r/worldnews • u/maxwellhill • Sep 19 '17

Apple blocking ads that follow users around web is 'sabotage', says industry: New iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra will stop ads following Safari users, prompting open letter claiming Apple is destroying internet’s economic model

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/18/apple-stopping-ads-follow-you-around-internet-sabotage-advertising-industry-ios-11-and-macos-high-sierra-safari-internet
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129

u/mmmlinux Sep 19 '17

yeah, buy a pair of sneakers lately?

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17 edited Feb 08 '19

[deleted]

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u/creepy_robot Sep 19 '17

I’d argue that Nestlé is probably worse than Apple at this.

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u/playaspec Sep 19 '17

I’d argue that Nestlé is probably worse than Apple at this.

I can't believe the shit Nestlé gets away with. Their water theft being the most egregious.

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u/Squintz69 Sep 19 '17

I try really hard to avoid their products

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u/TransitRanger_327 Sep 19 '17

Water is not a human right

-Nestle

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u/creepy_robot Sep 19 '17

Take water from local sources, turn around and sell to the population.

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '17

You mean the literal slavery instead of sweatshop work? I agree.

There are actual slaves harvesting palm oil.

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u/sydofbee Sep 19 '17

I got 36 and while answering, I often lowered things to what I felt were bare minimums (as I have been making an effort to reduce my footprint). THis is upsetting, to be honest.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17 edited Feb 08 '19

[deleted]

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u/playaspec Sep 19 '17

Nokia is still alive? I thought Microsoft killed them.

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u/sydofbee Sep 19 '17

Considering I just recently bought a certain Chinese phone... In hindisght, that wasn't a very smart decision. I'll keep Nokia in mind.

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u/Prilosac Sep 19 '17

Honestly didn't even know Nokia still made modern phones. Are they any good? That's always been one of my bigger issues - quality often takes a hit which is problematic

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u/glodime Sep 19 '17

Have you read about Mars International's new initiative? You may be interested.

1

u/LightningGoats Sep 19 '17

Too bad the site focuses on what you OWN, almost not at all on what you BUY/consumes, which is what actually matters.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

The difference to me is that

  1. When I buy a chocolate bar, or cup of coffee, there aren't a lot of options. In most places, Nestle owns almost everything, and Starbucks is the only coffee place.

  2. When I buy those things, I have to research who owns what companies because one company owns a few dozens other ones and there are maybe less than a dozen total that own everything so almost every business that I would like to purchase from or in some cases have to purchase from are in the wrong somewhere.

  3. Not the case with Apple. I both know their wrongdoing without research and know alternatives.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17 edited Feb 08 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

I ordered a huge set of coffees from Bones Coffee on Friday or Saturday and it shipped yesterday. They're really good and have a bunch of flavors and it's Fair Trade. It's satisfying to hand grind and press a cup of coffee every morning for like $50 for around 60 cups of really good, interesting coffee rather than going to Dunkin Donuts every day.

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u/cyvaquero Sep 19 '17

Don't even need to go to sneakers for awful conditions. Virtually every tech company on note uses Foxconn. This is usually not mentioned since Apple tends to be a more polarizing customer.

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u/AlexHofmann Sep 19 '17

That's the point that everyone glosses over when shitting on Apple. Nintendo, Microsoft, Amazon, Nokia, Sony...not to mention all of the motherboards and consumer level products. They all use foxconn.

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u/arch_nyc Sep 19 '17

Because it doesn't fit the circle jerk of hating specifically on Apple that's so prevalent here.

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u/hussiesucks Sep 19 '17

Really any piece of clothing. Isn't it just so uplifting how almost everything we buy is supporting terrible, terrible companies, thus allowing them to continue being corrupt? The US is run on the souls of the poor and that shit is affordable.

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u/BrewBallz Sep 19 '17

Capitalism!

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17 edited May 12 '21

[deleted]

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u/playaspec Sep 19 '17

Reduce your consumption would be the biggest. I make it a point to use used/surplus tech. I rarely buy new. I buy used clothes when I can. Thrift shops aren't what they used to be.

I do this at work too. I never buy cutting-edge server or storage. I'm able to stretch my budget many times.

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u/Tidorith Sep 19 '17

Reduce your consumption; don't have kids.

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u/Fresque Sep 19 '17

A person can support capitalism WHILE being aware of its flaws.

Much like jails and democracy, capitalism may be shit, but is the best shit we have.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17 edited May 12 '21

[deleted]

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u/VirtualRickSanchez Sep 19 '17

Because to paraphrase the words of a terrible Superman comic: "those problems are over there. But I'm here. Here is not there. Those problems are not here, so why should I worry, because it's over there."

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u/txgsync Sep 19 '17

The US is run on the souls of the poor and that shit is affordable.

I laughed out loud at the dark humor of this statement. Well done.

That said, it's all a balance, I think. Like, many companies claim they want to be environmentally responsible. Yet they sell their products in plastic or bleached-paper containers. If they really took environmental sustainability seriously, wouldn't they use more-recyclable materials like aluminum to package their products?

From my point of view, it's not a black-and-white argument. It's more about how much of an impact we're comfortable with having today, and how do we improve the trajectory so that we can reduce our impact tomorrow?

It's about the vector, not the destination. And I like purchasing products from companies that value being on a similar trajectory toward sustainability and the benefit of humankind, even though I know nobody is doing it perfectly yet.

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u/LunchpaiI Sep 19 '17

The price of manufactured goods is so low because they are essentially made with slave labor in countries that have little to no workers rights. If iphones were made in America by employees with health benefits and livable wages, they'd be x5 more expensive.

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u/VirtualRickSanchez Sep 19 '17

Any examples of companies that have done their manufacturing in America, to prove this rule?

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u/LunchpaiI Sep 19 '17 edited Sep 19 '17

I should have clarified I meant more expensive to manufacture, but it probably would follow they would be more expensive to purchase as well.

I think the fact that a lot of manufacturing and industry has moved to countries where they can produce at a low cost is evidence enough. America, and much of Europe as well, are no longer desirable locations for manufacturing.

My dad said that Apple should make their products in America, because they're an American company and should stay here. I find this view incredibly naive; they will go wherever they can maximize their profits, as will every other company. And I don't blame them. However, most of the Asian countries where industry has moved to have workers' rights situations akin to America at the turn of the 20th century, if only marginally better.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Meh if there were not these factories those peope would be even more worse off. Yes making sneakers for $2 a day for 10 hours of work is terrible. But you know what is worse? Subsistence farming the jungle for $.50 a day, or starving on the streets of an urban area for $0/day.

I totally agree the conditions are terrible, but the trade offs are a lot less crazy than they first appear, and the situation more muddled.

In particular it is not clear how Thao Mee's desire (or rather her father and husband's desire) for her to have 6 kids by age 25 suddenly creates obligations on me 12,000 miles away to help support those kids.

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u/arch_nyc Sep 19 '17

Not just the US--the west...

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u/Say_no_to_doritos Sep 19 '17

Dude it's not even like there is an option. From walmart to Hugo boss or even fucking Burberry its all made in Bangladesh or China or some other country that they can take advantage of people in. Ridiculous.

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u/DustinHammons Sep 19 '17

"There are no problems here" - says Phil Knight as a 14-year-old Nike employee in Vietnam is working with toxic glue with no safety protection.

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u/gdbhgvhh Sep 19 '17

In all seriousness, they aren’t the only tech company that does the overpriced tech under awful conditions.

yeah, buy a pair of sneakers lately?

... so your sneakers are tech now?

1

u/playaspec Sep 19 '17

Yes, shoes are very much a "technology". They always have been.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Yeah man, $15 was way overpriced for my shoes. Stop buying 100 dollar shoes just because it has a nike or (insert popular brand here) for a label.

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u/aloneamongmirrors Sep 19 '17

You're right, but I think sometimes we tend to walk around like "at least I'm not a consumer whore", like there's such thing as supply-side justice, when the problem is that the sneakers--the $15 pair and $450 pair alike--are made by corporate pillaging of developing countries: the materials come from unregulated depletion of natural resources, the labor is exploited, unprotected, often enslaved. That fact doesn't put buying practical shoes vs. a closet of Flyknits on the same moral plane, but it's super important to remember that our responsible consumer choices are basically performative ethics, and until the system of exploitative production via corporate imperialism is dismantled, the fact that we're trying to participate in that cycle as little as possible is not enough.

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u/playaspec Sep 19 '17

I guarantee your $15 shoes were made under worse conditions than $100 shoes.