We can look the squalor of factory-farmed animals right in the eye while biting into our ham sandwich and say "damn, someone should really do something about that." Or, perhaps more commonly, "I'm entitled to this, actually."
So why would we budge over a little forced labor on the other side of the world? Or pollution? Or anything else?
We care about things right up to the point where we have to lift a finger. Though, aside, for this reason I think legislation is one of the only solutions short of waiting for a cultural awakening that probably won't ever come.
The difference is that I won't go around evangelizing (i.e. marketing) their products as a consumer, pumping up demand if I knew the negative costs associated with it. On the corporate side is Apple's hypocrisy PR- i.e. don't drink their koolaid.
I'm curious, which Google product must you use that has no reasonable analog from a different vendor?
I'm not being snarky here just a little confused.
I suppose Android could fall into that definition, although LineageOS[0]+MicroG[1] do provide a reasonable alternative.
My question isn't rhetorical. I'm genuinely not familiar with any Google product without a reasonable alternative.
Edit: Fixed nonsensical sentence.
As a general rule, I don't use the search engine. And not just because of Google's market power. It's also because the quality of search results have dropped enormously.
At this point, other search engines are at least as good, IMHO.
I don't think it'll ever come because we've allowed ourselves to create an atmosphere where there's entities doing their utmost to ensure it never happens via the tolerance of behaviour economics and psychology being used in marketing, the tolerance of big corporate lobbyists, the corruption of science via corporate backed "studies" whose results align with the initial desires, etc.
The only consolation being that our unmitigated greed will likely destroy us long before we have the chance to infest the stars with it, and that life will go on without us.
The fact is - Apple fans aren't unique. Not many people care about this issue, unfortunately.
This is an old documentary and a bit different demographic, but it is still pertinent. If people didn't care back then, I doubt they will this time though...
And then try to claim you are different for using Google because you hate yourself at the same time.
The set of things you can buy these days that isn't made in China is essentially restricted to luxury goods and safety-critical equipment (cars, guns, scuba gear, etc.); despite what they tend to say out loud, companies know that it's prohibitively expensive to get safety-critical reliability out of Chinese manufacturing. But if it's just your camera or power drill or whatever, they know you're not going to sue them when it breaks. Apple actually does a really good job on QC for Chinese manufacturing, but then you have all these accusations of forced labor to contend with.
Because NO ONE else seems to be up to the task.
I think folks here are getting lost in the weeds about precise definitions which don't really matter that much and what they think are laws that can be applied across national boundaries (generally, that's not feasible).
There has been an effort to ban "conflict minerals" from modern supply chains. It's partially successful (in that you effectively get "a sticker" that you can show-off if your supply chain doesn't use children as miners). It would be nice if, AT LEAST, a similar half-measure could be done for "forced labor" (or whatever you want to call what they're doing to the Uighurs).
Because without consumer, there would be no incentive for either China and Apple to behave amorally.
China is a totalitarian dictatorship. As long as it's citizens don't rebel, they have no incentive to change their behavior. Apple is a publicly traded company. They need good publicity.
So, as a humanist, I say it's up to the consumers to force Apple to stop contributing to human rights abuses.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/20/apple-u...