Would you kill for your smartphone?
We have all heard about blood diamonds, but what about the minerals in our gadgets such as smartphones?
By Jonny Evans
January 22, 2014 11:00 AM EST
Smartphones are incredibly advanced devices, iPhone or Android, they
are packed with advanced components manufactured using some of the
world's rarest raw materials -- but in some cases the cost of those
materials includes an inconceivable degree of human suffering.
What's the cost?
I'm talking about conflict minerals: tantalum, tungsten, tin, and gold. These rare minerals are essential to a variety of consumer electronics, including your tablet and your phone.
Where do the minerals come from? Many are mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo inside a conflict zone in which kidnapping; mass rape, child soldiers, and mass murder are daily occurrences with as many as 5.4 million people killed so far.
The conflict is particularly tragic as despite being (per-capita) one of the poorest countries on the planet, the region is rich in natural resources, home to $24 trillion in value of untapped raw mineral deposits. The region is also rich in rare animal life, many now under threat of extinction as a by-product of almost 20-years of conflict.
Various armed groups extract these rare minerals to finance their armies. Once mined, minerals are despatched to smelters elsewhere, from which they eventually make their way into your products.
Numerous initiatives exist to audit these smelters to ensure they use minerals sourced outside of the conflict zones. These audit processes link directly to an incoming SEC rule demanding consumer electronics firms make public whether their supply chains are conflict-free. Set to become law in spring some big brands have begun to avoid using conflict minerals: Intel this month announced its processors are now conflict-free.
So do you have a little slice of conflict in your smartphone?
It remains possible.
The Enough Project rates consumer electronics firms for their attempts to mitigate use of these minerals. Assessed using a points system it is revealing to compare some key manufacturers:
We should have a little more certainty on the matter from February/March when firms will be required to tell us about the conflict-free status of their products (though almost half of the firms doing business in the US "aren't ready" to say).
When this information does become available, most smartphone users will have to ask themselves if the convenience of receiving a fast and immediate Facebook update justifies the human and environmental cost of their device. And that's when customers will be able to ask if they'd kill for that smartphone.
Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and join the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple?
Got a story? Drop me a line via Twitter or in comments below and let me know. I'd like it if you chose to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when fresh items are published here first on Computerworld.
Jonny Evans is an independent journalist/blogger who first got online in 1993 and began writing about Apple in 1999. He's author of Computerworld's AppleHolic blog and also writes for others in the US, UK and Europe. Winner of an Azbee Award in 2010, Jonny has no shares in any technology company, enjoys new and disruptive technology and likes music almost as much as he likes his large and shiny dog.
What's the cost?
I'm talking about conflict minerals: tantalum, tungsten, tin, and gold. These rare minerals are essential to a variety of consumer electronics, including your tablet and your phone.
Where do the minerals come from? Many are mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo inside a conflict zone in which kidnapping; mass rape, child soldiers, and mass murder are daily occurrences with as many as 5.4 million people killed so far.
The conflict is particularly tragic as despite being (per-capita) one of the poorest countries on the planet, the region is rich in natural resources, home to $24 trillion in value of untapped raw mineral deposits. The region is also rich in rare animal life, many now under threat of extinction as a by-product of almost 20-years of conflict.
Various armed groups extract these rare minerals to finance their armies. Once mined, minerals are despatched to smelters elsewhere, from which they eventually make their way into your products.
Numerous initiatives exist to audit these smelters to ensure they use minerals sourced outside of the conflict zones. These audit processes link directly to an incoming SEC rule demanding consumer electronics firms make public whether their supply chains are conflict-free. Set to become law in spring some big brands have begun to avoid using conflict minerals: Intel this month announced its processors are now conflict-free.
“Now that Intel has made the first conflict-free product,” Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said, “it’s important for Apple, Boeing, Tiffany, to make their own.”Apple is working towards this and now demands suppliers only source from smelters that have passed conflict mineral audits. Most big brands are taking similar steps.
So do you have a little slice of conflict in your smartphone?
It remains possible.
The Enough Project rates consumer electronics firms for their attempts to mitigate use of these minerals. Assessed using a points system it is revealing to compare some key manufacturers:
- RIM, 42 points
- Apple, 38 points
- Microsoft, 38 points
- Motorola Mobility, 35 points
- Nokia, 35 points
- LG, 27 points
- Samsung, 27 points.
"In the long-term, Samsung Electronics plans to set up a monitoring system to track its suppliers’ use of conflict minerals," the company says.This suggests that while it currently appears less likely your iPhone includes components derived from the conflict minerals, there's a possibility your Galaxy device will include them, as Samsung does not yet audit suppliers against the practise.
We should have a little more certainty on the matter from February/March when firms will be required to tell us about the conflict-free status of their products (though almost half of the firms doing business in the US "aren't ready" to say).
When this information does become available, most smartphone users will have to ask themselves if the convenience of receiving a fast and immediate Facebook update justifies the human and environmental cost of their device. And that's when customers will be able to ask if they'd kill for that smartphone.
Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and join the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple?
Got a story? Drop me a line via Twitter or in comments below and let me know. I'd like it if you chose to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when fresh items are published here first on Computerworld.
Jonny Evans is an independent journalist/blogger who first got online in 1993 and began writing about Apple in 1999. He's author of Computerworld's AppleHolic blog and also writes for others in the US, UK and Europe. Winner of an Azbee Award in 2010, Jonny has no shares in any technology company, enjoys new and disruptive technology and likes music almost as much as he likes his large and shiny dog.
- TAGS:Android, Apple, conflict minerals, congo, Dodd Frank Act, government legislation, Intel, IOS, iPad, iPhone, mobile, Samsung, smartphones, tablet, Technology
- TOPICS:Gov't Legislation/Regulation, iOS, Smartphones, Tablets
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