regulate their power input in the case of electric vehicles, and to operate their internal systems. Volkswagen in 2015 showed us that proprietary software can mask a profit-enterprise's deception by preventing regulators and the public from discovering manipulation without rigorous testing and some luck. Closed software also greatly endangers user privacy, increasingly so in the world of "smart" cars that interact with "smart" grids. | >
> | Car companies increasingly use lower-emissions technology to conform with governmental regulations intended to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions.[1] Modern cars use software containing millions of lines of code to measure their emissions, regulate their power input in the case of electric vehicles, and to operate their internal systems.[2] Volkswagen in 2015 showed us that proprietary software can mask a profit-enterprise's deception by preventing regulators and the public from discovering manipulation without rigorous testing and some luck.[3] Closed software also greatly endangers user privacy, increasingly so in the world of "smart" cars.[4] | | | | |
<
< | Drivers Will Not Care About Their Privacy | >
> | Drivers Will Not Care About Their Privacy, But Drivers Will Care About Emissions, Fuel Economy, and Physical Safety | | | Just as a modern “smart” phone tracks at least its human's location, data usage, communications and reports this information to its corporate masters, so too does car software track its drivers' movements and vehicle operations. As software sophistication increases, cars will report more information about its occupants. Recipient nodes for car data may exist through cellular towers or wifi stations worldwide; particularly for electric vehicles, nodes will exist on the smart grid, allowing the car to function as an organ in a complicated electrical sensory machine. Convenience will overwhelm any concern most drivers feel about their privacy, as is the case with phones. | |
<
< | But Drivers Will Care About Emissions, Fuel Economy, and Physical Safety
Drivers purchase high fuel economy vehicles specifically for their mileage and environmental benefits. Consumers who purchase such vehicles pay higher prices to obtain a car that will save money on gas purchases, and because they feel that their expenditure is benefitting a cause. GHG emissions is an issue under close scrutiny by the federal government, whereas potential privacy implications of “smart” vehicles clearly does not garner such attention. Vehicle safety has long been an area of public concern. The argument that complex, opaque software endangers passengers more so than software open to public scrutiny is not new. | >
> | Drivers purchase high fuel economy vehicles specifically for their mileage and environmental benefits. Consumers who purchase such vehicles pay higher prices to obtain a car that will save money on gas purchases, and because they feel that their expenditure is benefiting a cause. GHG emissions is an issue under close scrutiny by the federal government, whereas potential privacy implications of “smart” vehicles clearly does not garner such attention. Vehicle safety has long been an area of public concern. The argument that complex, opaque software endangers passengers more so than software open to public scrutiny is not new. | | | Why this matters | |
<
< | Electric cars will gradually replace their carbon-fuelled counterparts. At that time, car software will not control emissions, but will become increasingly complex in response to increasing car "intelligence." Should software remain closed when this industry shift occurs, the opportunities to use environmental law techniques to expose privacy risks will be greatly diminished. | >
> | Allowing software transmitting highly personal information—geolocation—to go unmonitored in a necessary market normalizes and under-emphasizes regular privacy violations. Additionally electric cars will gradually replace their carbon-fuelled counterparts. At that time, car software will not control emissions, but will become increasingly complex in response to increasing car "intelligence." Should software remain closed when this industry shift occurs, the opportunities to use environmental law techniques to expose privacy risks will be greatly diminished. | | | Using Environmental Concerns to Expose Privacy Violations | | | Petition for Rulemaking before the EPA and DOT | |
<
< | If these agencies are empowered to analyze vehicle emissions in the physical sense, there is no reason that they shouldn't be able to do so in the digital sense. Thus a lawsuit against these agencies on the grounds that their failure to examine software is a failure of their duty outside of discretion may close the gap, and move agencies towards examining software. | >
> | If these agencies are empowered to analyze vehicle emissions in the physical sense, there is no reason that they shouldn't be able to do so in the digital sense. Private parties can test GHG emissions, but have tremendous difficulty testing "software emissions." Thus a lawsuit against these agencies on the grounds that their failure to examine software is a failure of their duty outside of discretion may close the gap, and move agencies towards examining software.
References
[1] The Obama administration has been active in promoting high fuel economy standards as a means of mitigating GHG emissions. http://www3.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regulations.htm
[2] See David Gelles, Hiroko Tabuchi and Matthew Dolan, Complex Car Software Becomes the Weak Spot Under the Hood, New York Times (Sept. 26, 2015), http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/business/complex-car-software-becomes-the-weak-spot-under-the-hood.html.
[3] An explanation of the events can be found here: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772.
[4] See, e.g. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/spy-act-car-hackers-senators-security_55ae4e72e4b0a9b94852748b. | | |
You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. |
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GreggBadichekSecondEssay 4 - 14 Jan 2016 - Main.GreggBadichek
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| META TOPICPARENT | name="SecondEssay" |
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | |
<
< | Paper Title | >
> | Using Climate Change Law to Combat Closed Software | | | -- By GreggBadichek - 13 Jan 2016 | | | Car companies increasingly use lower-emissions technology to conform with governmental regulations intended to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Modern cars use software containing millions of lines of code to measure their emissions, regulate their power input in the case of electric vehicles, and to operate their internal systems. Volkswagen in 2015 showed us that proprietary software can mask a profit-enterprise's deception by preventing regulators and the public from discovering manipulation without rigorous testing and some luck. Closed software also greatly endangers user privacy, increasingly so in the world of "smart" cars that interact with "smart" grids.
Drivers Will Not Care About Their Privacy | |
<
< | Just as a modern “smart” phone tracks at least its human's location, data usage, communications and reports this information to its corporate masters, so too does car software track its drivers' movements and vehicle operations. As software sophistication increases, cars will report more information about its occupants. Recipient nodes for car data may exist through cellular towers or wifi stations worldwide; particularly for electric vehicles, nodes will exist on the smart grid, allowing the car to function as an organ in a complicated electrical sensory machine.
I see no indication that drivers will care about their privacy, or the fact that their vehicles will transmit more information about their habits and whereabouts to private and public entities. Convenience will overwhelm any concern most drivers feel about their privacy, as is the case with phones. | >
> | Just as a modern “smart” phone tracks at least its human's location, data usage, communications and reports this information to its corporate masters, so too does car software track its drivers' movements and vehicle operations. As software sophistication increases, cars will report more information about its occupants. Recipient nodes for car data may exist through cellular towers or wifi stations worldwide; particularly for electric vehicles, nodes will exist on the smart grid, allowing the car to function as an organ in a complicated electrical sensory machine. Convenience will overwhelm any concern most drivers feel about their privacy, as is the case with phones. | | | But Drivers Will Care About Emissions, Fuel Economy, and Physical Safety | |
<
< | | | | Drivers purchase high fuel economy vehicles specifically for their mileage and environmental benefits. Consumers who purchase such vehicles pay higher prices to obtain a car that will save money on gas purchases, and because they feel that their expenditure is benefitting a cause. GHG emissions is an issue under close scrutiny by the federal government, whereas potential privacy implications of “smart” vehicles clearly does not garner such attention. Vehicle safety has long been an area of public concern. The argument that complex, opaque software endangers passengers more so than software open to public scrutiny is not new. | |
>
> | Why this matters
Electric cars will gradually replace their carbon-fuelled counterparts. At that time, car software will not control emissions, but will become increasingly complex in response to increasing car "intelligence." Should software remain closed when this industry shift occurs, the opportunities to use environmental law techniques to expose privacy risks will be greatly diminished. | | | Using Environmental Concerns to Expose Privacy Violations
Proprietary software permitted Volkswagen to deceive its consumers and governmental entities into believing that their “clean diesel” emissions technology had met and surpassed fuel economy standards. Had the software been open, Volkwagen's cheating would have been noticed almost immediately; consumers would have saved billions of dollars, and Volkwagen would have saved its reputation. It is feasible to imagine several ways in which proprietary software harms users' agency beyond GHG emissions specifically, or environmental problems generally. | |
<
< | Demanding open software must be tempered: allowing users to alter their car's software could lead to unexpected safety hazards in a tightly regulated industry. A reasonable middle ground is software that is publicly readable, but can not be edited. This would allow car companies to protect their software's function, yet open it up to the broad scrutiny of countless individual simulations. Readers could even suggest edits to the software to improve its functionality and efficiency.
Importantly, this freedom to read would allow the public to examine software and locate code that compromises privacy, reporting their findings to companies and to everyone else. They could also predict the ways in which car software could evolve to threaten privacy upon the advent of smart-grid technology. Providing this information to other consumers would increase consumer knowledge of a functional utility, in theory making that market more efficient. It may not make users care about their privacy, but it would allow them a means to start making a fuss about it. What legal mechanisms could bring about this change in car software readability? | >
> | Demanding open software must be tempered: allowing users to alter their car's software could lead to unexpected safety hazards in a tightly regulated industry. A reasonable middle ground is software that is publicly readable, but can not be edited. This would allow car companies to protect their software's function, yet open it up to the broad scrutiny of countless individual simulations. Readers could even suggest edits to the software to improve its functionality and efficiency.
Importantly, this freedom to read would allow the public to examine software and locate code that compromises privacy, reporting their findings to companies and to everyone else. They could also predict the ways in which car software could evolve to threaten privacy upon the advent of smart-grid technology. Providing this information to other consumers would increase consumer knowledge of a functional utility, in theory making that market more efficient. It may not make users care about their privacy, but it would allow them a means to start making a fuss about it. What legal mechanisms could bring about this change in car software readability? | | | Solutions from Environmental Law | | | Disclosure and Shareholder Lawsuits | |
<
< | Under SEC guidance, Regulation S-K, requiring public agencies to disclose certain information to investors, contains four items through which disclosure of climate change risks and contributions should be made. Two of them are ways to get to a car's code.
Item 303 requires the company to disclose management's discussion and analysis of industry trends that are likely to have a material effect on the company's liquidity. Potentially this could include an industry shift towards readable software, particularly if a regulatory regime change arises post-Volkswagen. Item 503 meanwhile requires the company to assess "risk factors," which could include contributions to, or regulations in light of, climate change. Companies may choose to include increased software scrutiny under these items, as post-Volkswagen car company investors will be much more keen to know if the company is complying with all relevant regulatory regimes. Should the company not disclose that information sua sponte, shareholders may demand, or even sue, the company to force them to be more open about their complicated software, its functions, and its potential flaws.
[writing] | >
> | Under SEC guidance, Regulation S-K, requiring public agencies to disclose certain information to investors, contains four items through which disclosure of climate change risks and contributions should be made. Two of them are ways to get to a car's code. Item 303 requires the company to disclose management's discussion and analysis of industry trends that are likely to have a material effect on the company's liquidity. Potentially this could include an industry shift towards readable software, particularly if a regulatory regime change arises post-Volkswagen. Item 503 meanwhile requires the company to assess "risk factors," which could include contributions to, or regulations in light of, climate change. Companies may choose to include increased software scrutiny under these items, as post-Volkswagen car company investors will be much more keen to know if the company is complying with all relevant regulatory regimes. Should the company not disclose that information sua sponte, shareholders may demand, or even sue, the company to force them to be more open about their complicated software, its functions, and its potential flaws. | | | | |
<
< | Electric Cars | >
> | Petition for Rulemaking before the EPA and DOT | | | | |
<
< | [writing] | >
> | If these agencies are empowered to analyze vehicle emissions in the physical sense, there is no reason that they shouldn't be able to do so in the digital sense. Thus a lawsuit against these agencies on the grounds that their failure to examine software is a failure of their duty outside of discretion may close the gap, and move agencies towards examining software. | | |
You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. |
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GreggBadichekSecondEssay 3 - 14 Jan 2016 - Main.GreggBadichek
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| META TOPICPARENT | name="SecondEssay" |
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | | | -- By GreggBadichek - 13 Jan 2016
Introduction | |
<
< | Car companies increasingly use lower-emissions technology to conform with governmental regulations intended to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Modern cars use software to measure their emissions, regulate their power input in the case of electric vehicles, and to operate their internal systems.
Just as cars nominally benefit the public yet endanger public welfare by serving as weapons under bad circumstances and pollution devices under operative circumstances, car software endangers the public through emissions fakery and privacy risks. Volkswagen in 2015 showed us that proprietary software can mask a profit-enterprise's deception by preventing regulators and the public from discovering manipulation without rigorous testing and some luck. What tools exist to combat these dangers, in light of increasingly complicated car software? | >
> | Car companies increasingly use lower-emissions technology to conform with governmental regulations intended to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Modern cars use software containing millions of lines of code to measure their emissions, regulate their power input in the case of electric vehicles, and to operate their internal systems. Volkswagen in 2015 showed us that proprietary software can mask a profit-enterprise's deception by preventing regulators and the public from discovering manipulation without rigorous testing and some luck. Closed software also greatly endangers user privacy, increasingly so in the world of "smart" cars that interact with "smart" grids. | | | Drivers Will Not Care About Their Privacy
Just as a modern “smart” phone tracks at least its human's location, data usage, communications and reports this information to its corporate masters, so too does car software track its drivers' movements and vehicle operations. As software sophistication increases, cars will report more information about its occupants. Recipient nodes for car data may exist through cellular towers or wifi stations worldwide; particularly for electric vehicles, nodes will exist on the smart grid, allowing the car to function as an organ in a complicated electrical sensory machine.
I see no indication that drivers will care about their privacy, or the fact that their vehicles will transmit more information about their habits and whereabouts to private and public entities. Convenience will overwhelm any concern most drivers feel about their privacy, as is the case with phones. | |
<
< | But Drivers Will Care About Emissions and Fuel Economy | >
> | But Drivers Will Care About Emissions, Fuel Economy, and Physical Safety | | | | |
<
< | Drivers purchase high fuel economy vehicles specifically for their mileage and environmental benefits. Consumers who purchase such vehicles pay higher prices to obtain a car that will save money on gas purchases, and because they feel that their expenditure is benefitting a cause. GHG emissions is an issue under close scrutiny by the federal government, whereas potential privacy implications of “smart” vehicles clearly does not garner such attention. | >
> | Drivers purchase high fuel economy vehicles specifically for their mileage and environmental benefits. Consumers who purchase such vehicles pay higher prices to obtain a car that will save money on gas purchases, and because they feel that their expenditure is benefitting a cause. GHG emissions is an issue under close scrutiny by the federal government, whereas potential privacy implications of “smart” vehicles clearly does not garner such attention. Vehicle safety has long been an area of public concern. The argument that complex, opaque software endangers passengers more so than software open to public scrutiny is not new. | | | | |
<
< | Using Environmental Concern to Expose Privacy Violations | >
> | Using Environmental Concerns to Expose Privacy Violations | | | Proprietary software permitted Volkswagen to deceive its consumers and governmental entities into believing that their “clean diesel” emissions technology had met and surpassed fuel economy standards. Had the software been open, Volkwagen's cheating would have been noticed almost immediately; consumers would have saved billions of dollars, and Volkwagen would have saved its reputation. It is feasible to imagine several ways in which proprietary software harms users' agency beyond GHG emissions specifically, or environmental problems generally.
Demanding open software must be tempered: allowing users to alter their car's software could lead to unexpected safety hazards in a tightly regulated industry. A reasonable middle ground is software that is publicly readable, but can not be edited. This would allow car companies to protect their software's function, yet open it up to the broad scrutiny of countless individual simulations. Readers could even suggest edits to the software to improve its functionality and efficiency.
Importantly, this freedom to read would allow the public to examine software and locate code that compromises privacy, reporting their findings to companies and to everyone else. They could also predict the ways in which car software could evolve to threaten privacy upon the advent of smart-grid technology. Providing this information to other consumers would increase consumer knowledge of a functional utility, in theory making that market more efficient. It may not make users care about their privacy, but it would allow them a means to start making a fuss about it. What legal mechanisms could bring about this change in car software readability? | |
<
< | Legal Solutions | >
> | Solutions from Environmental Law | | | | |
<
< | [writing] | >
> | Financial disclosure protocols and agency regulations can force car software to open. | | | Disclosure and Shareholder Lawsuits | |
>
> | Under SEC guidance, Regulation S-K, requiring public agencies to disclose certain information to investors, contains four items through which disclosure of climate change risks and contributions should be made. Two of them are ways to get to a car's code.
Item 303 requires the company to disclose management's discussion and analysis of industry trends that are likely to have a material effect on the company's liquidity. Potentially this could include an industry shift towards readable software, particularly if a regulatory regime change arises post-Volkswagen. Item 503 meanwhile requires the company to assess "risk factors," which could include contributions to, or regulations in light of, climate change. Companies may choose to include increased software scrutiny under these items, as post-Volkswagen car company investors will be much more keen to know if the company is complying with all relevant regulatory regimes. Should the company not disclose that information sua sponte, shareholders may demand, or even sue, the company to force them to be more open about their complicated software, its functions, and its potential flaws. | | | [writing] | |
<
< | Subsection B | >
> | Electric Cars | | | [writing] |
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GreggBadichekSecondEssay 2 - 14 Jan 2016 - Main.GreggBadichek
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| META TOPICPARENT | name="SecondEssay" |
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<
< | | | | It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | | | Just as a modern “smart” phone tracks at least its human's location, data usage, communications and reports this information to its corporate masters, so too does car software track its drivers' movements and vehicle operations. As software sophistication increases, cars will report more information about its occupants. Recipient nodes for car data may exist through cellular towers or wifi stations worldwide; particularly for electric vehicles, nodes will exist on the smart grid, allowing the car to function as an organ in a complicated electrical sensory machine.
I see no indication that drivers will care about their privacy, or the fact that their vehicles will transmit more information about their habits and whereabouts to private and public entities. Convenience will overwhelm any concern most drivers feel about their privacy, as is the case with phones. | |
<
< | [to be continued]
Subsub 1
Drivers Will Care About Emissions
Subsub 1 | >
> | But Drivers Will Care About Emissions and Fuel Economy | | | | |
<
< | Subsub 2 | >
> | Drivers purchase high fuel economy vehicles specifically for their mileage and environmental benefits. Consumers who purchase such vehicles pay higher prices to obtain a car that will save money on gas purchases, and because they feel that their expenditure is benefitting a cause. GHG emissions is an issue under close scrutiny by the federal government, whereas potential privacy implications of “smart” vehicles clearly does not garner such attention. | | | | |
>
> | Using Environmental Concern to Expose Privacy Violations | | | | |
>
> | Proprietary software permitted Volkswagen to deceive its consumers and governmental entities into believing that their “clean diesel” emissions technology had met and surpassed fuel economy standards. Had the software been open, Volkwagen's cheating would have been noticed almost immediately; consumers would have saved billions of dollars, and Volkwagen would have saved its reputation. It is feasible to imagine several ways in which proprietary software harms users' agency beyond GHG emissions specifically, or environmental problems generally.
Demanding open software must be tempered: allowing users to alter their car's software could lead to unexpected safety hazards in a tightly regulated industry. A reasonable middle ground is software that is publicly readable, but can not be edited. This would allow car companies to protect their software's function, yet open it up to the broad scrutiny of countless individual simulations. Readers could even suggest edits to the software to improve its functionality and efficiency.
Importantly, this freedom to read would allow the public to examine software and locate code that compromises privacy, reporting their findings to companies and to everyone else. They could also predict the ways in which car software could evolve to threaten privacy upon the advent of smart-grid technology. Providing this information to other consumers would increase consumer knowledge of a functional utility, in theory making that market more efficient. It may not make users care about their privacy, but it would allow them a means to start making a fuss about it. What legal mechanisms could bring about this change in car software readability? | | | | |
<
< | Section II | >
> | Legal Solutions | | | | |
>
> | [writing] | | | | |
>
> | Disclosure and Shareholder Lawsuits | | | | |
<
< | Subsection A | >
> | [writing] | | | Subsection B | |
>
> | [writing] | | |
You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. |
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GreggBadichekSecondEssay 1 - 13 Jan 2016 - Main.GreggBadichek
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>
> |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="SecondEssay" |
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.
Paper Title
-- By GreggBadichek - 13 Jan 2016
Introduction
Car companies increasingly use lower-emissions technology to conform with governmental regulations intended to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Modern cars use software to measure their emissions, regulate their power input in the case of electric vehicles, and to operate their internal systems.
Just as cars nominally benefit the public yet endanger public welfare by serving as weapons under bad circumstances and pollution devices under operative circumstances, car software endangers the public through emissions fakery and privacy risks. Volkswagen in 2015 showed us that proprietary software can mask a profit-enterprise's deception by preventing regulators and the public from discovering manipulation without rigorous testing and some luck. What tools exist to combat these dangers, in light of increasingly complicated car software?
Drivers Will Not Care About Their Privacy
Just as a modern “smart” phone tracks at least its human's location, data usage, communications and reports this information to its corporate masters, so too does car software track its drivers' movements and vehicle operations. As software sophistication increases, cars will report more information about its occupants. Recipient nodes for car data may exist through cellular towers or wifi stations worldwide; particularly for electric vehicles, nodes will exist on the smart grid, allowing the car to function as an organ in a complicated electrical sensory machine.
I see no indication that drivers will care about their privacy, or the fact that their vehicles will transmit more information about their habits and whereabouts to private and public entities. Convenience will overwhelm any concern most drivers feel about their privacy, as is the case with phones.
[to be continued]
Subsub 1
Drivers Will Care About Emissions
Subsub 1
Subsub 2
Section II
Subsection A
Subsection B
You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable.
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