Prison labour in USA

Major corporations, including this one, use prison labour in the USA, where prisoners are paid slave wages as low as 23 cents an hour doing work which is often dangerous, toxic and unprotected. While much of the work done by prisoners is for the military, other major corporations are taking advantage of the cheap labour in both federal and state US prisons.

Source: Global Research (2013)

Fraud penalty

Dell paid US$100 million in 2010 to settle allegations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission of accounting fraud. It had alleged that Dell had failed to disclose to investors large exclusivity payments received from Intel to not use central processing units from Intel's main rival. These payments helped Dell to meet its targets, rather than its management and operations. When the payments were cut, it alleged Dell again misled investors by failing to disclose the true reason behind the company's decreased profitability. [Listed under Information due to age of court finding]

Source: news article (2010)

US recycling report card

The Electronics TakeBack Coalition's Recycling Report Card evaluates takeback and recycling programs for computer, TV, printer and game console companies. The report card focuses on the programs available to consumers in the US, and relies on publicly available information, as of Sept 2010. This company received a grade of B for its recycling efforts in the USA.

Source: Electronics TakeBack Coalition (2010)

'Nice' rating on Direct Mail Industry Scorecard

'Nice' rating on the 2009 Naughty/Nice List, the Scorecard on the Catalog and Direct Mail Industry by Forest Ethics. [Listed under information due to age of report]

Source: Forest Ethics (2009)

Climate action commitments

As listed on the We Mean Business website, this company has committed to the following climate action initiatives: adopt a science-based emissions reduction target; commit to 100% renewable power.

Source: We Mean Business (2021)

B- grade at Behind the Barcode

B- grade in the Baptist World Aid Australia's Behind the Barcode 'Ethical Electronics Guide 2016', which grades companies on their efforts to mitigate the risks of forced labour, child labour and worker exploitation throughout their supply chains. Assessment criteria fall into four main categories: policies, traceability & transparency, monitoring & training and worker rights. [Listed under Information due to age of report]

Source: Baptist World Aid Australia (2016)

Repair manuals online

Some companies intentionally make their repair manuals unavailable, sabotaging local repair shops and forcing consumers to buy new products. This company makes its repair manuals available online.

Source: iFixit (2017)

GC3 member (Green Chemistry)

This company is a member of the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (GC3), a business-to-business forum that advances the application of green chemistry and design for environment across supply chains. It provides an open forum for cross-sectoral collaboration to share information and experiences about the challenges to and opportunities for safer chemicals and products.

Source: GC3 (2019)

Responsible Minerals Initiative member

This company is a member of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (formerly the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative), which helps companies address conflict minerals issues in their supply chains. The RMI provides information on conflict-free smelters and refiners, common tools to gather sourcing information, and forums for exchanging best practices on addressing conflict minerals. Membership is open to companies that use or transact in tantalum, tin, tungsten or gold (3TG). Founded in 2008 by members of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative.

Source: RMI (2019)

PPA Participant

This company is a participant in the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade (PPA), a multi-sector and multi-stakeholder initiative to support supply chain solutions to conflict minerals challenges in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Great Lakes Region (GLR) of Central Africa. The PPA provides funding and coordination support to organizations working within the region to develop verifiable conflict-free supply chains; align chain-of-custody programs and practices; encourage responsible sourcing from the region; promote transparency; and bolster in-region civil society and governmental capacity.

Source: PPA (2024)

Responsible Business Alliance member

This company is a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (formerly the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition), a non-profit coalition of electronics companies which supports the rights and wellbeing of workers and communities worldwide affected by the global electronics supply chain. RBA members commit and are held accountable to a common Code of Conduct and utilize a range of RBA training and assessment tools to support continuous improvement in the social, environmental and ethical responsibility of their supply chains.

Source: RBA (2022)

GeSI member

This company is a member of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), a leading source of impartial information, resources and best practices for achieving integrated social and environmental sustainability through Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Source: GeSI (2016)

Corporate responsibility claims

This company has corporate responsibility claims on its website under the headings advancing sustainability, cultivating inclusion, transforming lives and upholding ethics & privacy.

Source: company website (2020)

C+ in Guide to Greener Electronics

This company received a grade of C+ in the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics (Oct 2017), which assesses companies from the electronics industry across three impact areas: energy use, resource consumption, and chemical elimination. Of the 17 companies ranked, this company came third. [Listed under Information due to age of report]

Source: Greenpeace (2017)

Cobalt battery supply chain

A 2017 report by Amnesty International, 'Time to Recharge' ranks major electronics and car companies on how much they have improved their cobalt sourcing practices since January 2016. The report found that while a handful of companies have made progress, many are still not doing enough to stop human rights abuses entering their cobalt supply chains, even though their products could be linked to child labour in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This company was rated 'moderate action taken'.

Source: Amnesty Intl (2017)

Modern Slavery statement

California, the UK and Australia have all enacted legislation requiring companies operating within their borders to disclose their efforts to eradicate modern slavery from their operations and supply chains. Follow the link to see this company's disclosure statement.

Source: company website (2017)

27.2% in Human Rights Benchmark

The 2022 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark assessed 127 companies in the food and agriculture, ICT and automotive manufacturing sectors on their human rights performance. This company received a score of 27.2%. The overall average score was a disappointing 17.3% and the highest score was 50.3%.

Source: World Benchmarking Alliance (2022)

BHRRC company profile

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre digital platform presents news and allegations relating to the human rights impact of over 20,000 companies. Their enhanced Company Dashboards also include financial information, key data points based on corporate policies, and scores from prominent civil society benchmarks. Follow the link and use the search function to view this company's dashboard.

Source: BHRRC (2022)

OpenSecrets.org profile

OpenSecrets.org tracks the influence of money on U.S. politics, and how that money affects policy and citizens' lives. Follow link to see this company's record of political donations, lobbying, outside spending and more.

Source: Open Secrets (2024)

Involvement with Israel

The independent research centre Who Profits has identified this company as complicit in Israel's ongoing occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land. "The company provides servers and related services to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Israeli military."

Source: Who Profits (2024)