It would seem that representatives from Change.org and SumOfUs.org have organized a global protest against Apple’s use of Foxconn and other Chinese manufacturing plants to build the iPhone and iPad.
This comes on the heels of a New York Times series exposing harsh working conditions in said plants. 250,000 people have signed petitions calling for a “worker protection strategy”, which will today be delivered to Apple stores in a number of major cities, including New York.
We’ve known about the harsh conditions at Foxconn since well before the NYT series. The media reported on suicides during 2007, and the plant got extensive coverage after the number of jumpers went up drastically between March and May of 2010.
Despite the fact that the story’s well documented, this NYT series has really fired people up. Along with today’s planned protest, we’re hearing reports that a group called Swagg Security has hacked Foxconn, retrieving usernames and passwords and uploading the materials onto The Pirate Bay.
You can check out Swagg Security’s “press release” here, but be prepared for misspellings and this unsettling feeling that the world only gets worse and worse.
An excerpt:
We believe there is no reality in hacktivism, even with good intentions. We know those who claim to be “hacktivists” that inside of you, a suppressed part of you, enjoys playing a part in the anarchist event of hacking of an infrastructure. One which at the same time presents a challenge, upon completing reveals an almost unknown feeling of a menacing satisfaction. We encourage not to continue quelling such a natural emotion but to embrace it. Only when embracing what society has taught you to hinder, is when you realize your own identity.
