Submitted by This is one sad story to report on. Sun Danyong, 25-year-old employee at Chinese manufacturing company Foxconn, has committed suicide after being subjected to apparently rather rigorous interrogation methods by Foxconn’s Central Security Division. Danyong handled a shipment of 16 iPhone prototypes, and one of them went missing. Update: Apple responds: “We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect.”
First and foremost, I would like to offer my sympathies to Sun Danyong’s family and friends. They are the ones who lost a relative and/or a friend.
Foxconn is the world’s largest manufacturer of electronics and computer components, and produces hardware for just about every electronics company out there. The PlayStation 2 and 3, XBox 360, the Wii, Amazon’s Kindle, Motorola cell phones, and a gazillion other parts and devices all come out of Foxconn’s factories in mainland China. Foxconn is also a major Apple partner, and the company produces a lot of hardware for the Cupertino giant, among which iPods and the iPhone.
And here is where it went wrong. As we all know, Apple is a little paranoid when it comes to secrecy. So, when Danyong handled a shipment of 16 iPhone prototypes and one went missing, Foxconn’s Central Security Division went overboard and applied rather rigorous interrogation techniques on him. He told friends he had been subjected to intense questioning, including “laying hands” on him – he did not detail how. On July 16, he jumped off a building and died.
This is not the first time Foxconn’s handling of its employees has come under scrutiny. In 2006, the company admitted to breaking Chinese labour laws. A team from Apple had been sent to Foxconn earlier to investigate the matter – and they found nothing. This time around, Foxconn admits that something is severely wrong here, and they are investigating the matter. The chief of the division in question has been suspended without pay.
“Regardless of the reason of Sun’s suicide, it is to some extent a reflection of Foxconn’s internal management deficiencies, especially in how to help young workers cope with the psychological pressures of working life at the company,” a spokesperson for the company said.
The internet is of course quick to blame either Foxconn or Apple, but I say both of them are to blame here. Obviously, Foxconn is to blame for bringing China’s treatment of dissidents to the workplace, that much is clear. However, Apple’s obsession with secrecy is what pushed them to do so: I’m sure Foxconn was afraid they’d lose contracts with Apple now or in the future because of slip-ups like this. On top of that, Apple is to blame for still dealing with this company even after 2006′ events.
This is what happens when financial gain and profit are valued more than humans. Sure, you can adopt an holier-than-thou attitude and shun products from Foxconn, but the fact of the mater is that Foxconn is just one of many. In our search for ever cheaper products, for an ever cheaper labour force, we are apparently willing to accept the fact that our products are built in conditions like we see at Foxconn.
I actually own three motherboards by Foxconn – my media centre’s, my main workstation’s, and my PowerMac G4’s motherboards are all made by them. They’re all working fine, and I’m quite happy with them. Hypocrisy?
Probably.
“I actually own three motherboards by Foxconn – my media centre’s, my main workstation’s, and my PowerMac G4’s motherboards are all made by them. They’re all working fine, and I’m quite happy with them. Hypocrisy?”
Exactly my thoughts. I’m pretty sure people are going to bash apple for dealing with foxconn but the ultimate power lies with the consumer. Why don’t you stop buying iPhones or iPods? And Xboxes and Playstations and Wiis and Intel motherboards and kindles? (you can visit wikipedia for a rather impressive list)
Point is that a company that big may seem a good thing at first since it means lower prices but what happens when you stop liking those guys?
True. And this is one more case of an employee being pressed like a lemon and thrown away. As we speak, Foxconn is probably doing interviews and this employee is being replaced by another disposable one. This is what happens in most large companies. I left one a few years ago, precisely because despite medication, I was going to commit suicide because of insane pressure. I wasn’t able to withstand the climate. I wasn’t the only one, almost everyone in the office were taking antidepressant, and everyday there were coworkers crying. Crazy world, really. Just because or greed.
This is a very sad story unfortunately and hopefully it will not act as some sort of lightening rod to all the anti-Apple nutcases to come out of the woodworks, “Apple secrecy murders Foxconn employee” and other such Fox-like statements loaded with hyperbole.
Apple’s secrecy as you said Thom also plays a part; and we’ve seen it occur time and time again, especially with the enthusiast sites. Rather than using it to their advantage by way of saying, “we maybe a niche in the computer market but the the enthusiasm for our products is huge by way of those who want to get the latest gossip on our developments”. If there is information leaked they could capitalise on it and say, “well, we tried to keep it under wraps but you only keep such a great product from the public for so long….”; use the leaks as evidence of ‘great enthusiasm’ in the marketplace. Then again, I tend to have a laid back personality.
As for the bit at the end regarding hypocrisy – if we analysed almost every action done by every company I don’t think we would own a thing if one were making purchasing decisions based on how moral/ethical a company is. Take my shoes for instance – should I feel guilty because there is a possibility that the glue used in the sole of the shoe could turn out to be carcinogenic? I don’t feel any guilt about owning two Mac’s and a iPod as a result because me not buying them isn’t going to change a particular policy – all I can do is speak out about it and for pressure to be put on Apple. Apple have an image, and part of that isn’t only being ‘cool’ but also doing things differently – and that includes having some ethics when conducting business.
Ha, that’s a good one.
(I’m not trying to dis Apple necessarily, really I’m just pointing out that, in general, large companies don’t really do much in the way of ethical practices–you just can’t maintain today’s low price points without such behavior.)
Perception is reality, perception is a marketing edge – even if it is only the perception by the public the public believe that Apple aren’t like ‘those other businesses’. Apple has to maintain it – even if it involves a token gesture like offering compensation to the victims family for the pain of what has happened. Yes it is cynical, but maintaining a good image is part of marketing a brand.
It’s mad to think that he felt he could leave his job without consequence.
They really do work them to death over there in these factories, not that anything will change in the long run, people like cheap stuff (myself included).
I’ve bought Sony Ericsson phones for years and i’m sure i’ve bought a few leadtek products in the past but is switching to other brands really going to affect anything?
I’m still going to be buying phones and hardware from asia where it’s not exactly the best as far as pay and conditions go.
This is ridiculous, and BOTH Apple and Foxconn should be blamed for these types of techniques.
Its freaking electronics, and they go so far as driver a person to commit suicide.
I hope Apple and Foxconn both get a lot of heat for this and thank-you for bringing this to our attention.
I don’t care how “rigorous” the questioning was, there is no way in hell it would have been bad enough for someone with a sound mind to commit suicide. That is just pathetic. Call me callus, if you will, but damn. That is pathetic.
Well, its obvious you’ve never been oppressed. They probably didn’t just work him over. They probably threatened him, his wife, his siblings, his parents. Considering the punishment, he may very well have thought that death was far easier than living with the knowledge that his entire family suffered because of his mistake.
Its easy to think that there is nothing anyone could do to you that would make you commit suicide. But what wouldn’t some of us do to protect family? Its a whole other story when they put the pressure on someone else.
I am guessing, being an Asian country, they attacked his “Honor”, and told him he had none left. Most likely even brought up that he had brought disgrace on his family. That alone in the Asian world is enough to cause someone to commit suicide. Of course things may have changed since I was last in that part of Asia, however I doubt it since those beliefs and ideals go back many centuries, before the Ming dynasty.
How western hemisphere of you!
He might not even have been questioned rigourously. He may have felt that his family honour was shamed and committed suicide on his own. You can be of sound mind and do it for the sake of your family. It’s still sad, but honourable.
Right, because that is really a sound way of reasoning.
If you kill yourself “for the sake of your family” for being suspected of theft you’re not of a sound mind and there’s nothing honorable about it.
Just because it’s a different culture doesn’t mean it’s right.
We are none of us qualified to pass judgement on this young person in the sense that we do not know enough of the facts yet, and we did not know him, so cannot possibly discern motives.
I would not claim suicide is ‘right’ but in the context of his culture it may well be entirely understandable why this course of action was followed, or why it was an option in his psychology.
I agree with your implicit point that naturally, any one of us would have tried to dissuade him from self harm, but this is not the place I think to try to undermine a different culture, or appear simply callous.
And so we can not also say that Foxconn, bastards as they may be, drove him to suicide or that it even had anything to do with the missing prototype. For all we know he could have been unstable already for entirely different reasons.
I am not quite sure what you are saying here – I am only myself saying it’s probably better to reserve judgement, regarding both sides.
What you did do though was take a pretty cheap shot at someone else’s culture in a case of an individual’s suicide.
It’s not a gentlemanly thing to do, is all.
My family has been samurai for centuries. I believe in family honour.
There is honour in suicide to absolve your family and just because you don’t understand it doesn’t make it wrong.
If he committed suicide just because he was afraid, that’s a different story.
So do I but I don’t believe there’s anything honorable about suicide.
Sorry, even though I have lived in Asia for a long time I just can’t agree with that sentiment. However, this doesn’t have much to do with the current topic (if he had shamed his family it really had nothing to do with what Foxconn did or did not do) and we probably shouldn’t get into this discussion on osnews, that way lies madness.
It’s very honorable and responsible to pass at your own choosing.
It’s not your place to force your taboo on everyone else
really? Seems like a waste of a human life.
I know all about honor suicides and what not, But I still think its ridiculous.
Darwin at its finest!
Seriously, if you can’t deal with failure of something that’s not so vitally important, it’s probably better for the species for you to exit the gene pool voluntarily before you contaminate it too much, because you won’t be able to deal with more important things that really matter for survival.
.. of companies to consider getting a new motherboard from. Any company that has torturers on staff for “internal security investigations” is fundamentally evil and must be boycotted.
Check out the Wikipedia page on Foxconn. Seems like it is not the first evil doing from Foxconn.
Then again, what can I say… All I wear is Adidas, and look at their sweatshops. It is a problem that is greater than us as individuals.
No, it’s a problem only created by the sum of us individuals. An individual can break out of all this – not by dumping one company and going to the next one which is just as bad, but by getting the whole picture, maybe relying on “whitelists” of (more) ethical companies, controlled by independent organisations. You can shop organic and small-scale if you have learnt too much about the food industry, and maybe you are quite happy with *older* technology, bought second-hand (with the right software it might run faster than the new gadgets of others…). There is no pure white, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying.
The big problem is that those who care are considered to be lunatics. Even in this article, Apple is blamed for doing business with Foxconn yet customers trying therefore to avoid Foxconn are called “holier-than-thou”…
Who the hell really knows what drives one to suicide. I had one of my best friends, who was brilliant, funny, super talented, bordering on, if not genius, loved by all but his ex-wife… and he just killed himself, no explanation really.
Foxconn is a well known sweatshop in China. Extreme work load, low salary, insane regulations.
If this did not happen for apple, it will definitely happen for another OEM.
Yet it provides large amount of tax for local gov, it will not be enforced to improve working env.
Edited 2009-07-22 03:13 UTC
Hearing this, and hearing what rockmen1 had to say about Foxconn, it makes me feel bad for having a Foxconn motherboard in my server.
Apple buyers think their PCs are hand carved from pure Unobtanium by elves in the Black Forest. The fact is they are cheap mass produced generic PCs in fancy cases.
I really wouldn’t comment on this thread, considering I don’t own anything Apple and the very few I’ve tried were not exactly as pleasant as I thought (they look great on screenshots, though), don’t own anything Foxconn and do not know much about either companies or “sweatshops” in asia to bring anything new to the topic.
But really, is THIS what you think of a constructive comment to a thread touching the death of a person? Really?
Can this zealotry of “Mine is bigger than yours” get at least a little bit of common sense and stop showing in threads that are not concerning technical differences, where they feel justified to appear just because the name of a company is mentioned?
Here is my reality check for you, sir: Your behaviour in this matter was, in my very personal opinion, disgusting.
Just to notice one last thing: Considering I base my reply on personal feelings, I refrained from modding you down before posting, but I truly believe you’re way off topic, and simply trolling. I just wish there could be a mod-down option as “Simply outright outrageous”.
What is wrong with pointing out the hypocrisy of Apple? They portray themselves and green and ethical but they are just as ruthless, money hungry and amoral as any other big corporation.
Some seriously despicable comments in here.
We in the West haven’t learned anything, have we? Comments here echo that centuries-old misconception that we the West are somehow inherently better than the rest of the world. We in the West simply cannot understand that there are cultures in the world where *shock gasp horror* things are done differently than here, where they have different beliefs and values.
“Wenn getanzt wird, will ich führen,
auch wenn ihr euch alleine dreht,
lasst euch ein wenig kontrollieren,
Ich zeige euch wie’s richtig geht.
Ich kenne Schritte, die sehr nützen,
und werde euch vor Fehltritt schützen,
und wer nicht tanzen will am Schluss,
weiß noch nicht, dass er tanzen muss!”
a civilized person should still show respect for cultures that do not value human life and liberty.
We’ve learned to accept other cultures unquestionably, apparently…
I guess we should just accept female circumcision, oppression of women and other horrible “beliefs and values” because, hey, it’s a different culture. I’m not saying the West is better (we’re a bunch of assholes too and wrong about a lot of things) but this whole unquestionable acceptance of values and beliefs just because they’re from other, non-Western cultures is nonsense.
I’m living quite happily in a non-Western culture but that doesn’t mean I have to accept every damn value or belief they have.
We are getting a bit off topic here but I’d say there’s a difference between, ‘right’, ‘acceptable’, ‘understandable’ and ‘inconceivable’. You may be ‘right’ to say that this event is not ‘understandable’ by you but you’d probably be less correct to say that, if this person did commit suicide as the result of the actions of his employer, it is something that is ‘inconceivable’.
I find it interesting that you say we seem to have become supine in the face of other cultures, by which you presumably mean we who still live in the geographical West, yet you brazenly assert the right not to respect the customs and laws of those around you. Aren’t you rather acting a little like those you appear to condemn – or will you square this circle by encouraging those Asians around you to stand up to your browbeating? Let me know how it goes…
Stop putting words in his mouth to try and prove a point. He didn’t say Customs and Laws. He said, and I quote, “…value or belief they have“. Which are far different from “Laws”.
“This is what happens when financial gain and profit are valued more than humans.”
Welcome to the real world!
Nothing said about how he killed himself. Knowing how China’s Public Security Bureau operates: perhaps by shooting himself in the back of head, twice.
Edited 2009-07-22 08:25 UTC
Like how Steve Jobs treats his employees?
“This is what happens when financial gain and profit are valued more than humans. Sure, you can adopt an holier-than-thou attitude and shun products from Foxconn, but the fact of the mater is that Foxconn is just one of many. In our search for ever cheaper products, for an ever cheaper labour force, we are apparently willing to accept the fact that our products are built in conditions like we see at Foxconn.”
Thom, did you recently become Catholic? =P That idea is almost the exact message of Pope Benedict’s most recent encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). The sad truth is, this is how the current system is set up: cheaper and better no matter the price. Until we, as a society, get to a point where we value respect of human life above all else, it will only get worse. Unfortunately, we’re currently running 100 miles an hour in the wrong direction, accelerating all the while.
“We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death by our Shaolin Gung Fu Death Squad. We require our suppliers at Lo Pan International Trading to treat all workers with dignity and respect…until they lose one of our iPhone prototypes.”
All over a prototype? Damn! I wonder if they found it. More casualties