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Ask Slashdot: Any Smart Phones Made Under Worker-Friendly Conditions?

Posted by timothy on from the ethics-vs-aesthetics dept.

New submitter unimacs writes "So Apple has been under fire recently for the conditions at the factories of their Chinese suppliers. I listened to 'This American Life's' recent retraction of the Michael Daisey piece they did a while back. Great radio for those of you who haven't heard it — rarely has dead air been used to such effect. Anyway, while his work has been discredited, Michael Daisey wasn't inaccurate in his claims that working conditions are poor in iPhone and iPad factories. Given that, are there any smart phone manufacturers whose phones are made under better conditions?"

6 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. Short answer... by MonkeyBot · · Score: 5, Informative

    No.

    1. Re:Short answer... by MonkeyBot · · Score: 3, Informative

      See here: http://apple.slashdot.org/story/12/02/08/211225/labor-activist-apple-may-be-terrible-but-all-others-are-worse

    2. Re:Short answer... by MrHanky · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, and since a bunch of the other phone brands are made in the same Foxcon factories, that piece of propaganda is evidently just that: propaganda. But keep spreading it around. Some people may be stupid enough to believe it.

  2. Nokia fired 4000 last month by vlm · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nokia fired 4000 smart phone assemblers in Finland, Hungary and Mexico last month, moving to Asia. Theres a press release from around feb 8th.

    This /. article is probably a response, however indirect, to that.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
  3. Re:HTC ? by Anonymous+Psychopath · · Score: 3, Informative

    HTC is headquartered in Taiwan, not mainland China. Does anyone know if they manufacture their phones in Taiwan or in China?

    HTC manufactures in various countries, including mainland China. Foxconn is also headquartered in Taiwan, so there's really no correlation between where their CEO sits and where manufacturing happens.

    I find it interesting that those most upset about Foxconn factory conditions have never been there, and those that have been there lied about what they saw.

    --

    Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

  4. Contraction in OP statement / electronic list? by Tronster · · Score: 4, Informative

    ", while his work has been discredited, Michael Daisey wasn't inaccurate in his claims that working conditions are poor in iPhone and iPad factories."

    That statement is nonsense.

    Michael Daisey was discredited because working conditions were fine for iPhone or iPad factories; none of the horrible things he had reported on were true upon his visit. I've listened to original piece (when it aired) as well as the full retraction. He had to create lies based what he'd heard of previous (outlawed) practices of various Chinese manufactures as well fabricate people, events, and conversations in order to invoke an emotional response. Then he repeatedly, unapologetically used the theater as a scapegoat as to why he could tell people that he was telling a factual account, but in reality, was more lie than occurrence.

    That said, the OP does have a good question about sweatshop free phones. I wish there was a list for all goods and services; seems internet searches pull up a lot of hits for clothing and apparel, but not so much for electronics.