避免公司造假的好办法：物联网+创客文化

2015年下半年，大众汽车的排放丑闻轰动一时。通过在汽车中安装一款软件，大众汽车在美国监管部门实施的排放检测中造假，额外排放了累计近100万吨空气污染物。

如今，监管机构、立法者和其他人都在思考一个问题——如何避免这类丑闻再次发生？其中，开源软件是许多人建议的解决方案之一。另一种方法是随机抽验。

但我认为，这两种方法均属于两个更大的趋势——物联网和创客文化的发展。唯有将这两种趋势结合在一起，才能有效防止此类事件。物联网，以及连接到云且彼此互连的数据采集传感器日渐普及。此外，越来越多的人愿意通过创造自己的设备检测周围的世界。这些趋势最终将创造出一个始终处在监督之下的环境。

深受创客喜爱的树莓派（Raspberry Pi）电脑的创造者埃本•厄普顿表示：“以前，可能只有100个人拥有某种能够检测大众汽车排放量的工具，现在，我们似乎已经度过了低谷期，有无数人拥有能够监测这些数据的工具。这不仅要归功于可用的工具增多，也得益于科技文化的变化。”

厄普顿解释称，人们愿意利用科技，通过廉价的传感器进行实验，以检验企业所说的话是否真实。一两美元的传感器和普遍的怀疑精神，培养出这样一群人——他们愿意创建工具，验证周围的空气质量是否如环境保护局所说的那样。而且，厄普顿表示，随着一些公司将这类工具商业化，普通消费者进行这类测试只会变得更加容易。

他认为环保团体将引领这一趋势。

目前已经有一些项目试图通过使用志愿者配戴的空气质量传感器，跟踪城市的空气质量，比如AirCast。这些传感器可以实时监测排放量的变化，这意味着它们能够锁定污染更严重的汽车。在数据公开之后，大众汽车车主可能会看到这些数据，并怀疑为什么他们的汽车会产生如此严重的污染，但这家公司却在宣扬自家的汽车是多么清洁，他们随后就会亲自检测。

或者，你可以花240美元购买一台“空气质量蛋”，监测一氧化碳与一氧化二氮的浓度，并通过互联网加入全球空气质量监测网络。环保机构公布数据，允许人们将这些数据与其他数据结合，生成关联性，帮助发现高污染区域。甚至在大西洋中也有一台空气质量蛋。

Volkswagen is still reeling from the revelations that it lied to U.S. regulators and pumped nearly 1 million tons of extra pollutants into the air by installing software onto its cars to fool emissions tests. Now regulators, legislators and others are wondering how to prevent such a scandal from happening again. Open source software has been a suggested salve. So has random testing.

But I think these are part of two bigger trends that will come together to prevent these sort of shenanigans going forward—the Internet of things and the development of a maker culture. The Internet of things and its proliferation of data gathering sensors that are connected to the cloud and to each other combined with an increasing number of people who are comfortable building their own gear to experiment with the world around them will create an environment of constant scrutiny.

“It seems like we’ve gone through this trough where only 100 people in the world have the tools to test something like the Volkswagen emissions, to having a limitless number of people having the tool to detect this,” said Eben Upton, the creator of the Raspberry Pi computer, which is a computer beloved by makers. “But it’s not just that the tools are available, but that the tech culture has changed.”

Upton explained that people are willing to play with technology and experiment with cheap sensors to see if what they are being told is true. The combination of $1 or $2 sensors and a general skepticism has led a class of people to build tools to see if their air quality is really what the EPA is telling them. And, said Upton, as the tools are commercialized through companies, that ability to test will only get easier for the average consumer.

He thinks environmental groups will lead the charge.

Already there are projects such as AirCast that are trying to track air quality around cities using air quality sensors worn by volunteers. These sensors can detect changes in emissions in real time, which means they could pick up cars that pollute more often. Since that data is made public, someone who owns a Volkswagen might see the data and wonder why their car seems to be so dirty on the road when the company touts how clean it is and perform their own tests.

Or you can buy an Air Quality Egg for $240 that measures carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide and become part of a worldwide air quality monitoring effort linked over the Internet. The group shares the data, and allows people to combine it with other information to make correlations that could help detect areas of high pollution. There’s even an Air Quality Egg in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

但你还需要确定一批违反规定的大众汽车与高于预期的污染水平之间的关联性。不过，随着数据分析成本和难度不断降低，这并非遥不可及的目标。

此外，有一些业余爱好者和粉丝就是单纯地喜欢实验，而这正是创客文化和黑客文化的一部分。例如，我有一台设备可以测量家里每一条线路的用电量，而且我喜欢测量每台设备的实际用电量，与制造商宣称的耗电量之间的差异。我甚至希望像这些人一样，将这台设备显示的新特斯拉汽车充电所消耗的电量与汽车上显示的用电量进行对比。

这种趋势不仅限于电力。当前已有数十家初创公司推出了测量室内或室外空气质量的设备。Tzoa正在尝试让消费者带上传感器，测量室外空气质量，其他的初创公司，如Canary、Birdi、Withings Home Video Camera和Cube Sensors等，均推出了旨在保证室内空气质量安全的产品。很显然，并非只有黑客才能了解我们的环境状况。

随着廉价且互连的传感器的普及，创客文化和实验精神的扩展，民间团体逐渐接受这两种文化，并开始对我们周围的世界进行检测，未来将有越来越多的消费者掌握必要的工具，从而识破公司的谎言。破坏环境的企业会发现，它们将面临棘手的困境。（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

审校：任文科

Again, you’d need to make correlations between a cluster of offending Volkswagens and higher-than-expected pollution levels. However, in today’s era of cheap and easy data analysis such a thing isn’t too far fetched.

There are also hobbyists and fans who simply like to experiment, which is part of the maker and hacker culture. For example, I have a device that measures electricity usage in my home on each circuit, and I love measuring how much each device actually consumes compared to what it might say it does. I’m even eager to compare how much electricity I use charging my new Tesla based on what that device says as compared to my car, much like this person has.

It’s not just electricity. There are dozens of startups out there with devices trying to measure indoor or outdoor air quality. Tzoa is trying to get consumers to strap on a sensor to measure outdoor air quality, while other startups such as Canary, Birdi, Withings Home video camera, and Cube Sensors all have products aimed at ensuring the indoor air quality is safe. Clearly, hackers aren’t the only ones being empowered to understand what’s happening in their environment.

So, as cheap, connected sensors proliferate, a culture of making and experimenting expands, and civic groups embrace both attributes to start testing the world around them, more consumers will have the tools they need to tell if companies are lying. For those who are damaging the environment, they could find themselves having some sticky conversations.