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Nintendo Investigating Underage Workers At Foxconn

itwbennett writes "Earlier this week, Foxconn revealed that an internal investigation had turned up workers as young as 14 toiling at its factory in Yantai, China. Now Nintendo, whose products are manufactured at that factory, is also investigating Foxconn's labor sourcing."

124 comments

  1. I for one by DFurno2003 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Welcomed our whip snapping overlords xin li 14f, Yantai. -Sent from my iPhone 5

    1. Re:I for one by DFurno2003 · · Score: 1

      forgot to log out

    2. Re:I for one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Test test

    3. Re:I for one by philip.paradis · · Score: 1

      This is one of the things I love most about the Internet. Once the bytes are transmitted and hit storage mediums frequented by a substantial number of souls, the bytes become quasi-immortal. I'll try to remember to perform a search for your post using whatever über (or uber for this venue, c'mon /. it's 2012, let's get with the Unicode program) engine is all the rage ten years from now. In the meantime, thank you for the reminder, and have a great day.

      --
      Write failed: Broken pipe
    4. Re:I for one by jones_supa · · Score: 2

      or uber for this venue, c'mon /. it's 2012, let's get with the Unicode program

      I don't completely understand why Slashdot is being so conservative regarding Unicode support. :) I mean, I'm glad they don't go implementing every geewhiz Facebook datamining social plugin, but the ability to type all the characters in the world would suit this site excellently. There are probably some pitfalls in the process, but it's widely being used on various websites without issued and, I assume that /. hackers are elite enough to solve any security and data storage related problems properly.

  2. Working at 14 by ottawanker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's the legal age in most places of Canada to start working, what's the problem? In Ontario you'd need to be 15 to work in a factory. I had my first job (part time) when I was that age.

    1. Re:Working at 14 by TitusC3v5 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You can work in most states in the USA as well at age 15 or 16 (and often younger for family businesses). Why is it such a big deal that there are 14 year olds at Foxconn?

      --
      And the masses cried out, "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0!"
    2. Re:Working at 14 by Rockoon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why is it such a big deal that there are 14 year olds at Foxconn?

      ..because a bunch of do-gooders think that its uncivilized. They equate child labor with forced labor.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    3. Re:Working at 14 by bmo · · Score: 2

      Because in the US and Canada, there are limits on how many hours kids can work. They're supposed to be able to go to school.

      In China? Not so much.

      --
      BMO

    4. Re:Working at 14 by aglider · · Score: 1

      Maybe it's the way they have been forced to go to work!

      --
      Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
    5. Re:Working at 14 by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Why is it such a big deal that there are 14 year olds at Foxconn?

      ..because a bunch of do-gooders think that its uncivilized. They equate child labor with forced labor.

      You my lad will probably never grasp the idea that a brain needs to develop and needs to be fed with challenging ideas in order for it to reach a higher level of independence in later life. Allowing kids to work earlier brings them money but on the whole working at early age deprives them from development. At a younger age kids are easily influenced and will apparently consent to doing stuff they later regret. Civilised societies protect kids from taking risks they cannot oversee, like working too early in life. Sure, such regulations will not suit for an extremely small part of the population. Absence of such laws will however compromise a significant amount of kids and that will reflect onto society later on.

      --

      I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    6. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      China's basic education involves pre-school, nine-year compulsory education from elementary to junior high school, standard senior high school education, special education for disabled children, and education for illiterate people. OTOH, bashing "child-labor" is good pr for Nintendo.

    7. Re:Working at 14 by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 3, Insightful

      These workers will not go on to develop the next great idea. They will be workers their whole lives. Starting earlier just means greater lifetime earnings. A brain just means more trouble for them as they will be bothered by the repetitive work, whereas duller minds tolerate it much better. In many cases what they do can literally be replaced by machines.

      I also note that you implicitly call China uncivlised, which sounds awfully racist to me.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    8. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, but you're comparing workers from a first world country to China. In Canada, you can have unions, people have rights that are respected and upheld by the governement.

    9. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      At a younger age kids are easily influenced and will apparently consent to doing stuff they later regret.

      So, they're adults, then?

      I'm confused.

    10. Re:Working at 14 by Rogerborg · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Correct, China isn't "civilised", in the Latin sense of the word. It's a cluster of medieval agrarian villages, with some industry springing up around major waterways. It's going through exactly the same industrial revolution that "civilised" nations went through in the past, with the same winners and losers.

      You can educate the peasants all the like, but then they'll be educated and toiling in the rice paddies, or educated and toiling in the factories. Either way, they're not post industrial and don't have the same leisure to flout their education from the comfort of their keyboards that you and I enjoy, and judging them on that basis is neither fair nor reasonable.

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    11. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm confused.

      We can tell.

    12. Re:Working at 14 by Rockoon · · Score: 1

      You my lad will probably never grasp the idea that a brain needs to develop and needs to be fed with challenging ideas in order for it to reach a higher level of independence in later life.

      ..and you will never grasp the concept that whats good in your book doesnt mean shit to the Chinese people, that are striving for a better life through wealth creation.

      You want them to be poor forever? Where exactly are those challenging ideas going to come from? The rice fields that they are fleeing where all they have is the tattered robes on their bodies?

      Subsistence farming. Look it up you pompous windbag.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    13. Re:Working at 14 by bfandreas · · Score: 1

      It's going through exactly the same industrial revolution that "civilised" nations went through in the past, with the same winners and losers.

      OHMIGOD! Has anybody told china about the perils the Spinning Jenny means for employment?

      Employing 14yr olds in factory isn't as bad as it sounds. As long as they are neither forced, overly exploited and outright cheated and the limits of child labour are observed. Many of the reported labour conditions at Foxconn may indeed constitute a violation of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. There's no need to let China go through a prolonged Dickensian area. Especially if you have any means to apply some pressure on Foxconn.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    14. Re:Working at 14 by tsa · · Score: 1

      Because allegedly they work from 6 in the evening until 6 in the morning.

      --

      -- Cheers!

    15. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      These workers will not go on to develop the next great idea. They will be workers their whole lives. Starting earlier just means greater lifetime earnings. A brain just means more trouble for them as they will be bothered by the repetitive work, whereas duller minds tolerate it much better. In many cases what they do can literally be replaced by machines.

      Thank you Assistant Predestinator for reminding the Betas about Elementry Class Consciousness.
      All of the Alphas here remember their lessons and certainly agree with you.
      We all have our role: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon.

    16. Re:Working at 14 by mr100percent · · Score: 1

      I cannot translate your sig

    17. Re:Working at 14 by flimflammer · · Score: 1

      Your hours probably weren't equal to or beyond what adults would consider full time, were they? And just because in Canada the legal working age is lower than 16 has no bearing on laws in China.

    18. Re:Working at 14 by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2

      "Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah."

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    19. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yes yes, every system has rules. If you don't want to be a beta all your life... try to get outside of the system. those who are smart will look for a way out as early as possible.

    20. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's the theory. In practise, schooling costs money, those families who cannot afford the fees, graft and expenses are denied to send their children. Too many of the poorer pupils won't attend past junior middle school.

    21. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, civilised countries realise that people are children until exactly their 18th birthday or whatever other arbitrary and meaningless age restriction they impose.

    22. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Correct, China isn't "civilised", in the Latin sense of the word. It's a cluster of medieval agrarian villages, with some industry springing up around major waterways.

      Ahh, you mean just like the United States.

    23. Re:Working at 14 by Stolpskott · · Score: 2

      The problem here is that the PRC Labor Law, passed by the Chinese government in 1994, establishes the minimum age for working in China as 16. There may be provisions for vocational work, part-time work or vacation jobs, but I personally doubt it without reading the text of the law, and my Mandarin Chinese skills are probably not up to that.

    24. Re:Working at 14 by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 2

      You my lad will probably never grasp the idea that a brain needs to develop and needs to be fed with challenging ideas in order for it to reach a higher level of independence in later life.

      ..and you will never grasp the concept that whats good in your book doesnt mean shit to the Chinese people, that are striving for a better life through wealth creation. You want them to be poor forever? Where exactly are those challenging ideas going to come from? The rice fields that they are fleeing where all they have is the tattered robes on their bodies? Subsistence farming. Look it up you pompous windbag.

      It almost sounds patronising the way you stereotype. Anyway. Any society is better off with well educated people. An educated employee will be able to add more value. Perhaps not because he works harder but more likely because he will reflect on the production process and feed back improvements. Let youths stay in school longer and have them adding value later on.

      Or try seeing it this way: There are very few countries with a large base of skilled people that die of famine.

      --

      I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    25. Re:Working at 14 by MitchDev · · Score: 2

      Because if they are working factories, they aren't buying and playing Nintendo consoles and games!

    26. Re:Working at 14 by Hentes · · Score: 1

      With the mandatory Foxconn "internship" programs it is forced labour.

    27. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot: "And I had to go uphill and against the wind both ways !"

    28. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From the article:

      The factory, which is located in the coastal city of Yantai, had been employing an undisclosed number of interns below the legal working age of 16, according to an internal investigation by Foxconn. Some of the interns were as young as 14, and had been working at the factory for three weeks.

      (Emphasis mine.)

    29. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      > You my lad will probably never grasp the idea that a brain needs to develop and needs to be fed with challenging ideas in order for it to reach a higher level of independence in later life.

      What a bunch of BS. Can you show any proof of your assumptions? namely:
      - that kids at the age of 14 are not fully developed yet.
      - that working shields you somehow from "challenging ideas".
      - that those "challenging ideas" make you reach "higher level of independence".
      - that there's no better (or at least alternative) way to reach "higher level of independence".
      - that what you mean by "higher level of independence" is good and desirable.

      No, you cannot, because they are just based on prejudice. Want to know a few things based on my experience?
      1. conventional education, and the bubble many parents fabricate for they children, actually shields them from the real world. You cannot be independent in life when you do not understand what real life is, because the closest thing you have to experience with the real world is what you have seen on TV.
      2. people that work and take responsibilities early on are, indeed, more independent and responsible, by virtue of being educated into being so.
      3. The reason for kids taking risks they cannot oversee is not that they have a little money, but that they parents do not take the time to talk with them, and do not build a relationship with them on the basis of trust. If your kids do trust their friends better than you, imagine who are they going to ask about drugs?

    30. Re:Working at 14 by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      My brother started working when he was 15 too. Worked about 20 hours a week. He was still able to maintain pretty good grades too. There's no reason somebody shouldn't be able to work at 14 or 15. And that's for a "real job". Most kids started working even younger than that delivering news papers. I remember working as a paper delivery boy when I was young, probably around 8 or 10. I remember getting very little money for delivering the paper when I was a kid. But then again, I was just a kid and had nothing better to spend the money on than candy and comic books. It only took a few hours a week, and gave me a little bit of money.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    31. Re:Working at 14 by Desler · · Score: 1

      The problem is that Chinese law is different. Last time I checked, the laws of Canada had no jurisdiction in China.

    32. Re:Working at 14 by kilfarsnar · · Score: 1

      Oh, but the System wants you in!

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    33. Re:Working at 14 by s0nicfreak · · Score: 1

      The original reason for forcing kids to go to school in the US and Canada was that they were taking all the jobs, since they were willing to be paid less. The movement to give the jobs back to adults at the higher pay somehow morphed into some valiant effort to "protect" "children."

    34. Re:Working at 14 by kilfarsnar · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's the legal age in most places of Canada to start working, what's the problem? In Ontario you'd need to be 15 to work in a factory. I had my first job (part time) when I was that age.

      The problem is that the legal working age in China is 16. http://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/china.php

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    35. Re:Working at 14 by s0nicfreak · · Score: 1

      Children learn by doing. They learn to be independent by practicing it. Forcing them to sit in a classroom all day and "overseeing" everything for them ensures they will never mature. Ask anyone dealing with young adults; this treating teenagers as babies thing is causing huge problems in society.

    36. Re:Working at 14 by bmo · · Score: 1

      Citation needed. And Alex Jones quality citations are not allowed.

      --
      BMO

    37. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nobody's judging the 14 year old's. We are judging the Chinese ruling class, and the Western companies that support them. When you see an injustice, you say "who am I to judge", others say "that's not right". A handful might actually try to do something about it.

    38. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I too had a job at 14, granted it was only 15 hours a week at that time. I also spent a few hours cutting grass. Not to mention the paper route. School still came first, however. If my grades had suffered, I'd have been forced to quit. I wasn't working in a factory though. I suspect a public library is less-dangerous.

    39. Re:Working at 14 by Nyder · · Score: 1

      You can work in most states in the USA as well at age 15 or 16 (and often younger for family businesses). Why is it such a big deal that there are 14 year olds at Foxconn?

      Considering that Foxconn overworks their workers, ya, having underage children there looks really fucking bad.

      --
      Be seeing you...
    40. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, because Foxconn has these 14 year olds PULLED OUT OF SCHOOL and forced to work through national holidays

      It is not compulsory, it is forced. That's why people are up in arms. This is not voluntary.

    41. Re:Working at 14 by Belial6 · · Score: 1

      In my youth, I personally knew a couple of girls that ended up as prostitutes right here in the good old US of A because lawmakers believed the crap you are spewing. You get your pick. 'Child' labor, or 'Child' prostitution. We know what side you stand on.

      OK, that IS a bit harsh. It is true, but harsh to say. It would be nice if more people would consider the real world outcome of our drive towards eternal 'childhood'.

    42. Re:Working at 14 by mcgrew · · Score: 0

      What a bunch of BS. Can you show any proof of your assumptions? namely:
      - that kids at the age of 14 are not fully developed yet.

      Google is your friend. Had you googled you wouldn't have looked so foolish, kid. Now get back to your damned homework and leave us adults alone.

    43. Re:Working at 14 by DigiShaman · · Score: 2, Informative

      I also note that you implicitly call China uncivlised, which sounds awfully racist to me

      STOP IT! Just...stop! Race and Culture are two entirely separate things. DO NOT CONFLATE THE TWO!!!

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    44. Re:Working at 14 by dr_dank · · Score: 1

      Praise the Ford and pass the soma!

      --
      Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
    45. Re:Working at 14 by HiThere · · Score: 1

      The point you're missing is that not only CAN they be replaced by machines, but they soon WILL BE replaced by machines. In fact robotic factories are already being build in China, because the machines are cheaper than even Chinese labor.

      It's true, the government may step in to halt this, out of concern for keeping the population busy. But it hasn't yet, and it may well not. After all, it didn't step in to prohibit outsourcing jobs to Indonesia.

      So what is your alternative for people who aren't allowed to develop their minds, and can't compete economicly with machines? Draft them into the army? That's just what we need. Larger armies sitting around waiting to be used.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    46. Re:Working at 14 by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      It's worth noting that most people in the West enjoy the lifestyle they currently have because of those few who went against the system and did something about it.

    47. Re:Working at 14 by bjwest · · Score: 1

      .... Let youths stay in school longer and have them adding value later on..

      You're assuming here that the youths are being taken from schools to work the factories. The more likely scenario is that they are being recruited from the fields and rice paddies, where they'd likely been working since their post toddler days. Their children would most likely be working these same fields if their parents (the current "child" working in the factory) had not left for a different job. These factory workers may be factory workers the rest of their lives, but I bet their children will be better educated than they were and not be forced to work in a rice paddy as soon as they get old enough.

      Moving through pre industrial to post industrial is not something you can do by skipping the industrial age.

      --

      --- Keep the choice with the user..
    48. Re:Working at 14 by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Racism does not require intent, it merely requires that the target feel that racism has occurred.

      How dare you tell others to stop. Chinese is a race, and if you don't believe it, ask any Chinese.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    49. Re:Working at 14 by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      You're projecting a feeling that isn't based on the reality of others. Second, China has other races that aren't Han. Further more, there are many different cultures in China including local languages that cross over regardless of race.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    50. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's also worth noting that most people in the west enjoy the lifestyle they currently have because of those who did absolutely nothing to stop children from making their iPhones and Nike sneakers.

    51. Re:Working at 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Different AC here. All of the results seem to apply to American teenagers. Chinese kids have very different culture, values and discipline. As someone who is Chinese and has lived throughout Asia, I know firsthand.

      Basically, you're talking out of your ass.

    52. Re:Working at 14 by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Entropy at work. You build a good system and then forget that you need to defend it against those who will bury it for quick profit.

    53. Re:Working at 14 by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Typical Western perspective. Ask any Chinese if Chinese is a race. They don't subscribe to your ridiculous preconceptions.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    54. Re:Working at 14 by Rockoon · · Score: 1

      You idiot, they are leaving subsistence farms, not schools. You have some bizzaro view of China that seems to incorporate convenient American visions. This is a country that sustained 10% GDP growth for more than several decades yet is still behind the western world in GDP per capita. Thats how poor they were. Thats how poor they still are. You get rich through production, not good intentions.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    55. Re:Working at 14 by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      My Chinese wife from Shanghai disagrees with you.

      Face it. You're just pissed that I defanged your race card with logic.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    56. Re:Working at 14 by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1

      Like most current, former and sort-of communist systems, even China has state run education system. China most likely prides itself on how good it works. Theoretically. Bending the laws and getting kids to work only solves the short term problem with shortage of cheap and dedicated labour force. it will most likely cause a problem in say 10 years time. So it's in both China's and the kid's interests to having kids go to school. No tree hugging melodrama from me here,

      BTW, nice and respectful way of starting your posting.

      --

      I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    57. Re:Working at 14 by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1

      You accuse me of assuming facts and yet you proceed with assuming yourself. Read my reply to Rockoon. In theory even China has a state run education system which kids should attend.

      The fruits of the industrial age are borne in the knowledge derived from studying it. There's no obligation in repeating hardship as you can avoid it by reading books.

      --

      I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    58. Re:Working at 14 by Rockoon · · Score: 1

      You are a bigger idiot than I thought because you just relied on the premise that Foxconn has a labor shortage problem. Foxconn is the reason that other factories in China have labor shortage problems; everyone wants to work for Foxconn. Every day, thousands of people show up at Foxconn's Longhua recruitment center. Thats thousands per day you fucking moron.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    59. Re:Working at 14 by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1

      You are a bigger idiot than I thought ...

      and then

      ... you fucking moron.

      You smooth talker! You go in straight for the target. I bet you reel in the gals with your suave words. The world envies you and everyone wants to copycat you. Except for the yelling at TVs and radios bit, which you no doubt must fall prey to. You delicious, passionate human being!

      --

      I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    60. Re:Working at 14 by Rockoon · · Score: 1

      blah blah blah.. you were wrong, tried desperately to save yourself, but instead dug a deeper hole. All the qualities of an idiot.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    61. Re:Working at 14 by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      It looks like teens got mod points, or someone moderated without looking at the link. It's a simple google search with every single hit backing up my point. So some dumb kid downmods it because the truth hurts.

    62. Re:Working at 14 by s0nicfreak · · Score: 1

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labor_laws_in_the_United_States#Activism_against_child_labor

      http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history.html
      >The National Child Labor Committee’s work to end child labor was combined with efforts to provide free, compulsory education for all children

      http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/367352?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21101184617233

      Or just look up anything about the beginning of compulsory education, it will show you how it was intertwined with the end of child labor.

    63. Re:Working at 14 by bmo · · Score: 1

      The original reason for forcing kids to go to school in the US and Canada was that they were taking all the jobs, since they were willing to be paid less. The movement to give the jobs back to adults at the higher pay somehow morphed into some valiant effort to "protect" "children."

      Or just look up anything about the beginning of compulsory education, it will show you how it was intertwined with the end of child labor.

      You have your history mixed up. Compulsory education became integrated with the labor movement near the end, but the motivations for compulsory education began not with the labor movement but with the churches. The beginning of compulsory education was in 1642 in Massachusetts, well before the labor movement. Because you can't read the Bible if you don't know how to read. The Dutch Reformed Church was also instrumental in this in New York. "Even old New York was once New Amsterdam"

      Massachusetts' truancy act was in 1852. Connecticut's in 1842. The CT law also limited child labor to 10 hours when not attending school. But back then, the minimum requirement was for 3 months out of the year, not the 9 we have today.

      --
      BMO

  3. Aptonyms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bear Stearns (harbinger of bear market), Bernie Madoff (made off with a lot of money), MF Global (fucked people all over the world), Foxconn. Just sayin'.

  4. Come on! by aglider · · Score: 1

    Do you really think that Foxconn uses underage people for one product only?

    --
    Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
  5. New Advertising slogan by Jimbob+The+Mighty · · Score: 5, Funny

    WiiU... For 14 year olds, by 14 years olds...

    1. Re:New Advertising slogan by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 1

      So what's more evil, forcing 14 year olds to work or getting them addicted to Super Mario?

    2. Re:New Advertising slogan by game+kid · · Score: 1

      Yes.

      --
      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
  6. What, not Apple? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing to see here, move along.

  7. And this is why... by Tastecicles · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...the iPhone looks like it was put together by a 5 year old.

    Owned.

    --
    Operation Guillotine is in effect.
    1. Re:And this is why... by bfandreas · · Score: 2

      Actually Foxconn just recently complained that the iPhone 5 is a bitch to assemble.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    2. Re:And this is why... by Tastecicles · · Score: 0

      yeah I know lol

      --
      Operation Guillotine is in effect.
  8. The Musical Video by Spy+Handler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    [close-up shot of Steve Jobs lounging in a high-tech office, Apple logo]

    SJ: "Oppan Foxconn Style!"

    [camera zooms out, background is actually a Foxconn assembly line]

    14-year-old female worker: "Ooh, sexy lady"

    1. Re:The Musical Video by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      The original report I saw over at the Financial Times had the following lines in it:

      Foxconn pledged to conduct a full investigation and fire any employee found to have been responsible for the violations. The company also said the Yantai facility “has no association with any work we carry out on behalf of Apple”.

      It's a bit sensational to fantasize about Apple standing on the backs of underage workers, but they've been having Foxconn run audits of the Apple manufacturing lines, they've been running audits of the lines, they've had neutral third-parties conduct audits of the lines, and they've allowed journalists to go in with free reign to ask anything and see pretty much anything. While the initial audits did turn up some issues with underage workers, those problems have been quickly addressed and not shown up again. Foxconn just needs to put the rest of their operations under the same amount of scrutiny now.

    2. Re:The Musical Video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly, and when they have perfect working conditions it will raise the price to a point that manufacturing will come back to the US, and we can all pay twice as much for the product.

      I'm not saying that is bad, it is just people seem to want ideal working conditions for those who make the products and also very low prices. we can't have both.

    3. Re:The Musical Video by sjames · · Score: 1

      And when the work comes back to the U.S., unemployment goes down and wages go up until that iPhone doesn't seem so expensive even with the necessary price increase. Then the 1%ers will whine endlessly about how the greedy workers are sending them to the poorhouse (meaning they might actually need to put off buying that 4th yacht till next month).

  9. I am shocked... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    .... there's gambling going on in the casino!!!!

    I was in my boss's office in the late 80's (probably 1988) while he was having a conversation with an old friend who owned another company. Both were computer companies with all their manufacturing here in the US and both were facing a new wave of cheap imported computer products flooding in from Taiwan. The friend told my boss that he had gone to China with some other business men and had seen that US companies there were using labor delivered to their factories every day by the People's army and returned to their barracks by that same army... the army made sure they had the right number of workers every day, made sure they never stole anything, and there were simply no labor laws as long as the US firms kept the Army happy (which was easy back then). He then said that he saw no future in manufacturing consumer goods in the US and was going to shift his production to China. My boss, refused to join that tidal wave and as the years went by and the US generally (and California in particular) added regulation after regulation while taxing him heavily and not protecting him from the modern equivalent of slave labor he eventually closed his doors and all his US workers lost their jobs.

    Companies like Apple are the most evil entities in the US:

    1. They talk a good line about civil rights and the environment and they back more laws along these lines (in the US where those laws will impact any new upstart who tries to get going in a garage somewhere) while shifting their own production to places like China where none of the laws they embrace will apply to them; they hope their super-gullible customers will fixate on the next shiny bauble and not notice.

    2. They demand that the US government and courts protect their intellectual property rights from any infringement by the very same hard working taxpayers of the US who fund that government... while depriving them of jobs in the US and pushing down their wages (by using cheap Chinese labor both in competition with and as a replacement for US workers)

    3. They demand all the benefits of capitalism and free enterprise within the US, but then when supply and demand rules within that arena might drive-up their costs for things like engineering and manufacturing they escape from the US to a police-state with a demand-economy (which any small upstart cannot do)

    1. Re:I am shocked... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1) Apple does not outsource to China. Apple, and almost every major electronics manufacture outsources to FOXCOM for manufacturing. FOXCOM also supplies all the small parts to it's own factories. It is one stop shop for anyone to have any electronics mass produced. FOXCOM build's factories in China instead of the US almost entirely because of the precarious legal jeopardy manufacturing creates in the US. (If I higher you for a risky job and you hurt yourself, it's fiscally my fault.)

      2) Apple's average employee makes 130K, about 3x the national average.

      3) I'm not really sure what you think you were trying to say, but yes, any upstart and outsource as well. I know a guy who make tobacco less smoking mix. He spent two years trying to get the plant material and the packaging he used domestically. The little bags it cost four times as much, took four weeks instead of and and half, and the quality sucked compared the stuff he got from china. He spend thousands highering call centers to handle his b-2-b sales calls. The US companies just wasted time and basically did nothing. For a quarter the rate plus a commission he found a team out of some other Asian country and how a team of the most dedicated telemarkers I've ever meet. The problem with the US making things is that US sucks at making things. Were too decided on IP and tech.

      This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is much easier to start-up manufacturing again then to start innovating from the beginning.

    2. Re:I am shocked... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please go back to school. That was painful to read.

    3. Re:I am shocked... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Companies like Apple are the most evil entities in the US:

      Why single out Apple other than being an iHater? Foxconn is used by basically EVERY US electronics company for manufacturing and assembly. Samsung also has its own labor issues as well before you try to trot out some fandroid nonsense, too. Apple wasn't even one of the first to move to China, anyway. Your faux outrage rings pretty hollow.

    4. Re:I am shocked... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (If I higher you for a risky job and you hurt yourself, it's fiscally my fault.)

      Yes it is. Because if people stopped whining about how they're not allowed to go around killing off their employees and figured out how to make the process safer, they just might discover that things work better when you don't have high turnover and have to stop the line every time someone's arm gets lost on it.

      Even with the laws in the US I still have to laugh when some meatpacker starts crying about how they can't even get illegals to walk through their door for minimum wage because the job is too dangerous. Their great grandpappy took his life into his own hands every day manhandling giant slabs of meat and slashing throats so why shouldn't their employees? Even had one get shut down when it turned out they were charging retards to work for them, collecting money from the government and paying them in shiny trinkets or something. Of course the republicans were out in force on that one: "if they're too stupid to realize they're being defrauded, it doesn't count!"

    5. Re:I am shocked... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please go back to school. That was painful to read.

      ...and completely false.

    6. Re:I am shocked... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "2) Apple's average employee makes 130K, about 3x the national average."

      1) Please cite your resource. (for all your points)
      2) Please inform us of the region, does that include china?
      3) What do you mean by average employee? Average skill, average IQ, average position in chain of command, or the most common reference when used in this context average employee yearly income?
      4) Assuming you are revering to average employee yearly income, this is a meaningless number. An example of why this is say I make 1 million dollars a year and have ten employees who make a measly $100 year, my employees average income per year is $91,000. If I were to report that everyone would think that my employees make decent wages, when in reality they are starving and can't even clothe themselves. For reference that is a standard deviation of $287,451.04 with a median of $100 and a mode of $100. Anyone who has ever taken a decent statistics class knows that stating an average is equivalent saying nothing.

      Heck I once worked for a hospital (here in the US) the COO made 500k a year and the lowest administrator made over 100K a year (these weren't doctors well except for one of them, the rest were all lawyers and business majors some of which barely had a batchlers degree.) At the time minimum wage was being raised, and the low end wages took several years to catch up, at one point the housekeeping staff was barely over minim wage (I think it was only $0.10 over.) At this same time the administrates were receiving yearly bonuses of almost 90% of their yearly income, while the housekeepers only got gift-cards to WalMart for $25 as a end of year bonus. Just for reference the hospital only had about 700 employees, and in case your wondering I know the administrator wages because the hospital was non-profit and had to publicly report all of this yearly.

      This kind of thing is more common than you may think, and the main reason to outsource to china is to pay lower wages. If it costs you $20 an hour to pay an American worker and only $1.00 an hour to pay a Chinese worker, and you don't have to pay the Chinese worker holiday or overtime pay, well you get the idea. Heck there was an MTV show about where American food comes from, and if you just listened to the wages and what the workers had to go through you would understand why it's such a big deal.

      And to all those who comment about child labor, take a minute and think about it. 14 isn't a bad age to learn about working. The only case where I could see a child not being allowed to work is if the job were considered dangerous. As it is, it would be better if children were allowed to work, they could earn their own money for the toys (PSP, X-boxes) they want and actually learn what it takes to get those items. On top of that they would learn a better work ethic. No one sees the problem having a child mow their lawn, (And think of the dangerous equipment that takes, lawn mowers often with gas propelled blades, etc...) in fact those children are seen as hard workers. And if you think minim wage is a good thing look up price floors and their effect on economics.
      In all reality the US laws that we have passed protect large companies because we all want large profits, and thus we pass laws that we think are going to make us the little man more money. When in reality they have the opposite effect. If you really want a better life then take the time to learn the actual implications of the laws you are voting in, read them and figure out exactly what they mean.

    7. Re:I am shocked... by sjames · · Score: 1

      So you're saying they're not slavers....they just hire people to do their slaving for them.

      As for injured workers, what's your recommendation if someone gets injured on your dangerous assembly line? Chuck him in the furnace like the worthless cord wood your country club buddies all know he is?

  10. Are you SHITTING ME? by LeAzzholeChef · · Score: 0

    First off.... Children today have a better understanding of game development then some of the adults. Plus children have a bigger imagination then adults. So why not? If the child loves to make games, and has a talent for it, Why can't they do what they love doing? As long as it's not forced labor, I don't see any harm in it. Fuck off you tree hugging twerps.. let these kids work. It's hard enough these days trying to support a family, let the kid earn money for his college.

    1. Re:Are you SHITTING ME? by CodeheadUK · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Except this isn't game development. It's an production line. Attach your part to the assembly and pass it to the next station, repeat until the shift change whistle goes. It's mindless repetition for drones, not imaginative thinking to expand the mind.

      However, if the kid is paid a decent wage, why not allow it? We are too quick to apply our values to other societies. Kids under the age of 10 scrape a living collecting garbage for recycling in the slums of India. All of a sudden the Chinese kid's life looks much better.

    2. Re:Are you SHITTING ME? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the green entrepreneur provides much more value to the community for one. secondly, walking around your village and picking up trash will lead to a plethora of different types of social interactions that will spur the child's healthy natural development; where as standing in on the line all day isn't going to build a model citizenry.

    3. Re:Are you SHITTING ME? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, shit dude are you like 16 or something? Come back after you've traveled the world some and are a bit more cultured.

    4. Re:Are you SHITTING ME? by Desler · · Score: 1

      Why not allow it? Because it's better that kids are developing repetitive stress disorder before they are even 18?

    5. Re:Are you SHITTING ME? by tepples · · Score: 1

      First off.... Children today have a better understanding of game development then some of the adults.

      Nintendo doesn't care. If you haven't built up a reputation within the mainstream video game industry on someone else's platform, Nintendo doesn't want you.

    6. Re:Are you SHITTING ME? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...or die from hunger before the age of 15 because he cannot work for money to buy food?

  11. White Man's Burden by ixarux · · Score: 1

    So the West have always wished to save people. Enforce their value system on the rest of the world. And as long as they have an economic stake in another nation, they shall. It's their bloody right. They pay for that right. And we need to respect that. Times really haven't changed. We, the 3rd world, are truly the White Man's Burden. Rescue us from the chains that bind us.

    1. Re:White Man's Burden by Desler · · Score: 1

      You do realize that Nintendo is a Japanese company, right?

    2. Re:White Man's Burden by ixarux · · Score: 1

      Given its former imperialist ways, I always group it with the Western imperial nations...

  12. What Nintendo what to do about it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Nintendo find out that they are using 14 years old workers, what they want to do about it?
    There's not much OEM/ODM the size of Foxconn/Asus. If Nintendo want to move somewhere else, what is their option which such a low manufacturing costs the foxconn gave them? All they probably do is demand to foxconn, then how you enforce that?

  13. not just child labor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nintendo also has the worst environmental record of any tech company but since they make cutesy video games instead of unix workstations all the nerds look the other way.

    1. Re:not just child labor by Christopher+Fritz · · Score: 3, Interesting

      For anyone who's unfamiliar with this, and is curious, Greenpeace has a Guide to Greener Electronics.

      [Greenpeace rep Casey Harrel] said in a Kotaku interview, that Nintendo (as Kotaku writes, "barely even attempt to submit, or make available, the information Greenpeace require to make accurate judgements." According to Casey (I think; Kotaku suddenly uses the name Corey): "Nintendo consistently scores the poorest on our Guide to Greener Electronics primarily because they donâ(TM)t submit, nor have any publicly available information, on over half the criteria that we use to assess company performance on the Guide."

      In other words, Nintendo's "worst environmental record" is the equivalent of a database null. It's not "the worst", it's "unknown".

      For the information Nintendo does put out, Greenpeace's rep does note, "those that they do have answers for, are quite poor."

      In a response, Nintendo says, "We would like to assure customers that we take our environmental responsibilities seriously and are rigorous in our commitment to comply with all relevant laws relating to environmental and product safety, including avoiding the use of dangerous substances in our manufacturing processes and ensuring the safe disposal and recycling of materials."

      Whether one loves or hates a company, it's a bit difficult to fault their abysmal environmental record just because they didn't fill out a third party company's survey.

      Disclaimer: I'm a rational Nintendo fanboy. I love their products, but I can criticize Nintendo and their products as well.

  14. Say it ain't so! by danaris · · Score: 1

    Wait, wait, wait...

    You mean Apple isn't the only company that uses Foxconn for manufacturing?

    You mean there are other companies involved with this Chinese behemoth that is so obviously the very worst exploiter of workers in the whole wide world?

    But...but...but...how will I get my hate on now that I have actual knowledge like this?

    Dan Aris

    --
    Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
    1. Re:Say it ain't so! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Believe it or not, the state of Apple's social currency is only important to people who have linked their ego and sense of self worth to Apple products.

      Apple cultists "Love" Apple, and so they naturally see any criticism of their objects of affection as "Hate" when really they are only witnessing an exercise in objective analysis combined with an incredulous sense of frustration and disgust with those who refuse to recognize reality.

      It's much the same dynamic within religion/science debate. "We are superior. Haters gonna hate!" one side will blithely tell themselves while the other side rolls their eyes and responds, "You guys are fucking retarded! Wrong and emotionally blocked from recognizing why."

  15. Not unheard of in China by plasticsquirrel · · Score: 1

    School is more or less standard for kids in China up through middle school. However, some kids are kicked out of school, or choose not to attend for some reason (or their parents pull them out for some reason). It is not unheard of for 14-year olds to be working full-time. For example, there is this 10-year old auto mechanic who does this work "as a hobby" since he was kicked out of school for bringing down the test scores:

    http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures/10-year-old-boy-skilled-auto-mechanic.html

    China is basically a different beast altogether. This country does not follow the same rules as a first world country, and some things may seem completely alien to us. They are also very hostile to what they view as "western meddling," and with good reason (past history, and frankly western countries do have that tendency). As someone who has lived there in the past, my only advice is that other countries should have strict standards for labor practices if they are doing trade with China, and to realize that China is a very different animal (things may be legal in China that are illegal in the U.S., and vice-versa). In my view, China is really the "Wild West of Asia," in which there is very little rule of law, and things mostly still get done through networking and favors.

    --
    Systemd: the PulseAudio of init systems
  16. I'm not a non-interventionalist, but . . . by Seumas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Foxconn's internal investigation came after a Chinese media report and New York-based China Labor Watch said students from the ages of 14 to 16 were interning at Foxconn's factory in the Chinese coastal city of Yantai. Chinese labor laws prohibit companies from recruiting workers under the age of 16.

    I'm not a non-interventionalist. I mean, I believe we insert ourselves into far more situations than we need to and should general stay the hell out, but not as a hard and strict rule. However, I have to ask . . . why is this our problem? China is massive. What are they, one and a half billion people, by now? While some places are just small backwoods villages, they also have some of the largest and most modern cities around. They have their own businesses, government, law, citizens, workers, and probably activists, lobbies, and unions. If they feel that they have a problem with the way businesses are treating their citizens -- and even taking into account the history of China's treatment of their own citizens and dissidents -- isn't that their problem? We're not talking about some little country with a defunct government that is controlled by warlords that is possessed by lawless anarchy.

    Because a business in another country sub-contracts business out to them, everyone is supposed to feel a great deal of guilt over something that their own businesses and government don't have a problem with? Are parents selling their children to Foxconn who then takes them away and locks them in rooms with chained and barred doors and forced into slave labor doing stuff that'll cause them to lose limbs and digits?

    Their own labor laws say they can't recruit workers under the age of sixteen (though I had my first job in America at 12 and my first real job at 14). So let their government and system of law deal with it. If you feel the reports are true, report it to their government.

    1. Re:I'm not a non-interventionalist, but . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Buck passing.

      Long and short: Buying products from a slave factory means you are directly benefiting from human misery.

      Semantics aren't going to alter your karma one little bit.

      If you don't pay attention and make wise choices in your life, on the next go-round you're likely to find yourself on an assembly line, living in a barracks, being paid a pittance and dying young.

      The West is 'free', but how we use that freedom matters.

      Just sayin'.

    2. Re:I'm not a non-interventionalist, but . . . by Belial6 · · Score: 1

      Focusing on 'children' is a red herring in this though. If your problem is with slave labor, then you should say it is with slave labor. Saving a 'child' of 14 from slave labor so that they can become non-child slave labor at 18 isn't a virtue. There is nothing wrong 14 year olds having jobs. Not only is it not wrong, it is a good thing. Slave labor is a bad thing. By complaining about the child labor, people are throwing out the baby and KEEPING the bathwater.

  17. I don't get it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought kids loved Nintendo?

  18. New slogan time by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Here's some changed ones...
    Now you're working for power!
    Build it loud!

    And we can use these without changing them...
    Welcome to the future
    change the system
    Get N or Get out
    Wii would like to play
    What will you and i do? (

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  19. Nintindo should pull the work by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Seriously, China can and does hold Japan hostage via economic means. As such, I hope that nintendo is looking to use this as an excuse.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  20. Foxcoon is like the USA of the past where works ri by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    Foxcoon is like the USA of the past where works rights where very poor.

    They are doing it all.

    Under age work

    Unpaid work

    unpaid overtime

    Company town with changing workers the costs of living at work.

    and so one.

  21. Breaking the layout (5:erocS) by tepples · · Score: 1

    I don't completely understand why Slashdot is being so conservative regarding Unicode support.

    I've explained this several times. Google site:slashdot.org erocs and you'll eventually end up at abuses of Unicode, such as breaking site layout with bidirectional control characters, that prompted the use of what amounts to a narrow whitelist of code points.

    1. Re:Breaking the layout (5:erocS) by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      There are also the wonderful Zalgo characters which can hit posts above you, as well as below.

    2. Re:Breaking the layout (5:erocS) by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      I've explained this several times. Google site:slashdot.org erocs and you'll eventually end up at abuses of Unicode, such as breaking site layout with bidirectional control characters, that prompted the use of what amounts to a narrow whitelist of code points.

      I understand, but I'm also quite sure there is already well-proven methods to work out such problems. How would all the other websites get around them otherwise?

  22. At least it's real money earned. by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    Since when does Nintendo care if kids sit for twelve hours a day performing repetitive hand motions and rarely seeing fresh air or sunlight?

    Their business model depends on it.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  23. Re:What we want to know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come on mods, this is actually pretty funny.

  24. Fox or con? by tepples · · Score: 2
    Anonymous Coward wrote:

    Bear Stearns (harbinger of bear market), Bernie Madoff (made off with a lot of money), MF Global (fucked people all over the world), Foxconn. Just sayin'.

    Are you trying to connect Foxconn to News Corporation (Fox), to confidence tricks ("con" jobs), or to the title for a Turko-Mongol king ("khan")?

  25. Re:Foxcoon is like the USA of the past where works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    oh don't worry, all the stuff is going to be coming back home to america soon enough. just keep voting republican.

  26. By having editions in other languages by tepples · · Score: 1

    I'm also quite sure there is already well-proven methods to work out such problems. How would all the other websites get around them otherwise?

    By having editions in languages other than English, which provides revenue to pay people to work on features that would be useful to readers of editions in languages other than English. Slashdot, on the other hand, isn't affiliated with Barrapunto or Slashdot.jp.

  27. But Apple said there are no underage workers by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    Can't we believe what Apple says?

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  28. Newt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..because a bunch of do-gooders think that its uncivilized. They equate child labor with forced labor.

    Yea wasn't it Newt that wanted to do away with child labor laws so they could work as janitors in the schools?