Liberation technology and corporate misanthropy

Tim Hunt looks at how the mobile phone is revolutionising life for the world’s poorest – and why the industry needs to be held to account for what happens through all stages of a phone’s life cycle.

Like so many aspects of our technology-driven capitalist society, mobile phones are racked with contradictions. On the one hand they have become a powerful tool for social change – on the other, the sourcing of raw materials, their manufacture and their disposal are real causes for concern. In this report we look in-depth at the UK mobile phone industry...