Post by: AZRedhawk44 on July 25, 2008, 10:20:00 AM
Quote
Playstation 2 component incites African war
Console war reaches past the couch and into the Congo, claims report.
By Ben Silverman
ADVERTISEMENT
Has the video game industry dug up its very own blood diamond?
According to a report by activist site Toward Freedom, for the past decade the search for a rare metal necessary in the manufacturing of Sony's Playstation 2 game console has fueled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.
Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country's coltan mines.
"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.
SEE PICS
So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the 2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills known for being ripe with coltan.
Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of mines in several different countries.
But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.
"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese coltan."
Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time, having sold through over 140 million units.
Console war reaches past the couch and into the Congo, claims report.
By Ben Silverman
ADVERTISEMENT
Has the video game industry dug up its very own blood diamond?
According to a report by activist site Toward Freedom, for the past decade the search for a rare metal necessary in the manufacturing of Sony's Playstation 2 game console has fueled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.
Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country's coltan mines.
"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.
SEE PICS
So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the 2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills known for being ripe with coltan.
Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of mines in several different countries.
But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.
"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese coltan."
Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time, having sold through over 140 million units.
Because of course, PS2's account for 75% of capacitor usage in electronics manufacturing.
Why can these people have license to print this drivel without an ounce of common sense? What about all the capacitors used on the Dell computer assembly line, or in cheap $29 Chinese DVD players, or kitchen appliances, or the Yahoo server datacenters across the country? Argh. Talk about scape-goating. Stupid.
Post by: K Frame on July 25, 2008, 10:53:41 AM
So we shoudl stop doing it.
Everything.
Post by: seeker_two on July 25, 2008, 11:32:37 AM
Everything, no matter what it is, is evil because it kills children.
So we shoudl stop doing it.
Everything.
So we shoudl stop doing it.
Everything.
Well....you're doing something right now....why do you love to see the children suffer?
Post by: K Frame on July 25, 2008, 11:47:18 AM
It's how I get back at Abby.
Vicariously.
Post by: MicroBalrog on July 25, 2008, 11:51:11 AM
Of course, this would result in the Africans starving to death.
Post by: Manedwolf on July 25, 2008, 12:14:19 PM
Under this notion, we should not buy anything composed of resources harvested in Africa.
Of course, this would result in the Africans starving to death.
Of course, this would result in the Africans starving to death.
Then it would be the developed world's fault for not providing enough food aid.
Post by: MicroBalrog on July 25, 2008, 12:15:27 PM
Under this notion, we should not buy anything composed of resources harvested in Africa.
Of course, this would result in the Africans starving to death.
Of course, this would result in the Africans starving to death.
Then it would be the developed world's fault for not providing enough food aid.
What about the Jews? Do we get to figure in this?
Post by: seeker_two on July 25, 2008, 12:49:15 PM
Under this notion, we should not buy anything composed of resources harvested in Africa.
Of course, this would result in the Africans starving to death.
Of course, this would result in the Africans starving to death.
Then it would be the developed world's fault for not providing enough food aid.
What about the Jews? Do we get to figure in this?
Only if you're working for the Bushes and the Bildebergers.....
Post by: HankB on July 25, 2008, 01:31:57 PM
Under this notion, we should not buy anything composed of resources harvested in Africa.
Of course, this would result in the Africans starving to death.
I will not respond to this by saying "No, because they'd still have each other." Of course, this would result in the Africans starving to death.
Nope, I won't say that.
Post by: vaskidmark on July 25, 2008, 05:41:11 PM
stay safe.
skidmark
Post by: Headless Thompson Gunner on July 25, 2008, 05:49:05 PM
Tantalum caps are responsible for killing children in Africa, and Sony is responsible for the use of tantalum caps?
Post by: wmenorr67 on July 25, 2008, 07:40:49 PM
Post by: Regolith on July 25, 2008, 11:50:24 PM
Well at least is isn't Bush's fault.
Oh, it is. Somehow. They just haven't quite figured out the mental gymnastics necessary to link either Bush or Haliburton to it yet. But it's just a matter of time.
Post by: Antibubba on July 26, 2008, 12:17:00 AM
Quote
Tantalum caps are responsible for killing children in Africa, and Sony is responsible for the use of tantalum caps?
It sounds to me like a tantalum cap is very similar to a tinfoil hat.
At least it is with this group of yahoos.