[TETENAL]

The maker of the iPod, Foxconn, sues the two journalists Wang You and Weng Bao who reported about the working conditions in the iPod factories for 3 million dollars damages for libel. A Chinese court has already frozen all of the journalists' assets. (heise online)

I guess that will teach them not to write anything again that could hurt the Chinese economy.

[USB HUB]

Thats retarded

[TETENAL]

An English language report is on MacNN itself. Sorry, I should have looked there first.

iPodNN | Foxconn sues reporters over iPod story

[Landos Mustache]

What kind of Communist crap is this?

"Chinese court has frozen the personal assets of the reporter and an editor at the Shanghai newspaper, including their apartments, a car and bank accounts."

How can they do that when they haven't even been found guilty yet? How can these people afford to defend themselves or even drive to court?

It is even stranger because they were shown to be in violation according to Apples investigation.

I know Apple is in a way just a guilty as it sued journalists but at least the court didn't freeze assets before the case went to court.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

What kind of Communist crap is this?

"Chinese court has frozen the personal assets of the reporter and an editor at the Shanghai newspaper, including their apartments, a car and bank accounts."

How can they do that when they haven't even been found guilty yet? How can these people afford to defend themselves or even drive to court?

It is even stranger because they were shown to be in violation according to Apples investigation.

I know Apple is in a way just a guilty as it sued journalists but at least the court didn't freeze assets before the case went to court.

That's just weird. Foxconn sues the reporters, so the government responds by freezing the reporters' assets until the case is heard?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

"Chinese court has frozen the personal assets of the reporter and an editor at the Shanghai newspaper, including their apartments, a car and bank accounts."

How do you freeze a car or an apartment ?
Turning the AC all the way up ?

SCNR.

Oh, and only in Ame....

-t

[Chuckit]

It's China, guys. Shitty country with a shitty government.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

It's China, guys. Shitty country with a shitty government.

That doesn't stop the US economy to profit from cheap products from China

-t

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

It's China, guys. Shitty country with a shitty government.

And yet, good enough for all your electronics needs.

Do you want your DVD player to cost $50 or $500?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by analogika

And yet, good enough for all your electronics needs.
Do you want your DVD player to cost $50 or $500?

Genau. Scheiss Geiz ist geil Mentalitaet.
Aber dann aufregen wenn die Arbeitsplaetze abwandern.

-t

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

That doesn't stop the US economy to profit from cheap products from China

Nope. But the fact that other countries can take advantage of them doesn't really make it a better place to live.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Genau. Scheiss Geiz ist geil Mentalitaet.
Aber dann aufregen wenn die Arbeitsplaetze abwandern.

-t

Exactly.

[The Godfather]

How I wish the CIA leakers and journalists experienced the same accountability.

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by Person Man

Foxconn sues the reporters, so the government responds by freezing the reporters' assets until the case is heard?

That's how it's done in China. Remember those journalists might have to pay Foxconn 3.7 million dollars. If they flee with their car and other assets how is Foxconn getting its money?

[Chuckit]

There are plenty of oppressive governments out there for you, Godfather. And unlike those countries, nobody's forcing you to stay here.

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by analogika

Do you want your DVD player to cost $50 or $500?

I call that a myth. Have you actually compared prices? The difference between Made In Europe and Made In China is more like no difference at all (clothes, shoes, electrical devices) and 2x (electronic devices). I haven't seen anything 10x cheaper from China that wasn't also 10x shittier. It's affordable to buy responsible, but too many still believe that "Geiz ist geil".

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

The difference between Made In Europe and Made In China is more like no difference at all (clothes, shoes, electrical devices) and 2x (electronic devices)

So the companies manufacture in China for the pure fun of it ?

Reality check, please !

-t

[Spliffdaddy]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

What kind of Communist crap is this?

"Chinese court has frozen the personal assets of the reporter and an editor at the Shanghai newspaper, including their apartments, a car and bank accounts."

How can they do that when they haven't even been found guilty yet? How can these people afford to defend themselves or even drive to court? (snip)

Court? Defend themselves?

Dude. There is no court and there's no defense. They have been found guilty by Chinese authorities.

Did you think China has juries and the presumption of innocence? lol

[ghporter]

First, this is CHINA, not somewhere where the rule of law or personal rights are important. Second, the report made China look bad, at least to someone in the government. Making China look bad is Bad for China...

Third, Foxconn is GOOD for China (even if it's headquartered in Taiwan) because it brings in lots of hard cash. They LIKE Foxconn. In contrast, there's something like 1.3 billion other Chinese to take the place of the two news guys, so what's the downside for China again?

So once again I see that avoiding the majority of "Made in China" products is good for Glenn, but still that's not going to help around 1.3 billion people who have to put up with their government. Sigh...

[Sealobo]

Foxconn is a Taiwanese company.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally Posted by ghporter

First, this is CHINA, not somewhere where the rule of law or personal rights are important. Second, the report made China look bad, at least to someone in the government. Making China look bad is Bad for China...

Third, Foxconn is GOOD for China (even if it's headquartered in Taiwan) because it brings in lots of hard cash. They LIKE Foxconn. In contrast, there's something like 1.3 billion other Chinese to take the place of the two news guys, so what's the downside for China again?

So once again I see that avoiding the majority of "Made in China" products is good for Glenn, but still that's not going to help around 1.3 billion people who have to put up with their government. Sigh...

Replace China with USA and Foxconn with Walmart and rethink that.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

I call that a myth. Have you actually compared prices? The difference between Made In Europe and Made In China is more like no difference at all (clothes, shoes, electrical devices) and 2x (electronic devices). I haven't seen anything 10x cheaper from China that wasn't also 10x shittier. It's affordable to buy responsible, but too many still believe that "Geiz ist geil".

For a lot of devices, I don't think there is any way to make a real comparison, because they simply aren't manufactured here at all anymore.

For excellent microphones, the price difference *is* around 10x between a Neumann U87 and the Studio Electronics C-3 copy. The sound difference between them is only subtle (though you *can* tell the Neumann, of course).

A friend at a P.A. firm recently had their distributor serve up a new China-made power amplifier that had identical specs to the €2500 Portugal-made ones they'd been using, but cost only €600.

Of course, during the test run, one whole side of the block blew in a puff of smoke, because the transistors had only been loosely affixed to the cooling blocks: the person in charge of screwing them down tightly for some reason hadn't done so - on an entire series, as it turned out! This sort of thing happens when you manufacture in China. Of course, the remedy is marvellously simple: You call them up, and they hire another guy for $5 a week to stand near the end of the assembly line and verify that all screws are tightened. Manufacturer eats the cost, block still costs €600 and kills the €2500 ones, at least for big shitty P.A. companies like Pro-con. End of story.


Of course, as has been mentioned, in the case of Foxconn/Hon Hai, we are talking about free democratic China (Taiwan), NOT the People's Republic, so things may be slightly different.

[Chuckit]

Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, I understood, but I thought the factory in question was in China. Was I mistaken?

[TETENAL]

The factory in question is in mainland China, and so are the journalists and the lawsuit.

[ambush]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

An English language report is on MacNN itself. Sorry, I should have looked there first.

iPodNN | Foxconn sues reporters over iPod story

Read me first?

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

Replace China with USA and Foxconn with Walmart and rethink that.

Big difference: in China it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, the government does what they want. In the U.S., if Wal-Mart sued someone for breaking a story (even if it was oversensationalized, as it appears the iPod plant story was), then there would be lots of press, lots of hype, but NO "freezing of assets," nothing like that at all. See, in China, as I pointed out, the "rule of law" goes only as far as it's convenient for the government. Note that when the Chinese government executes someone (they do a lot of it) it's with a bullet to the back of the head-and they CHARGE THE FAMILY OF THE EXECUTEE FOR THAT BULLET. Bill 'em of course-it's only humane to give the family a few days to grieve before they cough up the dough.

Not that I have any strong feelings about the Chinese government...

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by ghporter

Big difference: in China it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, the government does what they want.

Well in the US the government just needs to slap some "Homeland security" tag onto whatever and then the US government can do whatever they want.

But seriously. Yes, in the US there would be no freezing of assets but no matter what bad rap Wal-mart would get people would still shop and work their without thinking twice.

If it doesn't effect them personally, they don't care.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

But seriously. Yes, in the US there would be no freezing of assets but no matter what bad rap Wal-mart would get people would still shop and work their without thinking twice.

If it doesn't effect them personally, they don't care.

What does that have to do with the government ? Nothing.
You are comparing apples (Chinese government action against journalists) with oranges (US consumers not caring about third world country conditions.)

-t

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

What does that have to do with the government ? Nothing.
You are comparing apples (Chinese government action against journalists) with oranges (US consumers not caring about third world country conditions.)

-t

Wal-mart is JUST as guilty as Foxconn by western standards. The only difference is the government stays out of it for the most part but it is up to consumers to stop any abuse.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

Wal-mart is JUST as guilty as Foxconn by western standards. The only difference is the government stays out of it for the most part but it is up to consumers to stop any abuse.

Well, ultimately, it's ALL about the consumer. But most are not willing (or able) to pay a premium for products manufactured in their own country...

-t

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Well, ultimately, it's ALL about the consumer. But most are not willing (or able) to pay a premium for products manufactured in their own country...

-t

Well how come Cosco pays double of what wal-mart pays and has cheaper costs without relying on abusing eastern labour?

Wal-mark treats employee's like crap because the employees allow them to AND consumers know about it and don't care.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

What's walmart, or people pretending it's just the US awash with cheap third-world-made products got to do with ****?

Meanwhile, I don't see anyone rushing to stop buying iPods or anything else that Apple has manufactured in China.

So does Foxconn make all of Apple's mobos too?

[finboy]

Originally Posted by ghporter

Big difference: in China it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, the government does what they want. In the U.S., if Wal-Mart sued someone for breaking a story (even if it was oversensationalized, as it appears the iPod plant story was), then there would be lots of press, lots of hype, but NO "freezing of assets," nothing like that at all. See, in China, as I pointed out, the "rule of law" goes only as far as it's convenient for the government. Note that when the Chinese government executes someone (they do a lot of it) it's with a bullet to the back of the head-and they CHARGE THE FAMILY OF THE EXECUTEE FOR THAT BULLET. Bill 'em of course-it's only humane to give the family a few days to grieve before they cough up the dough.

Not that I have any strong feelings about the Chinese government...

Heck, in this country Wal-Mart can get bad press even when they haven't done anything. So I guess it really IS different there!

Chinese citizens (journalists, whoever) are considered property of the state, so things work somewhat differently.