[Nasrudith]

Because they are seeking remedy from the wrong parties in a fungible market without proof of more direct involvement. It being in "corporate interest" doesn't mean it is wrong. To be frank they are acting a lot like extortionists.

[shkkmo]

That's pretty harsh language to use against families whose children died mining the materials for your smart phone, electric bike and green energy grid.

A "fungible market" does not make slavery ok, nor does it excuse child labor. Indeed, the availability of alternative sources would seem to make patronizing companies that support this type of bevaior more inexcusable.

[fennecfoxen]

Slavery is, of course, not okay. But tell me this: Are you confident that all your home electronics have zero slave-produced cobalt in it? If not, why not? The availability of alternative cobalt sources would seem to make this type of behavior inexcusable.

What's this you say? You don't have a direct relationship with the cobalt mine? You buy your phone from some company, and you don't know their exact sources of components, or whether they switch suppliers from time to time? Gasp!

[shkkmo]

> Are you confident that all your home electronics have zero slave-produced cobalt in it?

I am confident that my electronics do indeed contain some cobalt from the exact same sort of mines referenced in the article and I do feel culpable. I wish there was an organization that tracked the degree to which the electronic companies that I purchase products from make an effort to source ethical cobalt and other sources (hence my prior question elsewhere in this thread.) I wish that Fairphone sold their products in my country. I wish that I, as an individual consumer had the level of market power that a company like samsung or google has over their supply chain and could incentivize the cobalt mining companies to behave more ethically.

You sarcasm doesn't make any actual point and to me it indicates that the reason that you are so willing to argue against the culpability of the electronics, battery and cobalt mining companies that make so much money from this is because you are unwilling to acknowledge your own culpability in the deaths of these children and the suffering of their families.

[fennecfoxen]

The point is that you are not criminally liable for trafficking in slaves under 18 U.S. Code § 1589 because you have some quantity of cobalt, and neither are the companies in question, in all likelihood. This is important because the lawsuit seeks to say that the companies are criminally liable for trafficking in slaves under 18 U.S. Code § 1589 and the lawsuit will be rendered on the merits under 18 U.S. Code § 1589.

The point is a limited one. Besides this point, reform efforts are a great idea.

[Ericson2314]

The legal system needs to catch up with the laundering effects of global and fungible markets. There are "know your customer" rules for other things. Eventually we need to get serious about goods' provenance.