Yeah, that was me as a kid in the LA smog. I agree with you point hence propose actual results when getting your car smogged as opposed to a blanket opposition to any tunes or hardware from developers who don’t pay their tithe.
Folks seem to think doing business in this area should not have any regulation for developers. There hasn't been any but the market has gotten so big it was bound to happen.
The idea is much like the same stuff auto manufacturers go through. You smog and safety test a small pool of the model/year car you intend to make thousands of and go through certifications. Once those cars are fully tested you don't have to test each car for emissions and safety.
Same for developers of tunes and performance hardware. They are going on street cars. Testing a few of each engine they intend to support and show that they pass emissions makes more sense than just letting developers and manufacturers flood the market with what ever they want and then have folks like ARB try and find all those cars that shouldn't be on the road. It has become an insurmountable task to enforce.
I am happy they are going after the developers and manufacturers, because it will push developers and manufacturers to provide more approved choices that allow us to mod our cars without emissions problems. Like the new APR turbo/tune that OP started this thread with that provides a huge increase in power and is CARB approved. Prior, you could get the power but no CARB.