From "blood diamonds" to "blood iPhones"

[RandomPhantom700]

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/16/the-genocide-behind-your-smart-phone.html?gt1=43002

The short and sweet of the article is that many of the mineral components in our favorite gadgets are collected by corrupt military juntas in Congo and other parts of Africa. Major corporate producers of said gadgets, particularly Apple, claim there's no real way of tracing whether the minerals components they buy come from such sources.

Perhaps it shouldn't have been, but this was news to me. I was wondering if anyone else on the board knew more information on the subject, or just wanted to discuss it.

Oh, and the cartoon at the bottom is a rather amusing shot at Steve Jobs and Apple. Cheers!

 

[Bill Mattocks]

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/16/the-genocide-behind-your-smart-phone.html?gt1=43002

The short and sweet of the article is that many of the mineral components in our favorite gadgets are collected by corrupt military juntas in Congo and other parts of Africa. Major corporate producers of said gadgets, particularly Apple, claim there's no real way of tracing whether the minerals components they buy come from such sources.

Perhaps it shouldn't have been, but this was news to me. I was wondering if anyone else on the board knew more information on the subject, or just wanted to discuss it.

Oh, and the cartoon at the bottom is a rather amusing shot at Steve Jobs and Apple. Cheers!

I had not heard of it, but I guess it does not surprise me. Any organization requires funding, so even corrupt despotic governments need to raise money somehow to buy arms and so on.

What to do about it? Well, I'll investigate it and see if there is anything I can do personally; and whether or not I want to do so.

I try to avoid buying gasoline that is imported by Venezuela's state-run petroleum industry. I don't buy illegal drugs, but if I did, I'd consider that many drug-smuggling operations finance terrorism.

We all have to make our own moral decisions about stuff like this.