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Conflict Minerals and Cell Phones
Presto Vivace sends in this story at Slate:
"If you are reading this on a smartphone, then you are probably holding in your palm the conflict minerals that have sent the biggest manufacturing trade group in the U.S. into a court battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At stake in this battle between the National Association of Manufacturers and the government is whether consumers will know the potentially blood-soaked origins of the products they use every day and who gets to craft rules for multinational corporations—Congress or the business itself. ... These minerals are tantalum (used in cellphones, DVD players, laptops, hard drives, and gaming devices), tungsten, tin, and gold, if they are mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo and surrounding countries including Rwanda, where the mineral trade has fueled bloody conflicts. The rule requiring disclosure of conflict minerals will go into effect in 2014. Congress included it in Dodd-Frank out of concern for what is known as the “resource curse”—the phenomenon wherein poor counties with the greatest natural resources end up with the most corrupt and repressive governments. The money earned from selling the natural resources props up these harsh regimes and funds violence against their citizens and neighbors."
Seems this should apply to oil, as well...
Only one solution. Take over the country and make it a colony. Then import for cheap.
The US has a longstanding policy of getting involved where it doesn't belong over some natural resources, why not others? We need hard drives and cell phones just as much as we need internal combustion cars... Right?
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
I'm surprised the even limit the list at all... how about all microelectronics for decades? Its dielectric constant is just huge.
Relevant: http://youtu.be/TSwrJrGjJFA
What's the point of these kinds of laws? Just like drugs, these resources will make their way to whomever wants to buy them. Where there's a market, there's a way.
i can already see this increasing the prices twofold on products.
Why not also China, where manufacturing props up a violent and corrupt dictatorship? What props up equally -- though differently -- corrupt India? The US is pretty violent too, and corrupt, as is Mexico.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Well congratulations to you for being unlike most people who would happily pay an extra $5 for a phone made without violence.
“resource curse”—the phenomenon wherein poor counties with the greatest natural resources end up with the most corrupt and repressive governments.
My ass - that shit is engineered by the people and groups who stand to profit from preventing those people from taking ownership of their national resources.
The De Beers artificial diamond shortages being a prime example.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Whole "conflict" thing was started by DeBeers so they could hold onto their diamond cartel.
Every commodity has "conflict", "sweatshop", "shitty conditions" problem. All the labels are going to do is create incentives to funnel consumers into several options, with manufacturers using bribes, cartels, and smoke and mirrors.
Somehow I expect this is like conflict diamonds. In a war, it's hard for De Beers to keep a strangle hold on diamond mining, so they start a PR campaign against free market diamonds. I wouldn't be surprised if the interests driving this are economic not social welfare.
i dont know about some tree hugging morons, but i dont really give a shit about the conditions in which minerals are attained. if it makes my product cheaper, it isnt my problem
You're probably a troll, but what the hell, I'll bite.
It becomes your problem when those 'conditions' lead to people who start to hate the west. People who start to listen to so-called leaders who are willing to turn those people into weapons. It becomes your problem when those people blow themselves up at rush hour at your local subway station. The world is a lot smaller than you think it is, and desperation causes people to strike out at their perceived agressors - Like the nation full of dickheads who think they needs a 5s when their 4ses are working perfectly well.
The reality is that most people don't give a shit. Oh they say they do but they truly don't. They like the idea of being guilt free but when it comes right down to it, they won't vote with their wallets.
This is comparable to the "buy local" campaigns you see at grocery stores in the US. People say they want to but then when it winds up being significantly more expensive, they opt for the cheaper products rather than local. They tell themselves "next time" to appease their conscience.
A law declaring the origins of products won't change peoples buying habits. Showing them the maimed bodies will.
And yet Nestlé comes in, sucks up all your fresh sources of water and we barely hear about it.
http://www.bottledlifefilm.com/
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Oh wait, it's not a conflict when the US does it ... duh!
Exactly. If the nigger beasts can't sort their shit out it ain't our job to do so. They kicked the white man out so they can deal with the consequences.
You can not give a shit about poor people without being a racist, you know.
I have equal opportunity complete lack of caring about them.
I want to know someone died so I can have this phone!
So I get to save $5, without any tangible personal detriment? Sounds like a pretty clear choice to me. It's disappointing to see so many (presumably) intelligent people on Slashdot clinging to slave morality.
It's not just oil - will our new Apple products come with the label: "Designed by Apple in a country which undertakes secret rendition, torture and massive online surveillance and privacy invasion."?
It's disappointing to see so many (presumably) intelligent people on Slashdot clinging to financial morality.
You know, Africa is about 20% white? You're so racist, you don't even know what you're saying!
Nowadays there are MLCCs at 220uF that could replace Tantalum in a number of applications, not to mention Niobium based capacitors that derive their raw materials from Brasil and Canada.
Je me souviens.
I don't think that has anything to do with us buying minerals from them. people hate the US because it is rich. we are also mostly christian and not muslim. i know you wish it was because we are just so oppressive and we don't care who we buy natural resources from, but it has a lot more to do with religion and culture. don't believe me - why do they have such a problem with israel? hint - it's not because they buy lots of precious metals.
we don`t need violents and corrupt democracy.. if so.. visit our campain http://www.anunturi-reale.com
I don't think that has anything to do with us buying minerals from them. people hate the US because it is rich. we are also mostly christian and not muslim.
Yet most of these people didn't hate America before 2001. They wanted Green Cards so they could move there and become rich too.
Minerals are fungible. If you want to risk your life to defeat slavers, have at it. Don't involve me, and get out of my face.
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"poor counties with the greatest natural resources end up with the most corrupt and repressive governments."
You mean, like, Canada?
considering how many people have died in the name of spreading "democracy" and protecting oil interests... Pot Kettle....
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
This isn't about naturally rare minerals, it's about the one mineral that's rare by design. This is the latest in a long history of disinformation campaigns intended to keep DeBeers' control of the diamond. In fact, diamonds are so common in nature that there are beaches in Africa where they wash up on shore. You could pick them up like seashells if it weren't for the armed guards ready and willing to shoot anyone who tries. If DeBeers ever lost control of the market the value of diamonds would plumet.
When General Electric developed the first artificial diamond DeBeers bought the company. When Israel threatened to dump their cache on the market, DeBeers practically bought the country. They spent billions buying artificial diamonds from the Soviets, just to keep them off the market. In the US, when DeBeers was investigated for antitrust violations they put every employee in their country on a plane and sent them back to Europe. In one night. The next day there was a new person in every US job, and not one of those people could testify about how DeBeers operates. If you ever want to have your life turned upside down, try buying and selling used diamonds. See just how long it takes for DeBeers to shut you down.
DeBeers modus operandi is to back whoever controls a country, as long as they are willing to do business. If not, DeBeers will back a coup. So, if you want to control an African country, step 1 is to gain control over the diamonds. If you want to get rich, step 1 is to take over a country. THAT is why there's so much violence in Africa. The regime that labels "conflict" minerals is just one of the tools DeBeers uses to maintain control. The "conflict" countries are places where more than one group operates. Whatever group is on the outside will smuggle diamonds out, undermining price controls.
The history of the DeBeers cartel is the most fascinating and disturbing story that's rarely told. If you haven't read it I strongly recommend a trip to the local library. Don't wait for Hollywood to tell the story. They're too busy writing a sequel to "Blood Diamonds". On contract of course. The sad truth is that EVERY diamond is a blood diamond.
I do not block ads. I do block third party scripts.
an extra 5$? what are you smoking? more like an extra 10-30%. as soon as you start being a dumbass and giving in to shit like this, then you will start giving in to things like "hey, we should give chinese sweatshops more money so they can survive" this will double the price of labor, and guess what, YOU will be footing that bill, not the companies.
How about Blood Labor?
Oil is highly correlated with terrorism, non-functional government, and massive subsidies.
Diamonds are highly correlated with even more problems.
So, just download iOS7 instead of buying the iPhone 5s, and wait until the iPhone 6 comes out.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
This is perhaps the right place to plug the Fairphone ( www.fairphone.com ), an experiment in making electronic products free from conflict minerals and exploitation of workers. It's not a commercial phone manufacturer (they're only making 25.000, at least to start with), it's more a proof of concept and they seem to be pulling it off. Obviously it's relatively easy to source non-conflict minerals when you're only making 25.000 units, not so easy to scale that up under current conditions.
But if every manufacturer were forced to disclose where they sourced their raw materials from, and consumers reacted by avoiding blood minerals, this could actually have effects on the ground: the value of conflict mines would be reduced as fewer manufacturers bought from them, and the incentive to fight over control of said mines would be reduced accordingly. The parties in conflict would have a strong incentive to find peace so they could resume sales--better share profits with your rival that sit on top of a mine that cannot sell anything.
Of course the companies will fight tooth and nail to stop this. In the name of life, liberty and the pursuit of shareholder value. Captcha: "malice". Heh
Since ceramic got so good, I haven't needed to specify Tantalum in any of my designs for 5 or more years. In my experience, it is mostly inertia / laziness that keeps designers from exploring alternatives.
Like most engineers, I enjoy the challenge when someone says "you have to use tantalum - nothing else will work". True, Y5V Ceramic has highly voltage-dependent capacitance. So what? Often it's ESR and not absolute capacitance you need, anyway.
If the new requirements give some companies "image problems" it could actually succeed in reducing tantalum usage.
There is probably some relationship here with the current trend of high valued ceramic capacitors. You can easily find 100 uF ceramic caps in a form factor smaller then the same value tantalum and the cost is comparable.
The end result here (as always) is consumers paying more for some products.
From TFA:
The âoeresource curseâ - the phenomenon wherein poor counties with the greatest natural resources end up with the most corrupt and repressive governments. The money earned from selling the natural resources props up these harsh regimes and funds violence against their citizens and neighbors
They're not angry because you're buying minerals, they're angry because their life is hellish, and ripe to to moulded into terrorists. If they had a better life then they'd go home to their families and watch TV, not listen to anti-US rants.
I'd hit my own fucking grandma with a baseball bat for a $10 off coupon.
First of all, 2001 wasn't even the first time that "these people" tried to blow up the WTC. They've hated us for a while, those of them that do (more a vocal minority than a majority).
If more of them hate us now, that's probably because we spent the better part of the last decade bombing them.
The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
How are my arguments not consistent? What is wrong with my grammar, Mr. Nazi?
This is what government sanctions are for.
They also hate us because we give our women more freedom than they approve of, and because we don't persecute homosexuals enough.
Natural resources have no influence on poverty in countries like Nigeria, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and many others. They have a lack of control over their resources. Or, to put it a bit more in perspective, a few corrupt bastards have control over all of the resources. The have so far successfully managed to keep the rest of the people either not unsatisfied enough to tolerate this, or oppressed them successful enough to still be in control. It's in the best interest of "western" countries to keep this status quo, because it means overall lower prices and less powerful other nations. Third world countries would stop being third world countries if we stopped exploiting them pretty fast. We're still pulling out more resources and money than we're sending back, even after the colonization has ended. By supporting their corrupt assholes and destroying their local markets we keep the status quo without having to resort to sending soldiers, usually. Sometimes the price of oil is in danger, or they might actually revolt successful enough to become an actual threat and we need to send military to "support democracy" and "regain stability in the region".
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Tarring and feathering remote manufacturers, by stories like this, ensure that they will do their utmost to avoid sourcing any minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is the common reaction, perfectly sensible for any business, and it is actually happening. For a private manufacturing company, without government investigative powers or private armies of their own, to operate safely in that incredibly corrupt, violent country and discover which mine and which trader has not "supported" an armed group, i.e., that has not been victimized, had not its work product stolen or "taxed" and so is "DRC conflict-free," is not possible. So Central Africa, the size of the United States with 200 million people, is simply stigmatized by the Dodd-Frank Act and shunned in its entirety by those manufacturers who are capable of controlling their supply chains. Remaining DRC mineral trade goes into criminal channels. More Congolese starve. The horror, the horror, for those who never read Heart of Darkness. The circumstances are very complex and difficult, and the time has long passed to address the problems with realism on the ground, in country, and not just try to privatize larger societal obligations. The Dodd-Frank Act, and wrathful moralizing of the Slate article, only prolong the agony.
Only the USA should be doing that: See Iran, Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua.
As a student of international relations and ardent environmentalist in the 80s, we saw then what would be labelled the curse of natural resources. But we have also grown to recognize what promotes positive social development in developing/emerging markets. Fixers, tinkerers, repairpeople, recyclers and geeks. The history of Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan - all resource poor nations - is a history of repairs, knock offs, reverse-engineering, and recycling, serving what Harvard Business Review article calls the "Good Enough Market".
The best jobs for Africans today is the collection and repair of used cell phones replaced by upgrades in wealthy countries. If you don't understand the connection between mining for new product and planned obsolescence, tinkering and repair, then you don't know how to do simple mass balance.
So who did we choose to arrest? The tantalum mining industry? No. An Interpol E-Waste crackdown, which arrested about 40 Africans (like Joseph Benson of the UK) is behaving like the fire department in Birmingham Alabama in 1960s, firehosing the geeks in bullshit accusations of primitive wire burning In a bizarre, sick and ultimately twisted take on environmental reality, Interpol and Environmentalists are arresting the tinkerers, repairers, fixers and geeks of color. Visit Resolv.org or fairtraderecycling.org for project which are trying to redirect environmentalists friendly fire off of cell phone fixers and back onto mining. The worst, worst form of recycling is less toxic than the best form of metal mining and refining. The more cell phones are fixed, the less we have to choose between providing digital access and mining rainforests for tantalum.
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You would like the right to resell your device for the highest price, right? Instead of caring about where tantalum comes from, try giving a shit that do-gooder environmentalists are making it illegal for you to sell your old cell phone to African geeks. You don't have to care about the resource curse, just selfishly act on behalf of your own interest, the Tinkerer Blessing. Repair, reuse and recycling is ultimately "conservative". You can hate me and still be on my side. http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/e-waste-recycling-exports-are-good
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