China’s computer wasteland

When rich Americans like you and me decide it’s time to buy a new computer, we are faced with the inconvenience of getting rid of our old one. Like most Americans, I've had an old monitor and printer in a closet for years now. As the article explains, computers like mine can't be dumped in the garbage, because they contain hazardous materials such as lead and mercury.According to the article, old equipment from the west makes its way to US recycling centers simply to be shipped back to China or India. An Indian environmental group estimates that it costs ten times more to recycle a computer in a developing Asian country as it does to recycle the same product in the US.

However, there is no regulatory oversight of the e-waste business in China. Toxic chemicals are dumped freely along the Lianjiang River by poor migrant workers who struggle to feed their families. They dismantle the computers for scrap metal and reusable parts making a few dollars a day. The human toll is horrific with workers reporting abysmal working conditions and a myriad of health problems.

In case you were wondering how social justice and sustainability issues are intertwined in our global economy, read this article. It explains exactly how the poor are forced to bear the burden of western e-waste just to feed themselves and their families. Suddenly, I don’t feel like shopping for a new computer anymore.

The perfect mark

Had he not been an accomplished professional, the jury may have seen John Worley as the victim of an Internet scam rather than an accomplice to an Internet crime ring. But in 2005, Worley, age 60, was sentenced to two years in prison for bank fraud, money laundering, and possession of stolen checks.

This classic Internet scam began when Mr. Worley responded to a South African emailer desperately seeking to transfer money to an overseas bank account. Ignoring warnings from friends and family, Worley participated in what is known as an “advance-fee fraud” that spun out of his control between June 200l and January 2003. His overseas partners were never apprehended, but they made off with over $600,000. Audaciously, the criminal masterminds continued to email Worley for more cash even after his assets had been frozen by federal investigators.

Personally, I think Worley was guilty as charged. His judgement was clouded by his greed for easy money. He made decisions that a reasonable person would not have made under the circumstances. Frankly, I was surprised to read that anyone would take this kind of email seriously especially a person of Worley’s stature. What was he thinking?

The subprime loan machine

Automated Underwriting software was created by a former NASA rocket scientist, Edward Jones, in the 1990’s. Jones developed his niche products and sold them to the sub-prime mortgage market making millions for himself and billions for the industry. This technology fell unfettered into the hands of lenders such as Countrywide, who allowed computer approved loans to make lending decisions. The rest, as they say, is history.

Interest-only and no-down-payment loans quickly became the norm on Main Street. AU was hailed by mortgage brokers as a quick and dirty way to process loans that should have been denied. From the vantage point of the post mortgage meltdown of 2008, the extensive misuse of AU by the mortgage industry makes the good old boys network look highly ethical. Jones, most likely, has retired to some other banana republic.

Browning, L. (2007). The subprime loan machine. Computers in Society, 14, 16-17. From The New York Times, (2007, March 23) pp. C1–C4.