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When we think of slavery, many of us think of historical or so-called "traditional forms" of slavery – and of the 12m people ripped from their West African homes and shipped across the Atlantic for a lifetime in the plantations of the Americas.
But slavery is not just something that happened in the past –- the modern day estimate for the number of men, women and children forced into labour worldwide exceeds 40m. Today's global slave trade is so lucrative that it nets traffickers more than US$150 billion each year.
The article asserts that much of today's slavery is being driven by the demand for electronic goods.
[Edit: fixed ILO links]
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Slavery Was Never Abolished – It Affects Millions, and You May Be Funding It
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For recreational use only.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday October 19 2018, @07:15PM (2 children)
I actually participated in this once. A labor for a project I leaded was outsourced to a prison for females (normally we would outsource to India, but the client demanded data to stay within borders).
Those women we eager to work and they had to actually earn a right for this work with nominal pay. In Gulag Russia, scientists were doing the same.
My point is, how do you call a system, where a human being wants to be a slave and work for nothing?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 19 2018, @09:23PM
Human. Pleasing others at the detriment of oneself fosters social cohesion, and makes large societies work. The capacity for self-deprecation is an evolutionary advantage from the point of view of the entire species.
But to answer your question, a system that allows people to exploit that capacity in others for their own gain is called exploitative.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 19 2018, @10:08PM
Of course they wanted to work. That job probably payed a dollar a day rather than 10 cents. Now, go look up how much commisary (where you get clothing, hygienic supplies, and food with slightly more nutritive value than cardboard that doesn't come in boxes labeled "Not Fit For Animal Consumption"), phone time, and medical care (they don't accept insurance), costs when you're behind bars. Exploitation is exploitation, and institutionalization makes people happy to be exploited.