The KnowMore Extension in Action on Apple and Microsoft

It works!

I've been considering purchasing an Apple laptop for quite some time now, and I've wavered on the issue consistently for years mostly because a laptop, especially an Apple, is such an immense purchase. I got a flag from KnowMore while browsing in Firefox and learned that Apple lags behind all other computer brands in  workers rights, human rights, politics, environmentalism, and business ethics.

Here are some blurbs from KnowMore's findings

A Greener Apple! According to Greenpeace, Apple products made with toxic chemicals (such as flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride) are being sold worldwide. When discarded, they typically end up in the hands of children in China, India and other developing countries. They dismantle the products for parts and are exposed to dangerous toxins that threatens their health and the environment. Take action now to get Apple to go green.

Computer TakeBack Campaign More than 70 environmental groups have signed a letter to former Vice President Al Gore, who sits on the board of Apple, asking him to push the company to become more sustainable. Environmentalists express surprise that as America’s best-known environmental advocate, Gore would oppose shareholder resolutions—which Apple claims were unanimously voted against—asking Apple to become greener.

Here is the letter to the CEO of The Consumer Electronics Association signed by officials of 18 states (of which Kentucky was not among them) calling for laws to force companies like Apple and other electronics producers to be responsible for taking back and recycling their expensive products when they so quickly become obsolete.

But lets look at their arch nemesis, Microsoft as well. These two like to duke it out in a really ugly perpetual smear campaign wherever they can advertise.


Although they're not doing well in the arenas of business ethics and politics, and have been accused of making shitty unstable products, there is no information on Microsoft that would state that the company's environmental practices are not sound. As of 2006, Microsoft has joined a large group of companies no longer using the environmentally hazardous material polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC) in their products. [39]
They have mixed reviews from their employees on worker's rights, as many have complained they used the H-1B bill to hire immigrant workers for $12/hr instead of paying big bucks to American developers who want to live in mansions too.

The smear campaign will assuredly continue, but I for one have never taken a side in the issue and that's because both corporations got some serious 'splainin' to do.