The dark side of shiny Apple products

On Thursday, after a damning, front-page story in The New York Times, Apple CEO Tim Cook emailed his staff:

"Any suggestion that we don't care is patently false and offensive to us . . . We are attacking problems aggressively . . . it would be easy to look for problems in fewer places and report prettier results, but those would not be the actions of a leader."

And that's just the point for Mike Daisey.

"Why are we talking about Apple here as opposed to, say, Microsoft or Dell or Samsung or any of the other companies that contract with the Foxconns of the world?" Teichner asked.

"Apple has said for decades that it wants to be a leader," replied Daisey. "Well, it's a leader now. I think they should be delighted that people actually expect them to lead and to rally the rest of the industry."

So where does that leave us?

In 2012 it's virtually impossible to stop buying and using electronics made in Chinese factories for Apple or anybody else.

"Our devices are so beautiful, especially the Apple devices. They're so gorgeous-looking that it seems as though they were made by a machine. But the reality is they're assembled by hand - thousands of people work with their fingers putting together the tiny components," said Daisey. "So much of our world is actually handmade, even though it looks so modern. It's built on the bones of this labor. And we need to actually understand that."

For more info:

• "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs", Public Theater, New York, N.Y.
• Mike Daisey blog
• foxconn.com
• apple.com
• Sacom.hk
• impactlimited.com
• infactory-solutions.com

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[samXXkiley]

coucou,
the Chinese products are invading the world markets, Apple importing its products from China is not a scoop, these products are generally cheap, ie a reasonable manufacturing cost. Apple is a multinational corporation whose only concern is money (making maximum profit) at the expense of the quality of marketed products,
I do not think that these large multinationals including Apple, are concerned about the plight of working children.
"au revoir"

[blackmagickiller]

Boycotting Apple products isn't going to change anything.

I've grown up in China.. I've seen these kinds of factories! I've been in them to help translate for clients when they have shoes/clothes - or any kind of products made.

This really does happen! It isn't a lie.. it isn't some scheme to put Apple out of business. Thinking that is just ignorance.

If you think it's all made up then actually get off your butt and get on a plane and leave your little town.. and see what goes on in the world around you. Instead of just making judgments based off of what you see on YouTube or Google News.

It happens and it needs to be stopped but it's not going to be stopped until the Chinese government decides to do something about it. Boycotting Apple or other electronics won't get you anywhere. Putting articles up and trying to expose what happens in these factories also won't get you anywhere. Anyone in China (or people that have actually left America) know that forced work happens. Child labor? it happens. Bad working conditions? IT HAPPENS. And just because a Chinese factory or company doesn't offer free healthcare, coffee and doughnuts for breakfast... doesn't mean they're treating their employees badly.

[Think3Times]

I heard this story reported on NPR many months back.

I also heard the follow up story from NPR apologizing for believing the lies it reported as true.

True or not, I have never bought any apple product, and never will, I don't care how "cool" the product is.

[Think3Times]

First of all you can't boycott something you were ever interested in t begin with.

Also, I know Apple cherishes the term "Proprietary", an if they had their way, everything would be.

Apple wants you to know as little as possible about how technology works, an depend on them to fix anything that might go wrong, and I am totally against that.

[Think3Times]

so much for borrowing roomate's laptop to relax at the coffee house.. something inside this POS keeps sneaking away with the leters I type... t was supposed to be to and "ever" was suppsed to be Never.

[Jshuler11111111]

So, it turns out that Daisey LIED about almost everything. CBS, when are you going to make a redaction?

[jimhass]

How does the fact that Mike Daisey was lying now change your assessment of the story?

[SeaBear70]

Ok, let me get this straight...

Since China as a whole has a suicide rate 10 times higher than Foxxcon, isn't the attempt to fix this "problem" going to, if anything, result in the deaths of thousands of more people that would not have died if the liberal morons had not tried to fix things in the first place? Could it be that like usual, liberals should shut up before they make things worse? Could it be that if that guy wants to be the next Michael Moore, he should probably skip the identical diet?

[edhilljr]

You have got to be kidding. OK, let me get this straight...

YOU are suggesting that doing nothing is the correct response to the suicides at this factory? I'd like to see your response if you or your kids had to work at this place. Oh, wait, I'm hoping you do procreate otherwise we'll all be in a worse place.

[basilr2]

It certainly is not just Apple. Too much emphasis on Apple in this piece. I have visited Shenzen. It is not a place I would want to see again.
I would have preferred to see this story tie into the question-why can't we bring some of these factories to the US? Even a fourth of the production here would help provide jobs, and then slowly add more and more. Surely many of our unemployed are capable of doing these jobs. Personally I would pay more to have the products made in the US, and the company's advertising could reflect-made in the US.

[KKernahan]

Inventor Nationalism is part of what Mike Daisey was talking about wrt Apple and China. If more of our inventors including Steve Jobs, possessed this principle few American innovations would be made off shore.

American Inventors are issued 60% of the patents world wide and are a tiny fraction of just 4.5% of the worlds population. That is an exceptional fact.

Hi, I am part of an American group that controls most of the American innovation we ship to our economic competitors. There are only about 400 of us, and most of us do not give a thought as to the consequences our choices exact on our fellow Citizens.

There are many times fewer Prolific Inventors than there are Venture Capitalists. We are the reason Venture Capital is possible. By international patent law, the Inventor gets to choose, unless we give our rights away.

And No Mr Romney, a corporation can not apply for a patent, humans only. Corporations don't innovate, humans do.

Please forgive the reference to another network. What the Shark Tank investors missed on Jan 27th is that if Donny (the inventor who wants to manufacture in the US) has a patent, his invention can only be made where he says. If manufacturing cost is an issue, try Mansfield, Ohio or any community that lost a GM or other auto plant.

To lean more, Google "Great Rescission? My Fault." and then "Locally Grown Power" to see a practical example of Inventor Nationalism at work.

[wredchard]

No one who has commented here could have done so without a product that has the exact same "taint" that iPhones do, nor could CBS have produced this story without Chinese electronics, nor could the New York Times have researched, written or distributed their series (via their iTunes app, I might add) without the same class of products.

So the question has to be not just asked, but answered, why just Apple, and why only Steve Jobs (who has passed away and can no longer defend himself)?

[bevrleed]

On Sunday CBS morning show I watched the program about worker conditions in China at high tech factories. I thought it was uncharacteristically poor journalism, not up to your usual high standards. The premise was that Foxcomm is abusive to its employees. You stated there were 18 suicides last year at the factories. Foxcomm said that was lower than the national average. You seemed to dismiss that and reported there was a net(!) around the building to prevent suicides, implying that was a bad thing, I guess. And then you disdainfully reported it looked like a fish net. I guess the fact that safety nets look like nets is bad. Or that somehow the people are being treated like fish. You said, without proof, that employees commit suicide because they are worked too hard and are stressed bacause they are "punished" for making a mistake. "Punished" sounds like physical pain but it might be a written warning or dock in pay for errors, not unlike US manufacturing plants.
I understand workers vie for positions in these factories and if they are not given 10 or 12 hour shifts they try to move to a factory that will give them the hours and overtime pay.
All in all, I think you can be more balanced.

[Shadeburst]

That attitude is like some guard at Belsen saying "I only killed 500 Jews last week, look at that guy he killed 600."

And it's an admission of guilt, straight and simple. Holier than thou isn't going to cut it here.

[wredchard]

@Shadeburst

If my comment serves as an admission to guilt for one, then it serves the same function for all.

The question of why just Apple and Steve Jobs still has to be answered.

[shameonbush]

You couldn't give me an iphone, ipad, or any apple product. This makes me furious. I know how apathetical these huge companies are toward their employees, they try to squeeze all they can out of each employee. Driving these people to suicide so much that they attached nets to catch people jumping out of buildings? I'm through with Apple. This is too sickening.

[jsmith1908]

I commend you on your decision to boycott Apple. Thats one less person ahead of me in line when the iPhone 5 launches.

[william02138]

Mike Daisey is a cruel idiot. He would prefer that all these Chinese workers' jobs were eliminated and the work was done by machines instead. All of you who think the "solution" is to stop buying electronics, has it ever occurred to you that an assembly job at FoxConn is better than whatever these worker's second choice is? How is making someone lose their job supposed to help them?!?