A good lesson to learn. "I was just following orders" is just as poor of an excuse for engineers as it was for nazis.
Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to HN? (Especially with Nazis.)
VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
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Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
#92How do we the title changed so it says this guy was an executive? At the time I write this post many comments are claiming the execs will go free and this guy just took a fall. The article clearly says this guy was a low ranking executive, other executive were charged and this guy plead guilty, implying he rolled on them (but not stating that).
We've added that above.
Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
#93Can we get the title changed to "VW engineering exec"? As it stands, I think it's a bit misleading
Agreed; done.
Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you don't have the time to read the actual article, read the other comments - the managers are also facing jail-time. Also, this guy wasn't a regular engineer, he's also an executive, the title is misleading.
That's an interesting definition of "executive". I guess journalism these days can make an exec out of anyone - can't wait to read about e.g. a toilet cleaning executive.
In another article his role is described as "head of the Diesel Competence unit in the U.S."
Maybe not directly comparable to a janitor.
Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
#95Clickbait title. This was not a lowly engineer. This was an executive engineer.
Indeed. We added 'executive' above.
Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
#96In these comments: A bunch of people who clearly didn't read the article.
Would you please not post unsubstantive comments here? Just because a thread is bad doesn't mean you should worsen it.
If you know more than others, don't put them down; teach us.
Edit: your recent comments have been crossing into incivility and you've done that (and we've warned you) many times before. If you keep doing this we will ban you, so would you please (re-)read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and start being scrupulously civil when commenting here? We'd greatly appreciate your help to stave off the decline of this place at least a little longer.
Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
#97Not questioning his innocence, but will the executives involved be held to the same legal standard? EDIT: FTA > U.S. prosecutors have charged eight current and former Volkswagen executives in connection with the diesel emissions cheating probe. Liang is one of the lowest-ranking executives charged so far. > Another VW executive, Oliver Schmidt, has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in Detroit on Dec. 6.…
> but will the executives involved be held to the same legal standard Yes, they will, but Germany will not extradite them. They already made that clear. And it is very unlikely that the german court system will prosecute them. Haven't heard anything yet, because this might inflict the politicians who backed this Diesel emission testing system for decades. They didn't even go to the technical root yet. Only one made t…
Why will they not, do they fear they will not get a fair trial in the US or will be punished worse than their crimes dictate?
Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's an interesting definition of "executive". I guess journalism these days can make an exec out of anyone - can't wait to read about e.g. a toilet cleaning executive.
In another article his role is described as "head of the Diesel Competence unit in the U.S." Maybe not directly comparable to a janitor.
It was a hyperbole; anyway, his current position is irrelevant, important is what positions he held while developing this software (which was deployed for many years). Article mentions "Liang is still employed by Volkswagen but no longer works as an engineer".
Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
#99Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doubtful. He made his decisions as an adult, fully aware of what was right/legal - he could have refused but chose not to.
True, they did make a choice. The nuance I'm interested in is whether a person in this situation would reasonably assume they would lose their job, or promotion opportunities, etc, if they didn't do the illegal task as asked. And if so, does that create a civil liability?
I'm not sure that it would; the preferred route would be to refuse to perform the illegal request, and then make a claim against the employer if retaliation ensued. Of course, one could say one was under economic coercion, but that may be hard to demonstrate (as opposed to merely infer) and it's a difficult equitable argument to sustain.