Month: March 2015

The article “The Laborers Who Keep Dick Pics and Beheadings Out of Your Facebook Feed” was written by Adrian Chen and published on wired.com in October of 2014.  This piece was written with the intended audience of any person that uses the internet on a regular basis with the intended purpose of making them think about the amount of effort that is put into filtering what they see on social media sites on a daily basis.  A lot of the work that is completed by these people goes entirely unnoticed as not only are the results difficult to visualize, but it is also generally completed in another country entirely.

The main idea of this text is that the labor that is done by large tech companies is not necessarily completed in the well publicized great conditions of the headquarters of these companies in silicon valley, but rather for very poor pay with tremendous adverse side effects.  Much of this filtering labor is completed in the Philippines as they have a culture that is very similar to the culture of the US due to the fact that they used to be a colony of the US.  These laborers are very poorly compensated and work under terrible conditions.  However, sometimes this filtering process takes place on American soil in the nice offices that people generally hear about.  There are still terrible side effects.  The psychological effects of looking at such dark imagery for such extended periods of time are not exactly known and vary from person to person, but can be similar to PTSD in there severity.

Something that I enjoyed from this article was how they included information about the terrible physical conditions of workers in other countries as well as information about the terrible mental conditions of workers in the US that have desirable physical conditions.  The reason that I enjoyed this was because it made me think of my own experience using social media.  Around two years ago I noticed a severe increase in the amount of gore and pornography that appeared on my Facebook feed whether it was due to somebody being hacked and accidentally sharing said videos or others actually sharing them.  Then after a few months there was almost a complete disappearance of these severe videos.  After reading this article it made sense to me as I began to realize and appreciate the effort that had gone into completing such a tremendous task.  In the past I had simply assumed either people had stopped posting them or a computer was going through posts and automatically tagging and deleting sensitive posts.

One question that I am left with after reading this article is how can we find a way to filter this dark imagery without subjecting the human mind to what basically qualifies as mental torture?

This news article, published in The Guardian in 2013, was written by Aditya Chakrabortty. She writes about the incident concerning Tian Yu, a Foxconn employee, throwing herself out of her factory dormitory in southern China. For about a month, Yu has worked on parts for Apple iPhones and iPads. These products end up in British and American homes. The audience that this article is trying to reach is anyone in Britain or America that owns an iPhone or an iPad. Chakrabortty wants to show us Apple users how the product is really made and how the people that make the product are treated. That year (2010), 18 other workers younger than 25, attempted suicide. Reporters tried to find out what was going on in Apple’s supply chain. They found out how bad the conditions were, but nothing was ever done to really make a change. Foxconn workers rarely spoke out. Yu was interviewed and it showed us how these companies rely on “a human battery farming system” that employs young, poor migrants from China. They crowd them into terrible working conditions, force them to work long hours and kick out the ones who can’t keep up. Yu jumped out of the window when her bosses didn’t pay her months labor wages.

This article highlights how badly workers are treated by Foxconn just to make the products that us Americans and Britain use. It also shows us how not much is being done to change this. Apple CEO Tim Cook called on Foxconn to improve their working conditions, but no records show him providing monetary assistance. Yu received a “humanitarian payment” but just like her father said, they were basically buying and selling a thing to make the situation go away. We need to be aware that the products we are using everyday are made by innocent and mistreated people that are so young in age, and no one is actively doing anything about it.

The goal of this article is to raise American and British awareness of the Foxconn mistreatment of its workers. Since Apple is such a huge company, this article applies to millions of people. It definitely tries to pull at the emotions of its audience because we are holding these products everyday that were made by depressed and hopeless workers. Imagine holding your iPad that was made by someone who committed suicide after Foxconn pushed them towards desperation. It’s definitely not a good feeling to have, which is why this article is trying to get people to realize that Apple needs to change how Foxconn is treating their workers, and we need to initiate that change.

I thought that this piece was very eye opening. I never knew how badly the conditions were and how many young workers committed suicide because of it. Tian Yu opening up about her experience was definitely shocking to read and the fact that Apple has not been actively trying to change things shows me that all they care about is pumping out as many products as possible each day. I appreciated how Chakrabortty incorporated a real story about Yu into the article. It made it more emotional and really hit home how the products your holding may be amazing, but the way they are made is not. This connects to my own experience because I have an iPhone and an iPad and just thinking about who made my product back in China is scary. There needs to be something done about this because no worker should have to go through what these young Chinese migrants are going through. A question I would like to ask would be, how would we go about making this change, especially when Apple refuses to answer questions regarding this? It’s a tough situation and I think in order to make a change happen, we need as many people involved as possible, which this article is getting at.

This video was posted about four years ago in December of 2010, when fifteen Foxconn workers in the first five months of 2010 committed suicide.  This drew international attention about the terrible working conditions at Foxconn’s facilities, and the video shows a group of students investigating Foxconn.  This video was likely created to further inform the public about the company’s inner workings, and it is especially relevant to those who buy products from Apple, Microsoft, HP, Sony, and the many other companies that manufacture there.

The main message of “Deconstructing Foxconn” is that Foxconn has committed deplorable and illegal acts toward its employees, and a group of students is looking into Foxconn’s management, salaries, and employees’ lives.

The purpose of this video is mainly to expose Foxconn’s inner workings and amoral practices, but from the way the video is made, it is also meant to have viewers sympathize with the workers.  This may move some people into taking action to hold Foxconn responsible and improve working conditions.  At the very least this video raises awareness about the company.

Something I appreciated about “Deconstructing Foxconn” was its video clips of people, presumably workers, in China carrying on seemingly normal lives.  This serves to humanize the workers, and it reminds viewers that they are human beings with real needs and dreams.  The music in the background seems to represent the thoughts in the back of their minds throughout the day.  It’s actually communicates quite a bit.

The first time I heard about Foxconn was on the gaming website Screwattack.com where someone made a post detailing the then-recent suicides at Foxconn.  I remember being taken aback because I hadn’t known that Foxconn manufactured electronics for Apple and other companies.  As I read on in the post, I felt terrible because I liked the electronics, and I was contributing to these corrupt business practices.  I knew that demand for those products was too great, though, and I felt I couldn’t possibly change anything then.  It was upsetting news, and while the name “Foxconn” always stuck around in my head, the incident kind of faded away online.

I’ve done some searching online, and I can’t seem to find anything on their employee treatment past 2012.  Have they ameliorated their issues, or have people just stopped looking forward to them.  Also, Foxconn was apparently one of the better places to work at in China; has anything been done about other, worse-off facilities?

Aditya Chakrabortty begins by analyzing Foxconn right away. Chakrabortty mentions right away how Foxconn is Apple’s number 1 supplier. Although Foxconn also supplies to Samsung, Sony, and Dell, the emphasis is put on the production of iPhones, iPads, and other Apple gadgets. This direct emphasis on Apple productions shows that Chakrabortty intends the article for Americans and Britons. A large portion of Americans and Britons have at least one apple product if not more, such as iPhones, iPad, and laptops. This article was published in the guardian which is a prominent Briton magazine that also circulates in the United States.

Chakrabortty wanted to illustrate the conditions of the workers in Foxconn that lead to multiple suicides and Tian Yu’s attempted suicide. The cluster of suicides together in 2010 lead to an investigation of Foxconn by reporters. Interviews of the workers revealed the bad conditions in Foxconn’s Longhua facility.

Through this article, Chakrabortty wanted to inform the readers about the horrible conditions that bring many Americans and Britons their Apple products. At the end of the article, Chakrabortty mentions how Apple could not “discuss” matters with him, giving him the run around to other offices. Even though Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said he would strive to make Foxconn improve working conditions. However, no money recorded was provided to improve conditions in Foxconn. In addition, Tian Yu received a “humanitarian payment” to help her go home, like Foxconn was “buying and selling a thing.” Chakrabortty wants to inform his audience about what they are buying and the process of how it is made. Things we have every day come at a large price to others. In a way, Chakrabortty is holding us responsible for this tragedy of Tian Yu. Although, the author does not challenge us to change these conditions, but he leaves the opportunity open.

I enjoyed how Chakrabortty analyzed the Foxconn and held the readers slightly responsible through the Apple products we own. This was a very tragic experience to Tian Yu which probably happened to hundreds and thousands of other people too. This is something we as consumers never think about or want to think about. This article forces us to confront this directly through its title, “The woman who nearly died making your iPad.” I felt partly responsible for the suicide attempts because of America’s great demand for Apple products. I currently have an iPhone and use it frequently. In college, we see many students around with iPhones and mac books.

A question I have is how much of a difference will there have to be in administration or law that caused for Foxconn to happen in China as opposed to United States. Why are there no enforcements that stop the bad conditions for happening? How does this differ in the United States?