I'm aware of the problems which have gone on at Foxconn and personally I do not wish to purchase products manufactured in that manner. The main problem is that as a consumer it's hard to distinguish between products constructed within reasonable working practices and other products made under conditions analogous to slavery in prison-like dormitories. So I think there needs to be something similar to "fair trade", but for computing gadgets.

There's a Ted talk on fair trade cell phone.

http://www.ted.com/talks/bandi_mbubi_demand_a_fair_trade_cel...

"the fight had started between the rival worker groups in Foxconn dorms"

Perhaps they mean gangs? I find myself bummed out about the lack of assurance that I can obtain a mainstream mobile product (or, heck, computer-like product) produced in such a way that doesn't, at some point, involve workers in prison-like conditions.

Now I can't say with any certainty that I know for a fact that conditions are actually like this, but the rumors and stories you hear from China certainly don't make things sound good. What is one to do?

Foxconn employes 1.2Million people. Their largest factory has 300,000+ people [1]. What city of 300,000 do you know that hasn't had a bar fight / civil squabble / etc? It'd probably be more reason for concern if these things weren't happening.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

When was the last time you heard of a "bar fight / civil squabble" that involved a reported 2000 people?

The word for a "civil squabble" involving 2000 people is "riot." I'd be interested to know what sparked it.

+ Pro Publica's coverage on this: http://www.propublica.org/article/by-the-numbers-life-and-de...

+ Yes Lab "anti-iPhone" game taken down fr the Apple store moves to Android: http://phonestory.org

Wonder what this will do to iPhone 5 shipments... Probably a lot less than the perceived damage since this will start up another round of working condition articles in Western press.

The end result will likely be a shortened timeline for Foxconn's robotics plan. Robots rarely stage protests.

If they do, it will be called 'skynet' and it will likely signal the end of man kind as we know it.

You know, I think discussions about robotics have their own version of Godwin's law; sooner or later, there's always a comparison to hitler//skynet.

I wonder what the outcry will be in the press with all the lost jobs, though. That is, if the US/Western press cares to publish articles about Chinese/Taiwanese employees losing their jobs.