[Arm-netbook] Will EOMA68-A20 be sweatshop-free?

[Sam Pablo Kuper]

On 27/08/16 05:21, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 27, 2016 at 1:45 AM, Sam Pablo Kuper
> <sampablokuper at posteo.net> wrote:
>> [..]
>> Avoiding slavery, indentured labour, etc, and
>> ensuring electronics supply chain workers are able to live decent lives,
>> is surely an equally important part of building ethical computers.
>
> true.
> 
>> With that in mind, are there any plans for Rhombus Tech or other EOMA-68
>> producers/partners to work with organisations such as these?
> 
>  hmmm... don't know... but i can tell you that for this first
> production run, i'll be right there.  i'll be *in* the factories,
> taking photos and i even want to have a go at operating the machinery
> (if they'll let me) for the PCB runs, layout, X-Ray machine and so on,
> so i can document it and let you know how it all works.  the 3D
> printing factories (they're networked), i'll have to go round there
> and ask them if their PLA is as high-quality as Faberdashery's, if
> not, we'll have to import it (!) - so it's all hands-on.
> 
>  basically, if *i* can't stand it, then i ain't putting up with it and
> will find somewhere else :)

It is great that the production will be this hands-on, and will give you
a sense of the factory conditions.

Even so, at any given factory, it is entirely possible that you will be
treated much better than the average worker. You will be able to leave
when you are finished for the day, for example: they might not have that
freedom and might not be free to tell you this.

>  but this is just for the first production run.  by the time we get to
> mass-volume it'll be a different story.

That is fair enough: it is early days. But I guess an advantage of
contacting one of the organisations I linked at this early stage is that
they might be able to give you a whitelist or blacklist of known-good or
known-bad factories or suppliers. Or at least tell you whether any
factories on your short-list are definite no-nos. That might save you
some time in the short term.

Also, once you get to mass volume, switching factories (e.g. if you
found out you had accidentally picked one that got the technical stuff
right and seemed OK when you visited it, but turned out to be using
indentured child labour in the school holidays, or poisoning its workers
due to lax chemical controls in some part of the factory you weren't
shown) would be much more costly. So a little due diligence on this
front now might avoid cost burdens and reputational damage in the long term.

Thanks for agreeing that labour rights are important, anyhow :)

Good luck with the coming months!