It's tough work running the multi-billion dollar industrial powerhouse that is Hon Hai Precision Industry. First you get
slammed with damning accusations about working conditions at your iPod-producing Foxconn plant, and like any responsible corporate citizen, you completely
deny the allegations and threaten legal action against the "conspirators" responsible for slandering you. Then, even after you've
admitted to some labor law violations and an
outside investigation by Apple
confirms these as well as other breaches in its supplier code of conduct, you somehow think the best course of action is to still
sue the Chinese journalists who covered the story in order to make their lives a living hell. Well once again good old Hon Hai has admitted that it dropped the ball on this one, citing "great public attention on the target of the injunction" as the reason that it both drastically reduced the damages it was seeking from $3.8 million to a symbolic one yuan (12 cents) and withdrew its request to freeze Wang You's and Weng Bao's personal assets. So in other words, the leaders of iPod City didn't so much regret the suit as they did the public outcry that followed -- yet another example of media pressure shaming big business into doing the right thing. Hmm, now where did we just hear about a similar
sequence of events happening in the United States? No matter -- power to the people!
[Via
Techdirt]
posted Aug 31st 2006 9:58AM
I love Apple products and always have.
But if Apple is mistreating or underpaying workers, and if Foxconn is trying to defame the journalists who have revealed it, I wan't the fucking book thrown at the both of them so hard they won't dare do anything like it again.
Sleek mp3 players is one thing, but the livelihoods of human beings is another.
Werd. Much agreed with you, Yixian.
We all know the arguments, and I think Evan said it perfectly - media pressure on shaming big business is important, but so is consumer pressure.
Bye, bye Miss American Pie (Made in Japan). I drove my chevy (98% Chinese made) to the levy (Chinese engineering) but the levy was dry (global warming from Chinese factories). This i'll be the day that I.... (dude... where's my Ipod build kit?!)
Yixian...You need to read more and get the full story including what Apple has actually done and how they've responded both publicly and behind the scenes.
There are numerous allegations of Chinese journalists taking bribes from local industrialists to defame rivals, crush competitions, but that doesn't really matter here, does it?
As usual, we side with the little guy, diss at the giant, bind ourselves to the most convenient truth.
Now maybe, just maybe, that the little guy is every bit as capable of misbehaving. Truth is a funny concept in a state-sponsored ill-regulated journalistic environment. Think about it.
if this really bothers you then don't buy it. The fact that you buy the stuff means that you don't care about the little guy. Everyone wants cheap stuff. Well guess what? you need cheap labor and cheap materials to get cheap stuff.
Wang You? Wang Me!
What's with that pic? There's a girl's arm cut off like she's on vacation taking photos and this has been cropped out of the corner.
"This is me at the Great Wall of China,"
"This is me at Tiannamen Square,"
"This is me at Apple's slave wage Ipod City."
Got a source for that pic?
John from Buffalo: Global warming from Chinese factories?
What about US factories?
@Matias Korhonen
yawn. yes. yes. We all know the big bad US of A has factories and SUVs and cars and trucks and f*cking EVERYTHING ELSE that pollute the environment and ruin the entire g*ddamn biosphere for the entire world. No one else in the ENTIRE FARKING WORLD (especially not China with 1.1 billion people) contributes to global warming.
Thank you for your input.
It amuses me how people keep thinking that companies (read:souless entities that we only treat like people for tax purposes) will act in an ethical way with social responsibility. Companies are a machine and they will always work within the framework that you give them. If there isn't a law, rule, regulation or monetary motivational factor for performing a given action (or not performing a given action) eventually you will find a company that is performing that action despite the ethics involved.
Laws are like the leash that keeps the dog (companies) from attacking.
"...yet another example of media pressure shaming big business into doing the right thing."
That's quite ironic, 'cause the last time I checked, media IS a big business. A very big and powerful one at that.
badnegro: Atleast the rest of the world is trying to do something about it. And never mind that the USA uses 40% of the world's oil, 23% of natural gas and another 23% of coal.
And of coarse just forget the fact that the US produces 24% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions.
So no, there is just no reason to point the finger at the US.
And for the record, China accounted for 14% of world emissions of CO2. Ten percentage points less than the US. (Then put it into perspective by dividing emissions by population...)
Apple actually took measures to look into this. Even just glancing over the Joystiq edition will tell you this:
"[...] even after you've admitted to some labor law violations and an outside investigation by Apple confirms these as well as other breaches in its supplier code of conduct, [...]"
If Apple is what is bothering you so badly, I would hope you're living in a yurt that you constructed yourself on land that you share and subsisting off of your own vegetable garden, because it's damn tough to avoid this kind of thing, and Apple is in that case one of your lesser targets.
Watch this documentary produced by Frontline seen on US TV and in the UK.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9073824769430603949&q=tank+man&hl=en
You can see google being told "If this congress wanted to learn how to sensor we would go to you."
And how Microsoft, Cisco, Google, and Yahoo were asked "If the secret police a half century ago asked where Anne Frank was hiding would the correct answer be to hand over the information in order to comply with local laws." These companies are have more money combined that many 1st world nations yet they are powerless to china. This is something that the media needs to get behind to change. I'm really glad the media is helping and the people are upset about this. It is about time.
Matias:
Tip: stop getting your ill-informed talking points from Al Gore.
That is all.
ECM:
That the US produce a quarter of the worlds CO2 is a known fact, that you can find confirmed everywhere on the Internet, e.g. here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions
Compare that to other industrialised countries, like in the EU, and you will notice that these high emissions are not necessary for standard of living. It is sheer niggardliness (to invest in modern, energy-efficient technology).
Tip: stop getting your ill-informed talking points from Bill O'Reilly et al.
this is a human rights issue, when did it become a engery issue?
@blabla
'niggardliness' -- nice pun.
@Matias Korhonen
I'll be the first to admit that the US suffers an embarrassing ideological schism where it comes to energy & consumption vs. conservation & environmentalism.
ECM above addresses talking points from Al Gore. Gore is of the ilk (including Kennedy and myriad others)that decry all sorts of sins against nature as a means to political gain. Their motive is shown in their actions: you -- drive a Prius; I'll fly a GulfStream back and forth the US telling you to do it (Gore). You -- use less energy at home; I'll own three 5,000+ sqft homes (Gore). You -- dry your laundry on a farking clothesline; I'll cry foul and SUE the potential builder of a wind-powered generator two miles off the coast of my property (Kennedy)...
Again, many of those that whine about pollution protest against the building of nuclear power plants. These nimbys (Not In My Back Yard) result in rolling blackouts during the summer in one of the most tech advanced nations in the world.
Yes, I live in a nation of plenty. The wealthiest, most generous, most powerful nation in the history of all of mankind. The kind of nation that others flock to in droves, legally and illegally, for a CHANCE to live how I live. They flee their nations & risk persecution to enjoy the freedoms that the average American egghead takes for granted.
I know how my family and I live -- sparingly and conscientiously: I don't and won't apologize for the excesses of others. But I'll be damned if I let anyone slander my entire nation!
>--badnegro: Atleast the rest of the world is trying to do something about it. And never mind that the USA uses 40% of the world's oil, 23% of natural gas and another 23% of coal.--<
Don't be a dick. The "rest of the world" are not the only ones trying to do something about it. And let's be straight here -- it's not true that "the rest of the world" is "trying to do something about it". In fact, a very small percentage of the rest of the world is even paying attention to the fact that the way they live their lives & run their economies affects anything in any way.
A small minority of US citizens prevents the rest of the US from doing the things that it takes to enact real change. What's sad is that they do it in the name of 'environmentalism'. Grow up. I don't know where you're from, but I bet it's not the magical land of puppy dogs and rainbows either, is it? I bet if you told this forum where you're from, we'd all have a pretty good laugh and a ball of a time picking apart your home...
ahh. badnegro. you are exactly the type of american that spreads the arrogant perspective of Americans. I have a question have you ever been outside your country? Did you realize that the US is the world's only industrialized country that refuses to sign the Kyoto treaty? And btw the human rights record of the US isn't exactly clean is it? Especially when the United States was built from conquest and war.
Slacker, all civilizations are built on conquest and conflicts. In fact, the very definition of freedom without chaos is the direct result of wars - we call it "compromise."
But I'm with you, we should verified Kyoto.
Btw, how did Al Gore get into the picture?
people, stfu.
having being totally off-topic aside, just stfu and smell the coffee. none of our countries are perfect, since we're all being run by idiots, and none of us don't have shame in our history. stop pointing fingers and laughing at each other, just do wot's right to fix wotever sh!t u're in.
antartica is the only place that is near perfect, and that's only cuz it's a place that has been least tainted by us.
so now shut ur dam arrogance and pride, and move along.