[Hamcha]

How is setting up infrastructure to exploit third world labor a "software problem" exactly?

I think the problem isn't that software can't do de-warping well, it's that by the time you set up everything for book scanning you might as well use a setup that doesn't need it.

[all2]

"Exploitation" is an arguable word, when without outside intervention there would be no employment above a few cents a day. Any employment by those who can pay even a dollar a day could instantly ratchet an entire family out of abject poverty.

[13415]

You've also got to wonder about idea behind it that it's supposed to be trivial to send a large number of books to Ethiopia and back without damaging them.

[dredmorbius]

Shipping is cheap, generally.

Even for relatively high-mass objects such as books. Slow boats are slow but exceedingly efficient.

The main risk would likely be container loss off a ship. Possibly environmental damage if spending much time in warm humid climates.

[Syzygies]

The source article sends these devices to scan books in Ethiopia, where there are people looking for work.

[Dellu]

That is actually good thing for the local people (in Ethiopia) as well. I would have loved to take a project like this.

[Dellu]

Employing sb in the third world is a collaboration; not an exploitation.