Apples to Apples: The Mac

Such interesting timing- my 6 year old Dell has finally called it quits. In the midst of applying for law school, in the midst of starting up this blog-- the timing sucks. A couple in our building, Danielle and Johnathan, have been so kind to let us borrow one of theirs until we can get a new one... but
How in the hell am I supposed to find a computer that isn't linked to injustice?

We spent an hour in the Apple store yesterday trying to get the low down on Apples. Word to the sane: Never visit an Apple store on a Saturday in a mall. It will make you tired.
So knowing almost nothing about Macs I fired my 103 questions at our Apple helper, Derwin yesterday. Later last night I realized three things:
1. I want one.
2. I want one today.
3. It's unlikely my want will become a have.

Except that Apples are made in China (and from trees in Washington, Pennsylvania and many other orchard states) neither Derwin nor his manager knew much about Apple's codes or history. Surprising, surprising. (This is getting on my darn nerves, people not knowing anything about the manufacturing; hence one of the many reasons slavery continues on, I suppose.) I've also been unable to find anything on the Apple website that even resembles a code of conduct.

But Derwin did tell me that there was a particular incident he knew of where a factory that Apple did business with was found to paying their workers very little and forcing overtime. Derwin said Apple discontinued their relationship with this business and said this has set a standard for other factories they work with. I'm not so sure about this.....

I have read that Apple has little transparency- meaning, they do not publish a list where they manufacture or audit, they have only just developed a team of 8 specifically for establishing social responsibility, and refuses to engage in conversation about their social responsibility or have cooperative relationships with NGOs.

A lot of the information I've found has come from SACOM (Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior) based out of Hong Kong. They did a study last year on the high tech computer industry in China. They conducted studies in 7 factories in the cities of Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Zhongshan in Guangdong Province, southern China. These factories belong to FSP Group, Primax Electronics, Lite-On Group, Tyco Electronics and Volex Group. The research team also asked the concerned brand companies (Hewlett Packard, Dell, Apple, Fujitsu Siemens and Acer) to respond to a questionnaire about social responsibility measures implemented in China between January 2007 and March 2008. The aim was to see how premium brands have ensured workers’ rights in their supplier factories.

Here's the link to the rest of the study: http://sacom.hk/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/executive-summary-report-may-2008.pdf

Here's SACOM's link: More info on them soon! What they are doing is awesome.
http://sacom.hk/

Here's an article I found on alleged slave labor by Apple: 2006
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/06/71176

How about dem' apples? I'm disappointed with the findings.

More info to come on the computer industry soon.