IPOD MAKERS: THE WORK HARDER THAN MULES, THEY EAT WORSE THAN PIGS

This hasn't been getting too much play in the West, but it's been a big story in China and fortunately the untouchable EASTSOUTHWESTNORTH has been keeping this story so juiced up on posting power that's it's starting to slide over onto the Reuters wire service. And now, a happy ending.

Back in June, the UK-based Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mirror wrote a story about the poor working conditions at a plant in Shenzhen that makes iPods. Claiming that the plant was breaking the law by forcing workers to etch Bono's autograph on iPod U2 Special Editions well past quitting time and with no overtime pay, the stories prompted Apple to look into the issue. Apple responded that the conditions weren't as bad as they were being reported and that they had spoken to the plant's owner, Foxconn (a subsidiary of a Taiwanese manufacturing concern), who would rectify the teensy, tiny little problems.

But over in China, Foxconn wasn't quite so meek and mild, slapping a US$3.7 million defamation lawsuit on the Shanghai based newspaper, First Financial Daily, that also reported the story. In a really mean move, the suit was directed not at the newspaper, and not at its owners, but at the reporter and her editor. The first motion they filed was to have the two individuals' personal assets frozen for the duration of the court case - houses, cars, bank accounts, everything. And they were.

Foxconn has done this kind of thing before with a newspaper in Taiwan (a reporter had her assets frozen in a suit by Foxconn's parent company), but international outcry made them back off that time. Unfortunately, there was no outcry this time around. In fact, while there was lots of Foxconn coverage in the press while this was going on ("FoxConn boxes make the eyes boggle," read one headline) only the Shanghai Daily reported the lawsuit story. And, of course, the internet.

First Financial Daily fought back by giving the reporter and editor blogs and posting their comments about what the impact of the lawsuit was on their parents, friends and families. It was a PR war, fought online, with legal advisors weighing in on the illegality of Foxconn's actions and of the judge carrying out the motion. Finally, the news came down: Foxconn has dropped its suit from 30 million RMB to 1 RMB (about 13 cents) and the Shenzhen Intermediate Court has unfrozen the assets of the defendants. Foxconn says it's doing this, "to refocus the public's attention back to the real issue," and they issued a noxious press release talking about "...the minority who wrongfully abuses their so-called freedom of speech..." and saying that they were only suing to "...protect the Chinese dignity." They also say they'll donate the entire settlement, if they win, to a non-profit. The Red Cross is already filing suit in court to assert their claim to this massive 13 cent donation.

It's a qualified victory for the rule of law in China, but shame on Apple for not making a public statement condeming the actions of their manufacturing partner. In a scathing act of protest I will turn off my iPod for half and hour today. Let's see how Steve Jobs likes them apples.