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Sprint Moves To Eliminate 'Blood Minerals' From Cell Phones
Velcroman1 writes "So-called 'blood diamonds' or conflict diamonds are the well-publicized face of the decades-long human rights challenge in Africa. But the mining and sale of a lesser-known but more widely used group of natural resources known as 'blood minerals' has also fueled civil wars in Congo and Uganda — and they're in the latest smartphones. Congress sought to address the issue through the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which included a requirement for companies to disclose conflict minerals. In 2011 the SEC opened a public debate about this disclosure — but Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Washington is critical of the process. 'They are afraid of being sued by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the World Gold Council,' McDermott said. Ahead of the SEC ruling, Sprint has made baby steps to come to terms with the controversy, joining the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade (PPA), and said it is working to make device manufacturers aware of the issue. But are they doing enough?"
How much iron is really in a cell phone? Oh wait...
Trolling is a art,
At least it is something for the drug kingpins to do if we finally legalize pot...
Saying "I am not going to buy this very valuable thing from you because you are bad" just gives others the opportunity to make a bit of scratch moving it around.
Well I'll be switching to sprint just for the effort. For a while now I have been purchasing ethically traded products and really trying to decrease my dependence upon slave made and harvested products. (it costs a bit but if we vote with our dollars some change may occur). I also think it is better for the economy (Global and local). Because more money goes to the workers, thus more money moves around.
I may be an idiot or a sucker but at the very least I feel better about myself!
Maybe it's time for glasses
Trying to track down where in Africa minerals are mined will require massive spending on auditors and lawyers. Bribery and corruption is rife. A much more effective approach is to support refugees, wherever they may end up. Furthermore, population growth and AIDS are larger problems than the African civil wars. Rwanda's population is already larger that what is was before the genocide there.
So they put their name in a few lists and send a few memos to look good.
And marketing claims another victim.
You see, the main problem I see here, is that the FBI could help! But they only work offshore if it's related to software piracy.
Rather than use poor substitutes for 'conflict' minerals, let's man up and end these stupid conflicts. Oh wait, we can't. Western lefties will cry 'imperialism'. China and Russia will veto everything. Let the dictators and warlords be you evil capitalist exploiters.
Whatever. I'll buy whatever performance I need and the best price available. The blood 'whatever' controversy is a self-inflicted political problem. The people that gin up the controversy are the same people that won't tolerate solving the actual problem.
(too much?) ,no one gives a shit about the whole continent after it got dug out, only the chinese seem interested in at least putting up some sweat shops in the sand where the others just send food and weapons for the warlords now who's the hippie and who's right here ?
that's something that should be discussed at government level, as i see it,
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
If I had points, I would mod you up. I would just have a hard time choosing between Funny and Insightful.
How do we know which side to be on when something is labeled a "conflict mineral"?. I ask because when you stop to consider the historical context of uprisings, the governments and corporations are not always the good guys.
Would minerals (or oil) sold to support the recent Libya uprising be considered "conflict minerals" if they didn't support Khaddifi?
Or is the criterion solely "if it wasn't mined by a corporation, it must be bad"?
For example, look at the "blood diamond" issue.
Which is more ethical? Buying diamonds mined by individuals working their own land, or buying diamonds mined by De Beers?
I really do wonder if we should call BS on the whole "conflict minerals" thing. I suspect the issue exists solely for corporate profits, and it started because diamond prices were getting undercut by sales outside of the diamond cartel. There's a reason why De Beers was banned from the United States for so many decades. You gotta be pretty bad if your corporation is too evil for the USA.
They're going to stop buying phones made in China? Wait China is okay right...
Om, nomnomnom...
Yeah, forget the protection of workers. Let's just compensate them. "Sorry you lost your home and your hand got cut off for not mining enough. But here's a tent!"
Furthermore, population growth and AIDS are larger problems than the African civil wars. Rwanda's population is already larger that what is was before the genocide there.
Population growth and AIDS are partly due to the civil wars. If an area's unsafe, volunteer educators and doctors are far more rare, so STDs spread rampantly. With uncertainty about the future and high rates of child mortality, people reproduce as much as they can, trying to ensure that their family/tribe/group will endure, and even grow large enough to eventually win whatever the current conflict is. These civil wars have grown from centuries of tribal conflict, so the battle plans are laid out on a scale of generations, with parents expecting that their children will some day fight for their tribe in glorious battle, if only those damned Westerners would get out of their way and stop saving whoever's losing the war this decade...
Supporting peaceful endeavors (including "mining companies that won't kill each other") and education is the best way I know of to solve all three problems. With education comes a better economy, sanitation, a more stable future, lower birth rate, which finally leads to better education.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Not really.
There are three minerals involved - tungsten, tantalum and tin. The electronics groups have gotten together to work on the first mineral, tantalum and have done it at the smelter scale. There are 45 smelters worldwide that process coltan into tantalum, and from there it's a lot easier.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/materials/cracking-down-on-conflict-minerals
The other two are next challenges (Tin is used for displays and touchscreens, tungsten in motors. Hrm... old style lightbulbs - conflict lightbulbs?)
http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/materials/cracking-down-on-conflict-minerals
how about we eliminate sprint from cellphones?
Blood diamonds are diamonds that have been mined. And up until science came up with a way to create synthetic and flawless diamonds, they were a rare and valuable natural resource. But like I said, until then. What happened after was laws were passed banning the use of synthetic diamonds in jewelry, and by 'happy' coincidence, their use in industrial process as well. Thus the distributors of diamonds in this (and other) countries could continue to command large sums of money for a rare and natural resource -- even though we now had a common and abundantly available supply via industrial process.
And so, because of the decisions of those individuals, corporations, etc., with the kind help of the majority of Congress and the authorization of the President, we helped make it possible for the exploitation of millions. We assisted in the enslavement of human beings, by trading our dollars for the fruit of those unnecessary labors. And we have allowed this to go on for as long as it has, because as long as we don't have to stare into their faces with a recognition of what they've done -- that our dollars do it for us, we can remain in ignorant or apathetic bliss.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
... when Sprint stops taking my blood once every month.
They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
let's just mine these damn things so we don't have to screw with third world countries, though kind of difficult to do right now (like everything else). If we do want to help Africans, help rebuild their water systems.
mfwright@batnet.com
Well I never knew Sprint was run by a bunch of liberal, commie, do-gooders who don't have the first clue how to run a business. I want every company in my portfolio to know how to exploit people to their fullest--not to have a "conscience."
Congress sought to address the issue through the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which included a requirement for companies to disclose conflict minerals.
Well, right there is part of the problem. If this is something that should be dealt with in U.S. law (I can understand why it is, but I can imagine that there might be a good argument as to why it shouldn't be...and am not interested in arguing that point from either side), it should be in a law all by itself, not as an afterthought tagged on to a banking regulation bill.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Diamonds are not rare, DeBeers is hoarding them in warehouses to make them seem rare. Diamonds are a scam, I got my wife a cubic zirconium for this very reason. Those Bastards at DeBeers are doing terrible things to a nation.
My God man, Sprint was extracting its minerals from BLOOD?!? The inhuman beasts!
However, that does explain the recent drop in the homeless population in the Overland Park area.
I think the purpose is virtuous but I agree that the means is flawed. One particular error in reasoning is the arbitrary categorization of what is or is not 'blood' resources. Where is the line drawn between goods that are used to fuel bad things and not? Who gets to make that distinction? The natural resources in even the most peaceful areas of the world are controlled by governments who use them to further their own ends, dominating people and holding them back in a plethora of ways. Is outright war the only time when it is not permissible? Why? What categorical distinction is there between slaughter and say theft(which reduces standard of living and has the effect of decreased lifespan)? Can some rulers decide when and where such a difference in severity is ok and when it is not?
To act correctly, one necessary(if not sufficient) requirement is that one must act with consistency. The violation of this basic prerequisite is found throughout the bill mentioned in the article(the amendment to the dodd-frank bill for conflict minerals). It attempts to achieve a stated(read: ostentatious) goal of discouraging and removing ability of people to do violence to others in the specific realm of war while using means(violence against peaceful people) that contradict that very goal.
Not really.
There are three minerals involved - tungsten, tantalum and tin. The electronics groups have gotten together to work on the first mineral, tantalum and have done it at the smelter scale. There are 45 smelters worldwide that process coltan into tantalum, and from there it's a lot easier.
I'm not challenging your statement because I'm ignorant on the question.
But really, when a ship, truck or train car arrive in the middle of the night, and cash passes hands - commerce in Africa is even more sketchy than China... There is every possibility that the actual source of raw materials is obfuscated to protect all the slimy business dealings...
Unless there are laboratory alalysis being done on the raw ore by independent watchers that can verify the chain of custody of the ore, in my ignorant opinion, all bets are off...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
We should give them a good US education! They can score really high on a tests, have absolutely no working knowledge, and be hooked on Facebook! Hell, that may solve the problem with population as well. Who has time to make friends or babies when you have the interweb thing in your face all day!
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
That would be a shorter list. How about the coal mines in China where criminals and political prisoners are sent to die? How about the infamous Norilsk nickle mine in Russia?
DAMN right! Killing people for profit? Fine with me, as long as it enriches my portfolio. Don't these Godless commies know that the love of money is the root of all virtue?
Shouldn't we do something about the oil we import from countries that abuse their citizen's rights?
Have gnu, will travel.
There's a simple solution to US companies buying these minerals (and oil as well) from "conflict" regions and from those who are declared enemies of the US.
Mine/drill for it here in the US. The US has plenty of oil and the minerals being discussed to supply us for centuries even accounting for best growth estimates. The information is out there, do a Google search.
We've allowed the government to tie our own hands behind our backs with regulations and laws which make it extremely costly & difficult, if not impossible, to do. I guess the people who advocate for such policies & regulations are fine with getting all the benefits of electronics technology, as long as they can export the negatives to poor regions.
It's NIMBY-ism on a global scale and it's adding significantly to the domestic economic and global political mess the US is in.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
thats mighty un-capitalistic of you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantalus
So if you are going to have a conflict mineral, whose mines are rooted in human suffering, it might as well be the mineral source for the chemical element named after someone damned to an eternity of torment.
Sick coincidence.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The Congress of Lituania?
Shouldn't sprint keep their own house in order first before going to someone elses land trying to fix it?
Of course taking responsibility of the whole supply chain your operations are utilizing is a good thing, but they should consider if they can find any problems closer to home. Not just trying to push others to do things, but actually take the responsibility and do it yourself.
Or are they actually claiming there is no problems in their own operation, but all the problems are somewhere else?