Conflict Minerals: A Call for Conflict-Free Phones

Jun 3, 2014 | Laura Secorun Palet, USA Today
View Original

Despite his serene demeanor, Bas Van Abel once got so furious, he smashed his 11-year-old's Nintendo DS. It wasn't his son's fault; it was the toy, because he couldn't get it open.

An advocate of open design and a prominent member of the global maker community, van Abel lives by the motto "If you can't open it, you don't own it."

His fixation on understanding what's behind the objects we use every day extends beyond design to the sourcing of their components. And, after learning about the use of conflict minerals — tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold — to manufacture smartphones, the Dutch designer turned entrepreneur founded Fairphone, a company that sells conflict-free smartphones.