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Considering we've been trending toward the megacorp world for quite some time now you're probably better off growing/farming your own food and not worrying abou

by zarify 13y ago

Considering we've been trending toward the megacorp world for quite some time now you're probably better off growing/farming your own food and not worrying about the rest. That or starting your own pharma company for ulcer medication and antidepressants. That said, it'd be an interesting project, even if the metrics would be a complete nightmare; am I more pro- environmental regulation than I am pro- gun control? How do you rate Company X lobbying for Bill Y on a scale of Things I Don't Like?. I suppose you'd have to go down a machine learning path for individuals, maybe starting with presenting alternatives for whatever thing you're interested in spending money on, a la the plain English terms of service site that was set up a year or two ago (that I've lost the URL for[1]) and building a profile from there. Realistically though, I think the whole exercise would just depress anyone who took it on. [1]It was indeed http://tosdr.org/ http://tosdr.org/ - Thanks :) re-bookmarked!

eurleif 13y ago
>a la the plain English terms of service site that was set up a year or two ago (that I've lost the URL for) I believe you're referring to: http://tosdr.org/ http://tosdr.org/
com2kid 13y ago
> That said, it'd be an interesting project, even if the metrics would be a complete nightmare; am I more pro- environmental regulation than I am pro- gun control? How do you rate Company X lobbying for Bill Y on a scale of Things I Don't Like?. I suppose you'd have to go down a machine learning path for individuals, maybe starting with presenting alternatives for whatever thing you're interested in spending money on, a la the plain English terms of service site that was set up a year or two ago (that I've lost the URL for) and building a profile from there. It is even more complicated than that. What about some company that uses a Chinese factory that is known to employ workers under 18? Evil[1] right? Well sure, unless you dig in to the numbers and find out that the company mandates no under age workers in their portion of the factory. [1] See discussion below, definitions of evil vary!
- count 13y ago
  What's wrong with workers under 18? I had 3 different jobs before I turned 18. Unskilled factory labor seems like a great fit for the teenage crowd. Hell, in the US, there isn't even a minimum age limit for farm labor[1], and the minimum age for non-farm labor is 14, with anybody over 16 being allowed to work unlimited/full-time hours[2]. [1]http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/youthlabor/agriculturalemployment.htm http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/youthlabor/agriculturalemployme... [2]http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/youthlabor/agerequirements.htm http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/youthlabor/agerequirements.htm
  - com2kid 13y ago
    > What's wrong with workers under 18? I had 3 different jobs before I turned 18. Unskilled factory labor seems like a great fit for the teenage crowd. A lot of people disagree with it and want to spend their money accordingly. Many of these issues are subjective, I fully agree that it often isn't black and white.
    - sliverstorm 13y ago
      Right, so what you need is a slider. What's the cutoff age. 18? 16? 12? Of course, that's a distraction. I worked for the government when I was twelve, but I only worked an hour or two a week.
    - count 13y ago
      But does those same people spend their money accordingly in the US? Refuse to shop or eat at a restaurant that has teenage wait staff?
jal278 13y ago
Maybe a more tractable approach would just be to have some kind of wiki that would just track articles for given companies along certain categories (e.g. the article on Walmart would have pro's/con's for the worker's rights category). Anything that centralizes this kind of information even if it doesn't completely parse out the good/bad would be nice

by zarify 13y ago

eurleif 13y ago

>a la the plain English terms of service site that was set up a year or two ago (that I've lost the URL for) I believe you're referring to: http://tosdr.org/ http://tosdr.org/

com2kid 13y ago

> That said, it'd be an interesting project, even if the metrics would be a complete nightmare; am I more pro- environmental regulation than I am pro- gun control? How do you rate Company X lobbying for Bill Y on a scale of Things I Don't Like?. I suppose you'd have to go down a machine learning path for individuals, maybe starting with presenting alternatives for whatever thing you're interested in spending money on, a la the plain English terms of service site that was set up a year or two ago (that I've lost the URL for) and building a profile from there. It is even more complicated than that. What about some company that uses a Chinese factory that is known to employ workers under 18? Evil[1] right? Well sure, unless you dig in to the numbers and find out that the company mandates no under age workers in their portion of the factory. [1] See discussion below, definitions of evil vary!

count 13y ago
What's wrong with workers under 18? I had 3 different jobs before I turned 18. Unskilled factory labor seems like a great fit for the teenage crowd. Hell, in the US, there isn't even a minimum age limit for farm labor[1], and the minimum age for non-farm labor is 14, with anybody over 16 being allowed to work unlimited/full-time hours[2]. [1]http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/youthlabor/agriculturalemployment.htm http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/youthlabor/agriculturalemployme... [2]http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/youthlabor/agerequirements.htm http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/youthlabor/agerequirements.htm
- com2kid 13y ago
  > What's wrong with workers under 18? I had 3 different jobs before I turned 18. Unskilled factory labor seems like a great fit for the teenage crowd. A lot of people disagree with it and want to spend their money accordingly. Many of these issues are subjective, I fully agree that it often isn't black and white.
  - sliverstorm 13y ago
    Right, so what you need is a slider. What's the cutoff age. 18? 16? 12? Of course, that's a distraction. I worked for the government when I was twelve, but I only worked an hour or two a week.
  - count 13y ago
    But does those same people spend their money accordingly in the US? Refuse to shop or eat at a restaurant that has teenage wait staff?

jal278 13y ago

Maybe a more tractable approach would just be to have some kind of wiki that would just track articles for given companies along certain categories (e.g. the article on Walmart would have pro's/con's for the worker's rights category). Anything that centralizes this kind of information even if it doesn't completely parse out the good/bad would be nice