After watching Apple’s event today and hearing Tim Cook unveil the #iPhone16, I’m more concerned than ever. As a technologist, I see the iPhone becoming more than just a phone. It’s a powerful computer, camera, and, most alarmingly, a surveillance tool. The phone now integrates AI, including technology from OpenAI, which is being sold to agencies like the CIA.
This isn’t innovation!!! It’s surveillance and control, disguised as convenience. By buying into these devices, we allow corporations and governments to access our most personal data, while prioritizing profits over our privacy and freedom.
We need to question whether we really need AI analyzing our photos and data on Apple’s servers. These advancements are eroding our autonomy and increasing surveillance.
Our refusal to engage with such invasive tech is the first step in weakening the capitalist supply chain that depends on our consumption. Saying no to these products is a form of protest against the exploitation driving this system.
Let’s not forget the human cost. The raw materials powering iPhones are sourced from places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, where generations of people have suffered under capitalist exploitation. The extraction of minerals like coltan and cobalt comes at the expense of workers’ lives and the environment, with over 6 million Congolese lives lost since 1996 due to this exploitation fueling the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Capitalism thrives on creating products we don’t need while destroying lives and our planet. It’s time to confront the true cost of these devices and demand better.
I urge you to read the TriContinental Institute’s dossier on the Congo, which outlines how we can support the Congolese people in reclaiming their land and resources from this cycle of exploitation.
Reject these devices, and let’s work toward a future where human dignity is valued over profit.
Read on TriContinental website : “Dossier 77 – The Congolese Fight for Their Own Wealth”