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IPhone prototype goes missing; Chinese worker investigated, commits suicide

26 points by terpua 17y ago

joel_feather 17y ago
He did it because everyone in the company knew his name as the guy who would possibly ruin the contract and jobs of everyone who worked there. The face loss would be terrible, the number of high ups in the company talking to him must have put him under massive and immense pressure.
mseebach 17y ago
The article tries very hard to blame this on Apple, which seems unsubstantiated. Taiwan-based Foxconn [...] faces cutthroat competition from other manufacturers around China and the world. A leak of the next generation of Apple’s crown jewel, the iPhone, could badly hurt Foxconn’s business relationship with Apple. It seems this company got a little over-eager in securing its future business with Apple. There is no indication that Apple policies drove them to take harder action against this guy than they'd otherwise have. On the other hand, Apple should put some effort into investigating if someone had his apartment illegally searched and was illegally detained in their supply-chain.
- pmorici 17y ago
  "Apple should put some effort into investigating if someone had his apartment illegally searched and was illegally detained in their supply-chain." No they shouldn't, that's a job for the police investigating the suicide, just as Foxconn should have called the police if they suspected wrong doing on the part of their employee.
cesare 17y ago
Even just trying to rationalize things like this shows how disconnected we've become. This is sad from whichever angle one looks at it.
- hitthewashboard 17y ago
  Thanks man, exactly what I was feeling. Of course Apple is not DIRECTLY responsible but in the end it is - they let produce (as everybody else within electronics) in a dictatorship with underpaid wages, low security and a rule by law where the (!rich) individual almost amounts to nothing. But in the end as cesare already pointed out it will be rationalized (everybody does it! free market! yeah!) Rule of law/by law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_law#Rule_of_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_law#Rule_of_law
  - pmorici 17y ago
    By that reasoning, every Apple customer is also indirectly responsible. I don't see the problem as cut and dry as manufacture in China vs. some place else. Don't you think these condition you describe would persist w/ or w/o the electronics manufacturing industry.
    - hitthewashboard 17y ago
      To some extent, yes (we want good stuff as cheap as possible) and yes of course this applies to other manufactured "off-shore" goods. By the way: I own an iphone as well... that is why this makes me even more so sad (as being part of this subsystem). Things have to change I don't have a proper solution though but I hope it will work out as time passes (e.g. people of China building an honest as possible democratic system, us ("the west") becoming less spoiled, etc.).
RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
Similar comments here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=716110 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=716110

26 points by terpua 17y ago

He did it because everyone in the company knew his name as the guy who would possibly ruin the contract and jobs of everyone who worked there. The face loss would be terrible, the number of high ups in the company talking to him must have put him under massive and immense pressure.

mseebach 17y ago

The article tries very hard to blame this on Apple, which seems unsubstantiated. Taiwan-based Foxconn [...] faces cutthroat competition from other manufacturers around China and the world. A leak of the next generation of Apple’s crown jewel, the iPhone, could badly hurt Foxconn’s business relationship with Apple. It seems this company got a little over-eager in securing its future business with Apple. There is no indication that Apple policies drove them to take harder action against this guy than they'd otherwise have. On the other hand, Apple should put some effort into investigating if someone had his apartment illegally searched and was illegally detained in their supply-chain.

pmorici 17y ago
"Apple should put some effort into investigating if someone had his apartment illegally searched and was illegally detained in their supply-chain." No they shouldn't, that's a job for the police investigating the suicide, just as Foxconn should have called the police if they suspected wrong doing on the part of their employee.

cesare 17y ago

Even just trying to rationalize things like this shows how disconnected we've become. This is sad from whichever angle one looks at it.

hitthewashboard 17y ago
Thanks man, exactly what I was feeling. Of course Apple is not DIRECTLY responsible but in the end it is - they let produce (as everybody else within electronics) in a dictatorship with underpaid wages, low security and a rule by law where the (!rich) individual almost amounts to nothing. But in the end as cesare already pointed out it will be rationalized (everybody does it! free market! yeah!) Rule of law/by law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_law#Rule_of_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_law#Rule_of_law
- pmorici 17y ago
  By that reasoning, every Apple customer is also indirectly responsible. I don't see the problem as cut and dry as manufacture in China vs. some place else. Don't you think these condition you describe would persist w/ or w/o the electronics manufacturing industry.
  - hitthewashboard 17y ago
    To some extent, yes (we want good stuff as cheap as possible) and yes of course this applies to other manufactured "off-shore" goods. By the way: I own an iphone as well... that is why this makes me even more so sad (as being part of this subsystem). Things have to change I don't have a proper solution though but I hope it will work out as time passes (e.g. people of China building an honest as possible democratic system, us ("the west") becoming less spoiled, etc.).

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago

Similar comments here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=716110 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=716110