More than 30 years ago, when electronic price-calculating scales began to be used in the private trade market, the people, metrology technical institutions and managers finally breathed a sigh of relief: violators could no longer cheat by changing the weight of the floating weight and the added weight. However, with the widespread use of electronic weighing instruments today, the cheating problem 30 years ago has reappeared in today's trade: a certain number of electronic weighing instruments have been modified to have cheating functions, especially the cheating functions achieved by modifying the software, which are less likely to be discovered by consumers and more concealed. Compared with mechanical weighing instruments, the modification of electronic weighing instruments for the purpose of cheating has high technical content and hidden methods. The modified instruments have the effect of evading supervision, and even professionals cannot easily obtain evidence of cheating. If this phenomenon is not stopped, it will not only seriously infringe on the interests of consumers, but also have negative factors on the harmony, stability and healthy development of society. The former General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China set up a "Non-automatic Scale Special Working Group" in 2010 to study and solve the problem of taking control measures from the hardware of the weighing instrument to make the cheating scale unable to work. Only in this way can the cheating phenomenon be curbed from the source. However, it is very difficult to take control measures from the hardware or source code and make corresponding provisions only in technical regulations. Therefore, the Software Evaluation Center of the China Institute of Metrology has carried out the compilation of the "Digital Indicator Scale Software Credibility Evaluation Method". For anti-cheating work, the "People's War" method, one of the cores of Mao Zedong's military thought, should also be adopted to carry out governance against cheating activities in all aspects. We cannot rely on the power of only one part, some professionals, and we should mobilize industry experts, metrology technical institutions, industrial and commercial management departments, manufacturers, and users from the perspective of the rule of law to carry out work in management, technology, manufacturing and production, and publicity and education. Whether it is "external interference cheating" or "illegal operation by users", the basis of both is on the two links of "design" and "manufacturing". In the future, as computers penetrate deeper into the field of weighing instruments, it will be difficult to eliminate cheating using the currently prescribed methods (whether hardware or software). Cheating is a social phenomenon that cannot be eliminated by technical means alone. This will be a long and arduous social task. To eliminate cheating in weighing instruments in society, the designers and manufacturers of weighing instruments need to assume more social responsibilities, and they need to increase legal supervision and increase the cost of crime. On October 18, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that China will propose the Global Initiative on Artificial Intelligence Governance. The Initiative systematically expounds on the Chinese solution for artificial intelligence governance in three aspects: artificial intelligence development, security and governance. We should also take advantage of this favorable situation and make our own efforts in all aspects in the field of governance of electronic pricing scales.
Regarding the control of basic parameters of electronic price computing scales
① The design of the controller should ensure that the control action can only enter the designed state, unless all indication programs cannot be executed during operation. The buttons should be clearly marked.
② Protection measures must be provided for devices that are prohibited from contact or adjustment. This protection measure can be hardware or software. The method is to fix the management seal or lead seal with a diameter of not less than 5mm in a conspicuous position; the method is to authorize the personnel who modify the specific parameters of the device, record the number of times entering the protection operation mode, and be able to display the modification program and compare it with the original data.
③ Electronic price computing scales can be set with automatic or semi-automatic range adjustment devices. The device should be installed inside the scale and integrated with it. After being protected, it is impossible for the outside to affect it, and the markings on the measuring device should correspond one by one and be clearly visible.
3.2.4 Special requirements for electronic price-calculating scales
① When the load is applied to the load-bearing device and the indication is stable, the weight indication, unit price and payment amount shall be maintained for at least 1 second after any unit price is entered.
② If there is a stable weight indication that is not zero, these indications shall be maintained for no more than 3 seconds after unloading and returning to zero. After unloading, as long as there is a weight indication, the unit price cannot be re-entered or changed.
③ If the transaction conducted by the electronic price-calculating scale is printed, the weight value, unit price and payment amount shall be printed at the same time.
④ Before printing, the data can be stored in the memory of the electronic price-calculating scale. On the receipt given to the consumer, the data of the same transaction shall not be printed twice.
⑤ Only when all transactions conducted by the electronic price-calculating scale or the peripheral equipment connected to it are printed on the receipt or label provided to the consumer, the electronic price-calculating scale can perform additional functions that facilitate trade and management, and these functions shall not cause confusion in weighing results and price calculations.
⑥ Electronic price-calculating scales can accumulate transaction records of one or more bills. The total price should be displayed on the payment amount display and printed on the last line of the payment column with a special text or symbol, or printed on a separate label or bill. The separate label and bill have reference symbols corresponding to the accumulated payment amounts. All accumulated payment amounts should be printed, and the total price should be the algebraic sum of these printed amounts. ⑦ Directly use key operations to change the scale indication. That is, regardless of whether there are items on the carrier, the legal relevant parameters of the scale can be directly changed by pressing different key combinations, and different proportions of parameters can be obtained by pressing different key combinations or function keys according to the relevant settings. At present, this form of cheating is the most common, and the operation is simple and fast. The cheating state is invalid after shutting down and restarting. It should be noted that in this type of software cheating, cheating in different weight ranges can be achieved through settings, such as cheating in weight indications within 1kg~5kg (generally commonly used weighing), and weighing outside this range is still normal. ⑧ Convert kilograms to catties. Kilograms (kg) are the legal measurement units in my country. Since the traditional weight measurement unit in my country is catties, catties are still used for daily transaction settlement. In order to meet the needs of vendors using electronic price-calculating scales, manufacturers have built-in kilogram-to-catty conversion programs, which can be changed through certain key combinations. However, the display measurement unit of the electronic price-calculating scale has not changed. The current weight is directly multiplied by 2 to achieve the conversion purpose, which provides some vendors with an opportunity to take advantage of it. For example, only 2kg of goods are sold, but the weight is converted to 4kg, especially in night markets and food stalls. 3.2.5 Manufacturers change the original approved type without authorization
Article 17 of the "Measures for the Administration of New Products of Measuring Instruments"[6] stipulates that any unit "manufacturing measuring instruments that have obtained type approval shall not change the original approved type without authorization. If major improvements are made to the original product in terms of structure, material, key components, etc., resulting in changes in performance and technical characteristics, a new application for type approval shall be made." However, some unscrupulous operators further falsify the product on the basis of poor quality and arbitrarily change the key components of the product: weighing sensor, motherboard, weighing indicator, power supply component, etc.
3.2.6 Instructions or data that may cause the following situations cannot be input into the price computing scale through the interface
① The displayed data is not clearly defined, which may cause confusion in the weighing result.
② Falsification of the displayed, processed or stored weighing results.
③ Adjustment of the electronic price computing scale, or change of any adjustment factor. However, the instruction is issued through the interface, and the adjustment procedure is executed using the range adjustment device inside the electronic price computing scale. ④ Forging main instructions on electronic price-calculating scales that sell goods directly to the public.
3.2.7 Data storage
① Electronic price-calculating scales should have sufficient storage space to meet their usage requirements.
