[richmarr]

Because the direct buyer is the one who has the most information and the most control.

In contrast the end user has almost no information, so punishing them is both unfair and ineffective.

[morcheeba]

These tech companies aren't direct buyers any more than you or me. Ore is sold to smelting companies, who sell ingots to sheet metal companies, who sell it to electronics component manufacturers, who sell it to contract manufacturers, who sell it to the giants. And that's the legal supply chain - add in some shell companies, forged documents, and resellers and it gets more complicated.

[richmarr]

> These tech companies aren't direct buyers any more than you or me

Well, they're (a) further up the supply chain that we are, and (b) have the resources to understand and influence their supply chain. You can be pedantic about the word "direct" if you like but I don't think that's useful.

[mbostleman]

So now that you have the information, I trust you have stopped purchasing these products beginning today?

[richmarr]

Information, and control.

All of the products I can buy may or may not contain this unthetical cobalt. I don't know which, and my personal buying choice doesn't effect anything.

What are you proposing, that everyone with a smartphone or a computer be sued? How will that work?

[celticmusic]

hey, great job. You've turned a discussion about child exploitation into a discussion about whether some random person on the internet will stop buying electronics.

It's great to see where your priorities are.

[vinniejames]

The tech companies are only one hop away from the end user, they are not close to being the direct buyer for these operations