According to records filed in the case, Achtemeier conspired with mechanics in garages and operators of truck fleets to disable the anti-pollution software installed on diesel trucks.

Coconspirators who wanted to disable their trucks’ pollution control hardware system—a process commonly known as “deleting”—sought Achtemeier’s help to trick the truck’s software into believing the emissions control systems were still functional, a process known as “tuning.”

Monitoring software on a deleted truck will detect that the pollution control hardware is not functioning and will prevent the truck from running. Achtemeier disabled the monitoring software on his client’s trucks by connecting to laptops he had provided to various coconspirators. Some of the coconspirators would pass the laptop on to others seeking to have the anti-pollution software disabled on their trucks. Once the laptop was hooked up to the truck’s onboard computer, Achtemeier could access it from his computer and tune the software designed to slow the truck if the pollution control device was missing or malfunctioning. Achtemeier could “tune” trucks remotely, which enabled him to maximize his environmental impact and personal profit.

  • mindbleach
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    5 days ago

    This is the weird thing about the 'both sides are the same ’ thing. They have been trained to believe that for every fact there’s a contra-fact. The sky is blue? You’re being conned by people who want to control what you believe, so it’s actually red. We have photographic evidence and every type of scientific imaging confirming the sky is blue? The really smart people understand that homogeneity of thought means you’re missing the truth hidden by other media sources, sky just got ten shades redder.

    They no longer understand how ideas are constructed. They believe that ideas that contradict the established truth that are clearly pulled out of their asses as a reaction to truth should be considered alongside the truth as an equally possible theory. When those ideas are dismissed by other outlets out of hand because of their clear lack of foundation, they take that as proof of bias and steel themselves against reality even further. This isn’t new behavior. Fox is just realizing how little factual basis is required by their viewership and they’re floating these contra-facts faster and looser.

    – /u/RanchMeBrotendo