Epilepsy: A Continuing Concern

There was a time when I would have been a lot more worried for my own safety after reading an article on this specific subject. That's no longer the case for me, but epilepsy is still a concern for a lot of people. Consequently...Marion Warnica's article for CBC's Edmonton news bureau.

A concern about Samsung

A confession: I own Samsung products.

My two most-recently purchased cellphones - both second-hand - as well as a monitor currently attached to my MacBook Pro, were all made for Samsung to put their brand name on.

So there's a direct personal connection to this Toronto Star article on worker safety at their plants in South Korea.

First off, I object to the idea that trade secrets - real or alleged by the company involved - are worth employees' lives in this sort of context.

Second, there's a sense of blood on my hands as a customer and user of their products. Because of the secrecy practiced as described in the article, because of my lack of effort to research workers' conditions (for any reason/excuse), because of my lack of ability to afford anything more ethically made...

...and I've recently learned that there's cell-phones more ethically made to be had. Or so I hope. Further investigation would be helpful in order to reassure a lot of potential customers, I suspect. Fairphone looks like it has promise. If I do manage to get one, though, it too will likely have to be second-hand, at least for now.

And if Fairphone's success is achieved and well-earned, maybe the competition will get the right hint from that.

Meantime, I have to live with and use what I've bought as it was made. And if anyone suggests that I should just shut up (and stay complicit) or walk away from technology altogether, they can just stuff themselves.

After the "Last-We-Fear" Concert...

Well.

That was a show.

Still feeling a bit wired from that, so I may be up awhile yet...