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Comment by grecy | Hacker News Reader

> The settlement amount was determined due to the company's inability to shoulder a higher payment.

I love it! Break the law but pay a small fine because you can’t afford the regular fine!

This may be a surprise to you, but if they can't pay the larger fine... it just goes unpaid. Funny that. Nor does escalation likely work... if you go seize all the office chairs and other assets, then they can no longer conduct the business which would eventually make it possible for them to pay the fine.

Attempting to be more harsh often results in less harsh results.

Wiping out all the equityholders and wiping out everything they've worked to build is a much harsher penalty than some money. The point isn't to actually get money from them.

> The point isn't to actually get money from them.

No, I suppose it isn't. The point, I think, is that you're irrationally jealous of other people doing things, and like to see them spitefully stomped into the ground. But it's good to hear you be honest about it.

Don't know where you got that, until seeing this, I didn't know or care about Cobb, I'm certainly not jealous of them. I was just saying that the EPA is not trying to optimize the amount of money they get, they're just trying to punish without killing the company, that would be much harsher than what they're going for.

It looks like they want the company to stick around long enough to brick/cripple the existing devices. If they force them into bankruptcy with an enormous fine, presumably nobody will clean up the mess.

Or...just go through their customer list and revoke the registration of any vehicles that were modified. Customers can then pay for having vehicle inspected at the DMV.

Or maybe you let the kids have a little fun and don't worry about it.

Big business has been pulling the "whoopsie we're bankrupt" for decades. It's only inevitable that it would trickle down.

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