Apple, Samsung, and Sony Face Child Labor Claims (amnestyusa.org) 187
An anonymous reader writes: Amnesty International has accused Apple, Samsung, Sony, and other tech companies of failing to do basic checks to ensure minerals used in their products are not mined by children. A new report explains how cobalt is harvested from mines by children as young as seven years old. The cobalt then ends up in lithium-ion batteries sold to device-makers throughout the world. The list of companies who use these batteries also includes Daimler, Dell, HP, Huawei, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Vodafone, Volkswagen, and ZTE. Amnesty International notes that half the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where many mining operations have terrible track records for accidents and concern for workers' welfare. They say, "the vast majority of miners spend long hours every day working with cobalt without the most basic of protective equipment, such as gloves, work clothes or facemasks to protect them from lung or skin disease." According to UNICEF, about 40,000 kids worked in mines across southern DRC in 2014.
Every Company with a Mobile Product (Score:2)
This article singles out a few companies, but are there any companies which produce mobile devices who are not as involved as Apply, Samsung, and Sony?
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Not Blackberry - all their phones are 100% built by Native Mountie Craftsmen.
Re:Every Company with a Mobile Product (Score:5, Funny)
The beavers collect the birch trees ... the moose mill them into components ... the geese assemble them ... the seagulls are in charge of packaging ... and the seals handle marketing ... and Temporary Foreign Workers write the code.
What do you guys use?
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Re:Every Company with a Mobile Product (Score:4, Funny)
They seemed pretty eager when we hired them.
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... the seals handle marketing ...
As well as final product approval.
Re:Every Company with a Mobile Product (Score:5, Informative)
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Amnesty International workers/members guilty (Score:4, Informative)
Amnesty International is no better than the ambulance chasing lawyer looking for the person/organization with the deepest pockets to exploit rather than going after the truly guilty. In this case Congo Dongfang Mining (CDM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese mineral giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd.
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I don't necessarily agree with what Amnesty International is saying, but they certainly have a right to say it, regardless of what cellphones they use.
Sure they do. It's still hypocritical when they benefit from cobalt of dubious providence just as much as everyone else. When and if they can prove that their own supply chain is free of child-labor-sourced cobalt, then they can make such accusations without hypocrisy—not before.
If Amnesty International actually wants to do something about child labor in cobalt mining, they should go there themselves and make sure that the children have better options than hiring themselves out to mine cobalt. On the
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It is not hypocritical to do so if they could not reasonably determine if child labor went into the production of the cell phone. It is quite reasonable for them to have iPhones, do a study find out if child labor was used and then not purchase any more phones from those manufactures until the address the issue.
Just like if any of those companies made reasonable efforts to ensure they where child labor free, and where deceived it would not be those companies fault, however once they knew continuing to those
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Just because I use a company's products, that does not mean I approve of every aspect of their behavior ...
Using exactly the same logic, just because Apple uses a manufacturer's service does not mean Apple approves of every aspect of the manufacturer's supply chain.
... nor does it mean I forfeit my right to criticize them
The criticism against Apple is misdirected as the criticism again Amnesty International workers and supporters. The Criticism is rightfully directed at Congo Dongfang Mining and its owner Chinese mineral giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd. But who would read a headline criticizing Zhejiang Huayou? So like an ambulance chasing lawyer Amnesty Internation
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Using exactly the same logic, just because Apple uses a manufacturer's service does not mean Apple approves of every aspect of the manufacturer's supply chain.
Except it is not the same logic. Apple has WAY more power over their suppliers than I have over Apple.
You assume that Apple knew of this failure to comply with its contracts and did nothing.
And to continue with the comparison, Amnesty International has the power to buy products and services that are abuse free just like Apple has that power.
Re:Amnesty International workers/members guilty (Score:4, Insightful)
There are very clear requirements in the international agreements on conflict minerals and child labour. They require Sony, Samsung, Apple etc to obtain documentation from their supplier that the parts they are supplying are free from issues. I am sure those companys are complying with that requirement. The problem is lower in the chain where documentation is being fraudulently provided by someone who knows they are making a false declaration.
Amnesty has a rosy eyed view of the world where manufacturers of end products have infinite resources at their disposal to go and audit their suppliers' suppliers' suppliers... to n degrees of separation with n being as large as necessary to get back to the source. But the general public is not willing to pay the price that would cost, Amnesty members included.
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Amnesty has a rosy eyed view of the world where manufacturers of end products have infinite resources at their disposal to go and audit their suppliers' suppliers' suppliers... to n degrees of separation with n being as large as necessary to get back to the source.
No, Amnesty International know that a PR statement about Zhejiang Huayou will get no press attention. So they mention Apple, Samsung and Sony instead; going after the "deep pockets" with respect to media attention. The ambulance chaser analogy fits too.
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Hypocrites. Amnesty International workers and members who use an Apple, Samsung or Sony phone or laptop are just as "guilty" as Apple, Samsung or Sony.
Baloney. Just because I use a company's products, that does not mean I approve of every aspect of their behavior, nor does it mean I forfeit my right to criticize them.
I don't necessarily agree with what Amnesty International is saying, but they certainly have a right to say it, regardless of what cellphones they use.
You've financially supported the very activity that is hurting Environment/Children/Whatever, and then you want to criticize them for that activity?!? Seriously?!?!?
I get it, but it's stupid. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I get it, but it's stupid. (Score:4)
Its hard question. At some point it becomes very difficult to know even if you want to known where things are coming from. If you buy "finished" battery cells as a unit, how all the various things that went into them were sourced might not be discoverable easily, its not like your supplier is going to necessarily give you all the details on their suppliers, especially if they are in a different country with radically different regs.
The clothing industry has been dealing with this for two decades now. Certainly there are fewer inputs to a tea length dress, than a high density ultra light battery and the clothing industry can't seem to figure it out. I don't know how the tech industry could.
The trouble is if you excuse ignorance, that invites willful ignorance and allows the abuse to continue.
"Dealing" with it (Score:3)
There was a great video on the topic by John Oliver as to how exactly how clothing companies have been "dealing" with the same issue. Basically it is about plausible deniability. Except in this analogy (Tech VS Clothing), it is another degree of separation. Company A (Clothing/Technology Company) deals with a Company B (Supplier) usually in China/India/Etc... and is told to adhere to code of ethics. Company B subcontracts out to Company C and D (also Suppliers). Company C and D subcontract out to Companies
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I know of someone that has, as a hobby, spent many many years sewing all sorts of things. After all of that, apparently it took him about five hours to create something that could pass as a t-shirt you could sell, starting from scratch. If you paid someone five hours of labor for even your cheapest t-shirt, even at Chinese labor prices, you couldn't afford your wardrobe
Right but my point is that I would be surprised if your friend who does all the sewing even knows where that cotton was woven, if he or she knows that do they know all the different places the raw cotton was picked, who removed the seeds and spun it? The chain of inputs to most modern products is quite long. Even what we think of as from scratch really isn't. Well unless you a wearing a deer hide stitched with the animals own gut, you personal ran down and bludgeoned to death with a rock.
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Believe it or not, a friend of mine can and does make clothes from pelts. Hunts with a bow he made from natural materials. Dude is a true badass of the highest order.
He does wear regular clothes to his job as a software developer. But if anybody is going to survive the zombie apocalypse, it's the Urban Aboriginal.
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And mining has to be waaay down the subcontrator chart. I can't fathom blaming Apple for how materials are mined.
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Well, now you can. The cat is out of the bag. It's the point of the article.
At this point, Apple now knows child labor is being used in their products, so are you going to give them a pass from today going forward? Maybe, maybe not. But I am guessing where we are in 2016, the majority of people would expect Apple to cut all ties unless they fixed it.
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okay, the cat is out of the bag.
Will you still buy a Samsung phone? If not, will you buy any phone? You see, the problem is they *all* have the same problem that some portion of their supply chain may (and probably does) include some form of worker abuse.
So: do you throw out your phone that was produced on the backs of children? Why not? You have been informed and can no longer deny that you are profiting from child labor (and other forms of abuse).
Unless you:
1) grow or hunt all of your own food
2) only util
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Would mod this up if I had points.
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When you go to the fuel pump to put more fuel in your car, can you be 100% sure that all the way back to the hole in the ground where the oil was pumped out, that there wasn't a labor violation of some kind?
What are you going to do about that? Because that's what you are asking of Apple / Samsung / Sony here, except it's even harder for them, because they are buying components made out of refined materials, not the refined materials.
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The trouble is, the "nth party removed" defense has been used and abused so much that activists have got wise.
You think a company like Apple does not have incredibly competent buyers, with years of experience and great knowledge of exactly, but exactly, where their stuff comes from, even "n" layers removed?
Equally, you think they don't have clauses in their T&Cs specifying that their suppliers' suppliers' suppliers don't boil fairies and castrate unicorns to make the product?
Sure they do.
And everybody k
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The point is: if Amnesty brings this up with Foxconn, that company will just laugh at them and the public will ask "who the hell is Foxconn?". By going after Apple and Sony, they create much more awarenes
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Re:I get it, but it's stupid. (Score:4, Interesting)
Ethically and morally sound?
Ridiculous drivel.
Tell me this: If their economy is so great that jobs are abound, that children need not work, that adults enjoy the great luxuries of running water and steak dinner every night, then *why* do they send their children to the mines? What sadistic creature would send their own child to labor under heathens in unsanitary, deleterious conditions unfit for man or beast?
I'm sure you feel very proud of yourself for sending these children off to starve, saving them the pain of calloused hands, abused joints, and scarred lungs. It seems very ethical to take away a man's food when that food is not fit for men of dignity, and leave him hungry so as to save him from such savagery.
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...there has to be a point at which the blame is on the supplier and not the buyer...
Blame accomplishes nothing. Boycotting would.
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They have to be accountable for the actions of a 3rd party? I understand sourcing responsible materials is ethically and morally sound, but there has to be a point at which the blame is on the supplier and not the buyer....right?
At some point. Whaddya bet the people at Amnesty Int'l are still using iPhones?
Buyers are blameless ... (Score:2)
They have to be accountable for the actions of a 3rd party? I understand sourcing responsible materials is ethically and morally sound, but there has to be a point at which the blame is on the supplier and not the buyer....right?
Yes, absolutely, buyers should be blameless. Especially the Amnesty international workers and supporters who use Apple, Samsung or Sony phones or laptops.
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If they know it's happening then they need to cut ties with the supplier even if it's not ideal. No knowing or pretending not to know is a whole other.
In this case they know because it's been presented to them time and time again.
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So you're basically saying that all companies everywhere should just stop making stuff. Because companies like Apple, Samsung and Sony are already using the most reputable suppliers there are in the business. And apparently that is not enough.
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In this case, Amnesty's report [amnesty.org] indicates that the complete chain is a bit longer than the summary suggests. In fact, the full chain is more like:
Miners in the DRC using child labor ->
Congo Dongfang Mining (CDM) ->
Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd (CDM's parent company) ->
three battery component manufacturers in China and South Korea ->
battery makers ->
Sony/Apple/Samsung/Volkswagen/Microsoft/Daimler
Moreover, while child labor is horrible and needs to be stopped, Amnesty's headline of "Exposed: Child
You hold them accountable (Score:2)
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Re:I didn't know what our contractor was doing... (Score:5, Insightful)
And the battery manufacturer didn't subcontract to child miners - They bought individual mass-produced cells and wired them into the desired form factor and electrical characteristics.
And the battery cell manufacturer didn't subcontract to child miner - They bought the various electrolytes and pre-made membranes that get wrapped up and turned into individual battery cells.
And the electrolyte manufacturers didn't subcontract to child miners - They bought simple precursor chemicals that they use as feedstock in producing highly specialized battery electrolytes.
And the precursor chemical manufacturers - Think names like DOW, DuPont, BASF, Exxon, Eastman, etc - didn't subcontract to child miners - They bought cobalt metal on the open commodities market and turned it into convenient, commonly used reagents that have a million and one downstream applications.
Now - The cobalt refiners, they might have bought directly from the mining companies that in turn use child labor. Of course, they no doubt buy from a huge pool of mostly-legitimate miners and don't have the resources to police every hole in the ground that sends them the occasional barrel of crushed ore.
But yeah, let's blame Samsung here for one small portion of a looong supply chain over which they have little control beyond their immediate vendors.
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This is the only rational response. Amnesty International is trolling for headlines, and possibly "donations"...
Doesn't Amnesty International practice deniability (Score:2)
"Subcontractor" is business speak for "positive deniability", hence the current popularity of contractors.
And what of the Amnesty International workers and supporters who are using Apple, Samsung and Sony phones and laptops. Aren't they engaging in deniability?
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As opposed to "Socialism in Action" which includes "hey you can't use that, or that , or that, or that or that ...." Because of some bug, slug, rock formation, the 1% or the .....
And denying income to people because you don't like kids working, when they are likely the only wages they'll ever see is cruel. Yeah, better for the kids to starve because there is no income than to have them work in mines.
In other words, for every choice you make, there is likely to be something someone can criticize.
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Your an idiot (Score:2)
Here's a radical, crazy, batshit insane idea. Why don't we pay their parents enough so that their kids don't have to work in dangerous mines? Now _that's_ socialism. Preserving species from extinction is Environmentalism. They have absolutely fucking nothing to do with each other except sometimes socialists happen to be environmentalists. We're also humanists first and foremost.
When someone criti
Oh, and I'm an idiot... (Score:2)
Re:Take off the first-world goggles (Score:4, Insightful)
I kind of agree with you, but receiving stolen property is a crime. Why not receiving child-abuse property?
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I kind of agree with you, but receiving stolen property is a crime. Why not receiving child-abuse property?
In countries where there is no free education or free medicine, no welfare or food stamps; where a child may very well starve if they don't work - is giving them work really child abuse ?
While unthinkable to us in our comfortable protected societies, there are those who have little choice.
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Even if that "seller"'s only buisness is that single buyer, or a small group of buyers?
Let's not. (Score:2)
When a buyer, say HP, gets parts and sells it with their brand on it and supports the parts under their warranty, it effectively becomes their product. You can no longer just point your finger over there. The finger is at HP, because their name is all over it. There is a difference here, and I hope you're not being willfully obtuse about it, because companies can and do decide who to do business with.
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When you buy a phone and say that it is your phone, why isn't it your product? Why do you as a consumer get off easy? Aren't you another link on a long chain of questionable practices?
I can't help noticing that consumers... (Score:3)
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Amnesty International has accused Apple, Samsung, Sony,
I believe they just pointed the finger at Samsung and Sony so your "never" statement is untrue.
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in particular with fingers pointed on Apple, never Samsung,
You mean never as in like the title of this very story which doesn't count because REASONS.
Apple is one of the largest,most visible and most profitable companies. They're going to catch flak for exploiting child labour because they can afford not to. They could devote $1bn per year to researching these things and that would cut into their net profit by under 1%.
They should catch flak.
The fact that others should catch flak too doesn't in any way excu
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...always swear themselves free of participation in this, in particular Android users. Not a troll post. Just think about what camp it is always bringing this up, in particular with fingers pointed on Apple, never Samsung, never LG, never HTC etc.
Such bitterness from Apple trolls.
All you've done there is throw together a bunch of random company names after a half baked accusation at Android users.
I dont hate to break this to you but a lot of companies actually take steps to ensure their components are sourced as best they can and that they are fair to their workers. LG in particular who Chinese workers get the same pay and conditions as their Taiwanese workers, same with Asus (both Taiwanese companies, the Taiwanese government comes down hard
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Simple (Score:2)
Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (Score:2)
http://www.conflictfreesourcin... [conflictfreesourcing.org]
I would love to know what this initiative really do and what there need to fix the problem.
Didn't we used to shove 7 year olds up chimneys? (Score:3)
Whilst their siblings worked in the mills because they were small enough to crawl into the machinery and would be lucky if they came out alive?
Sure, we have moved on from child labour, but it took time and social / economical development to achieve. Why should we then suddenly impose our current position upon a developing nation?
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Why should we then suddenly impose our current position upon a developing nation?
Because the best way for them to develop is to stop using child labor and start educating their children in things that bring value in the international market.
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like sitting behind a computer all day while the world eats our manufacturing base? Even Gary Kildall said its no problem cause everyone in America are innovators, and what a load of horseshit that 1980's mentality has turned out to be
let them run their own damn country for once, we are not the world's nanny
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The qualifier is retarded. Information work is useful, but not "because everyone in America are innovators". We are still making things; they're less tangible.
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You need a market before you can have progress. Granted, improving infrastructure can create productivity; that requires an investment of wealth, which requires productivity. Either they labor and produce and trade their labor, thus increasing their wealth by increasing their productive output per capita (and trading it to other nations to buy things they have no means to produce), and then apply this wealth to the development of new, more productive means; or we essentially invade, claim the mantle of be
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Here is what is going on in DRC:
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So they have political troubles. An industrial society would deal with that--have you seen the tax structure and government corruption in the United States?--and still get along fine. An industrial society would also already have active markets, with high demand for products.
As humans designed new production methods using machines, the demand for steel increased. Note that a production method requiring 200 labor-hours won't replace itself with a machine-driven production method requiring 50 labor-hours
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have you seen the tax structure and government corruption in the United States?
Transparency International Corruption Perception Index for the USA is 74/100, for DRC it is 22/100, a rating that ranks it 154th out of 175 countries. Not quite the same thing.
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Corporate taxes are near 40% in the US. Free trade tariff of 11% is unimpressive, but I get the difference in income tax versus a tariff: a tariff behaves more like an increased labor cost (it raises the monetary expenditure of production, same as having no tax and increasing wages or labor time per volume production). You can compare these as long as you don't take them as direct analogs.
The US government frequently works by bribes, power plays, and other unsound behavior. This brings favoritism lea
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Holy crap. A truly intelligent, insightful post that understands the big picture is far more complex than X is bad and Y is good.
I'm not sure how to react. Please say something inflammatory and insulting instead.
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Sure, we have moved on from child labour,
Indeed, we and we also understand that paying other people to shove children down mines is not functionally different from shoving them down there ourselves.
Why should we then suddenly impose our current position upon a developing nation?
We don't. They can shove children down mines all day long on their own dime. But we collectively realised we don't want to be responsible for it so we are not going to pay them to use child labour.
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Because it is not the same thing. We are talking about Africa, not China, their dictators basically enslave the people using the very weaponry the developed world produces. At what point do we say, "No, we should intervene"? Do we let the child soldiers in Africa roam free looting and pillaging their people & resources so that the master can buy higher end weapons from us to support his effort? Hitting closer to home, if the South won the Civil war, became a nation, and kept slavery; should northern
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but can't we atleast say that labor shifts can't be more than 9 hours long? The underlying reason being that 1 person working for 16 hours is less effective than 2 people working 8 each?
You can say that, but it doesn't work.
The person just has 2 jobs with two 8 hour shifts and now has to move between two jobs.
In fact, depending on how things are setup, the 2 people might swap jobs, moving between 2 buildings at the 8 hour point, with each building "owned" by a different company, but really not.
You're trying to change economics by decree, it just doesn't work. Too many external factors are at play.
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I'm fairly certain traps of that type are not legal in my state.
Otherwise the rules and regulations of another country should be out of reach of our country aside from embargos and such. We can only deal with the business operating on our soil. Most like to outsource supplies sourcing for ease of management for the extremely large quantities needed.
But after a couple dozen subcontractors I can imagine it gets difficult to find out anything.
Trump will force Apple to mine Cobalt in USA (Score:5, Funny)
In keeping with his current theme, Candidate Trump claimed that if the supply line is the problem to Apple making their products here, he will allow *American* seven-year-olds to mine for Cobalt in the United States, making America Great Again and competitive in the world.
Response. (Score:2)
Sent from my iPhone.
DRC (Score:2)
Here is what one is dealing with in the DRC:
The Democratic Republic of Congo remains plagued by wide-ranging conflict between government forces that historically have been backed by Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe and rebels supported by Uganda and Rwanda. Much of the eastern part of the country remains embroiled in conflict. In 2006, Joseph Kabila won the first multi-party election in 40 years. He was re-elected in December 2011 in a flawed and violent election. Rebel groups including the Lord's Resistance A
Fairphone (Score:2)
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Yup, my wife and I decided that the only way we'd buy diamonds is if they came from a conflict-free source, which meant buying Polar Ice diamonds from Canada as they were the only source not tainted by DeBeers that could be reliably traced (I'm not sure if the situation has changed since we made our decision, that was 15 years ago and the conflict free movement has received a lot more support since then). We paid a slight premium for the stones, but the fact that they were being custom set was the major exp
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The only diamonds I buy are in cut off blades. Should I be worrying where Makita gets their fine diamonds?
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Most industrial diamonds are lab created as it's cheaper than digging them out of the ground.
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A 2 carat H SI1 round lab created diamond isn't any cheaper than the same class diamond from Canada. I just did a quick online search and that's still as true as it was 15 years ago (I guess the DeBeers mafia has convinced enough folks that synthetic diamonds aren't as good that there's been little progress in the technology)
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Sounds like an education issue to me. Make sure consumers know the repercussions of their purchasing decisions, then let them choose for themselves. Just like organic food, if there is enough demand for exploitation-free products, a supply will be created. Given the current popularity of shopping at Walmart, I suspect most people don't give at shit how their products are created, as long as they are cheap!
First of all, your argumet that if the marked does not value non-explotation as an absolute unacceptability, then it is perfectly fine for some explotation to exists seems extremely unemphatically. Are you someone that don't give a shit over other people's health and dignity?
And secondly, educating consumers does not work, Zane, D.M. (et al.) Do less ethical consumers denigrate more ethical consumers? The effect of willful ignorance on judgments of others. Journal of Consumer Psychology (2015) [sciencedirect.com]
Re:This is stupid (Score:4, Interesting)
Why should we continue to embrace the idea that amoral companies can do anything they choose in the name of profits?
Why should we continue to give a damn what companies think is best for them?
Why the fuck have we mistaken "shareholder value" for "the economy"?
Big fucking deal, the 1% make a better ROI on Apple et al because we let them act like sociopaths, if it's only the corporations and major stock holders who benefit?
Fuck that, all these companies gutting the economy for their own profits doesn't help all but the richest people. And it's time we stopped giving a fuck about what benefits the richest people.
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Big fucking deal, the 1% make a better ROI on Apple et al because we let them act like sociopaths
You might want to look at how many Americans own Apple stock.
Why should we continue to embrace the idea that amoral companies can do anything they choose in the name of profits?
Have you visited the USSR recently? I'm sure they would love you.
Re:This is stupid (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, I understand economics.
I understand that the modern lie of continued profit growth for companies is impossible, I understand that it's bullshit to say maximizing shareholder value drives the economy instead of just leeching off it, I understand that cutting taxes for the rich will never ever do anything for anybody but the rich, I understand that letting corporations play shell games to avoid taxes doesn't help anybody but them.
Modern economics is a whole series of bullshit lies which mostly ensure the 1% owns more and more while leaving the rest of us to beg for scraps.
Having the world dictated based on what is good for sociopath corporations is only of benefit to those sociopath corporations, and the rich investors who make the money. And it doesn't do a damned bit of good for the rest of us.
Offshoring is just corporations changing part of an economy into "shareholder value" at the expense of the nation who lost the jobs ... it's nations subsidizing shareholder profits, but it sure as fuck doesn't benefit the nation.
Modern economics is such a web of lies and bullshit as to defy any form of credibility. It's just theft on a global scale.
Re: This is stupid (Score:2)
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Yup, you're a fucking moron.
If I had the resources to invest in them and change their policy, I'd be vastly wealthy.
Keep flapping your gums idiot, but don't pretend like the market isn't a stacked deck which only benefits a small number of people.
You might as well suggest chocolate pudding and unicorn farts would solve these problems. Because you'd be just as clueless and unaware of reality.
Save your bullshit for someone else.
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You're going to pop a blood vessel with all that rage and anger...
Re:Tesla? (Score:5, Informative)
Electric vehicles are the biggest growth area, but other devices are currently the biggest demand.
at least according to financial prospectus [globalstra...talsnl.com], and I always tend to follow the money.
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They don't get as big a headline as putting Apple in it.
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Profit Post!
Tomorrow: Apple Putting Physicians Out Of Work
TFS: An apple a day keeps the doctor away, as more Americans eat apples, doctors are seeing appointments drop and are struggling to make ends meet. Meanwhile the demand for apples have increased beyond the market's ability to supply them. Reports abound that child labor in Washington is being used to harvest apples, with children not being given helmets and being repeatedly struck on the head, leading to gravitation being discovered at an alarming ra
Re:Tesla? (Score:5, Informative)
Would not Tesla be the biggest offender.
No. Tesla sources cobalt from North American mines [stockhouse.com].
Are they not the biggest user of lithium batteries?
No. Several cellphone manufacturers use more lithium batteries than Tesla. Tesla is not even the biggest manufacturer of electric cars.
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These are just some Musk dreams about the future, not current reality. They buy batteries from Panasonic, only small fraction of Nevada factory is in production now. Who knows what are their sources. Anyway it tells something about "clean & green" lithium battery cars. Lithium battery production was never clean or green. You may put "powered by child labor" sticker on your car, as it still propels market price for cobalt encouraging these kind of abuses.
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you do realize that probably does not say what you think it does right?
Really other than ag we have new papers (bike routes), actors, self employed (mom and pop stores)
Those few exceptions does not cancel out the general rule.
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That's surprising.
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