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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?"

3 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Short answer... by cbope · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not exactly true. Business-class Nokia smartphones (E-series) were made in Finland until very recently. Unfortunately, when Nokia signed a pact to switch to Windows Phone, production moved East for the new Lumia models. You can still pick up Nokias that were manufactured here, until current supply chain inventories run out. The E7 I got a couple weeks ago was Made in Finland and my previous E72 was also made here.

  2. There is no ethical smartphone by Roxton · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There is no ethical smartphone.

  3. Re:Short answer... by msauve · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Well, apparently those long hours without breaks are good for the soul, because the suicide rate in Foxconn factories is significantly lower than in the general population.

    As one of the comments points out:

    according to the World Health Organization, China's average between men and women is 13.9 out of 100,000 or 24.51 times the rate at Foxcon[n].

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law