Fairphone. Fighting exploitation in the Congo. (via Fairphone)
Most consumers who purchase Android smartphones know what features it has, the hardware that is at its core, how fast it runs - and that in a few months it will be obsolete. Some consumers however, don’t know what is involved with actually manufacturing the mobile devices and what impact it may have on the environment or that the rare-earth minerals needed for manufacturing has fueled the fires of war in one African nation. The Democratic Republican Congo reaps an annual revenue of around $4.2 billion in both rare-earth mineral mining and oil exports, which has garnered the attention of local warlords who would like to share in those profits. As a result, the tribal militias regularly take control of those mining operations with little to no regard to the lives of the workers (or anyone who gets in their way). To make matters worse the militias routinely engage in mass killings, rape and child exploitation (in the form of forced recruitment as soldiers) to help keep their war machine rolling. In 2010 a group of concerned individuals from the Amsterdam-based Waag Society (art, science and tech institute) took notice of those atrocities and created the social enterprise initiative known as ‘Fairphone’ to raise awareness of the brutal mining practices in regards to smartphone manufacturing.
In their efforts, the initiative began looking into the practices of companies manufacturing smartphones from the start of the supply chain to disposal practices. Suffice it to say, the overall picture wasn’t pretty and the Fairphone initiative turned into the Fairphone startup with funding received from Bethnal Green Ventures, which supplies funds for ‘conscious-based’ tech startups looking to get their businesses off the ground. Fairphone recently took to crowd-funding in order to get their more ethical Android-based phone to consumers. The Fairphone the startup designed for their awareness project is on-par with what’s currently on the market and once their goal of 5,000 investors is reached will feature a quad-core MTK6589 processor, 16GB of onboard storage with 1GB of RAM, 4.3 qHD screen (960x540), 8 mega pixel camera (front) running Android 4.2. The phone also looks as though it has an aluminum frame much like the HTC One which reduces its environmental footprint as plastic is essentially made from oil. Fairphone states it acquires its rare-earth metals, such as tantalum, only from conflict-free mining operations in Africa and uses manufacturers in China with good working conditions and competitive wages for their employees. Fairphone has even provided funding (from their own pockets to improve wages and conditions of their selected factory. The startup has reached its 5,000 pre-order mark to begin production of their limited edition phone. Those interested can pre-order theirs for $500 US, however the phone will initially only be available to consumers in Europe, which they should receive by the end of this year (2013). There is no word yet on when the rest of the world will be able to get their hands on Fairphone’s ethical smartphone.
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