Your new solution of "fuck the company" actually harms the enduser even more. Some of them get the updated lock... then the company goes out of business, and now none of them can get official parts for their vehicles. It seems a solution for an ideal world, not the actual world.
You'll note that I proposed other solutions first. To repeat myself: it is highly unlikely that there is not some possible workaround that temporarily disables the system, even if it's something as brute as snipping a wire.
Even in the absolute worst case that the vulnerability is somehow built into the very fabric of the car, you can still secure it by removing all valuables from the interior and then clamping a wheel with a boot. Remove the boot once you figure out a fix. Inconvenient to the owner to be sure, but not impossible to deal with.
Harm to the end user is not my priority. Harm to society is, and it's clear to me that the long-term chilling effects on academic research far outweigh any temporary harm from VM issuing a recall or even going bankrupt.
The alternative is to say that entity B should suffer from a restriction on their free speech simply because entity A, due to their own negligence, finds it excessively costly.
There are so many different ways this could be handled other than "threaten to throw the researcher in jail if he doesn't shut up". But they are all more inconvenient and costly to VW. One can understand why, then, VW would go for the "threaten" option, if we think of VW as a sort of non-moral profit-optimizing organism. But I certainly can't understand why anyone would defend it, let alone say that we would do the same thing.
Harm to the end user is not my priority. Harm to society is
Wholesale removal of personal transport (even 'while we work something out') is "harm to society".
the long-term chilling effects on academic research
Are you not overstating the significance of a paper? Does this paper hold the solution to free energy? The impending food crisis? Sure, it's not ideal, but let's not blow it out of proportion.
You're continually making very frustrating assumptions about the situation, assumptions that paint your argument in the best possible light, even though they are not IMO reasonable.
I repeat for the third time: it is highly unlikely that there is no temporary workaround. Clip a wire, pop a fuse, remove a module, or whatever, one of these will get the job done for the moment.
Finally, even if these cars must be disabled in the interim, it's hardly "wholesale", since it's just one brand of many. Alternatives exist.
Security research is important. Does this paper hold the solution to free energy? No, but the precedent set will discourage further research in this area, which could result in leaving the power grid vulnerable to black hats.
You say I'm overstating the significance of this paper. I say you're vastly overstating the significance of this paper, in terms of what would happen to VW, to VW owners, and to society in general, if the information got out.
The chilling effect on security research of these kinds of actions is fairly well established. There are real-world examples of security researchers deciding not to work on a particular project because they fear persecution. That's a loss to society.
On the other hand, there are no real-world examples of chaos resulting from disclosures of automobile security vulnerabilities, even though car security is, in general, quite lax.
So kindly please, stop with the hyperbole and hysteria.
I like how you accuse me of hyperbole and hysteria, but at the same time use both the arguments "cars should be immobilised if there's no other way" (ie: should not be used) and "there are no real-world examples of chaos resulting from disclosures of automobile security vulnerabilities". Even theoretically, why immobilise so many cars if chaos won't result? You want to have your cake and eat it, too.
Regarding 'wholesale', in context the term just means 'non-selective' and didn't mean every brand on the road. This being said, the arrogance of "Alternatives exist" has got to be pointed out: what alternatives? If you immobilise all the VWs, how will those commuters now proceed? Rent another car? Buy another car? Some might be able to catch public transport, but hardly all.
This links back to what I said about ideal vs real world - you think that it's tenable to just take one brand of vehicles off the road, which is clearly nonsense. Even if there were no temporary fix, the real-world response to fixing the issue would be to leave the cars available to the owners. The idea that you'd even contemplate booting as a considered option is just farcical.
What you describe as "have your cake and eat it" is just a reasoned discussion. I first start with what I think is the most likely scenario, but then I also examine a potential worst-case scenario and show how it, too, can be dealt with.
You appear to be interested in an adversarial discussion in which you score as many points as possible, rather than a collaboration in which we enjoy ourselves and learn. I'm not interested in that, so I'll leave you to it.
