MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Ethical guide to e-readers

SteveEisenberg · 08-11-2013, 04:45 PM

I think it makes sense to discuss the individual issues, as we do on Mobileread. But I wouldn't want to give much attention to these overall scores, which are based on about thirty different sub-items. For each one of those, I may or may not have the same perspective as EthicalConsumer.org.

It's true that the web site lets you can change the emphasis of different subitems. But, even with that, their interpretation may be quite different than mine. For example, I rate how employees are treated as very importatnt -- but I look at it in comparison to how other workers are treated in the same country, even if the country is low-wage. Someone else might think that having lots of US employees is a plus.

Looking through the subitems, I see little concerning how customers are treated, such as whether customer services reps are honest and responsive, and nothing on antitrust concerns. I personally agree with their implicit idea that, from an ethical standpoint, how you treat your workers is more important than how you take care of customers. But I think opinions like that are better brought out in open discussion than hidden in a numeric rating process.

Also, the Ethical Shopping Guide price of £29.95 per year is a bit steep for me.

What about Ethical Shopping Guide itself? Based on this web page, I rate them low when it comes to ethical treatment of people who do their work:

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/about...kingforus.aspx

08-11-2013, 04:45 PM	#2
SteveEisenberg Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,426 Karma: 43514536 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: near Philadelphia USA Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)	I think it makes sense to discuss the individual issues, as we do on Mobileread. But I wouldn't want to give much attention to these overall scores, which are based on about thirty different sub-items. For each one of those, I may or may not have the same perspective as EthicalConsumer.org. It's true that the web site lets you can change the emphasis of different subitems. But, even with that, their interpretation may be quite different than mine. For example, I rate how employees are treated as very importatnt -- but I look at it in comparison to how other workers are treated in the same country, even if the country is low-wage. Someone else might think that having lots of US employees is a plus. Looking through the subitems, I see little concerning how customers are treated, such as whether customer services reps are honest and responsive, and nothing on antitrust concerns. I personally agree with their implicit idea that, from an ethical standpoint, how you treat your workers is more important than how you take care of customers. But I think opinions like that are better brought out in open discussion than hidden in a numeric rating process. Also, the Ethical Shopping Guide price of £29.95 per year is a bit steep for me. What about Ethical Shopping Guide itself? Based on this web page, I rate them low when it comes to ethical treatment of people who do their work: http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/about...kingforus.aspx Last edited by SteveEisenberg; 08-11-2013 at 04:51 PM.