petition

Apple CEO Tim Cook again defended his company's track record on improving working conditions at the manufacturing facilities of its suppliers, noting that it has done more to address the issue than any of its peers.

"No one in our industry is doing more to improve working conditions than Apple," Cook said during an investor conference today.

Cook's comments come amid growing criticism over the working conditions at the factories used to construct hit Apple products such as the iPhone and iPad. Much of it was sparked by a New York Times story that highlighted some … Read more

NEW YORK--Activists hand-delivered petitions with a quarter of a million signatures to Apple's Grand Central Terminal flagship store in Manhattan today, reiterating its plea for the company to adopt more ethical standards for the creation of its popular products.

The activists, organized by watchdog groups SumofUS and Change.org, are calling for Apple to pressure its suppliers--particularly the ones in China--to improve the working conditions and follow the same standards it observes in the U.S. That includes being more transparent about its vendors and allowing third parties to audit the quality of the work environment.

Apple has faced … Read more

The two online petitions asking Apple to improve conditions in overseas manufacturing plants ahead of the next iPhone will be hand delivered to a number of Apple's retail stores tomorrow, its creators say.

In a statement today, watchdog group SumOfUs said that it plans to deliver its own petition, along with one from Change.org, to a number of Apple's retail stores around the world. That includes New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, London, Sydney, and Bangalore.

Combined, the two petitions have amassed more than 250,000 signatures, the group said.

The petition from SumOfUs garnered 55,… Read more

A new online petition is demanding that Apple clean up its act overseas in time to make its next iPhone "the first ethical iPhone."

Watchdog group SumOfUs last week put up a petition asking Apple to "make the iPhone 5 ethically," referring to the company's use of overseas manufacturing from companies such as Foxconn, which have recently come under fire for their working conditions and practices.

The petition, which the group says garnered more than 35,000 signatures in its first 24 hours, asks Apple to "overhaul the way its suppliers treat their workers,&… Read more

Google's homepage today shows a thick black censorship stamp across its colorful logo.

And, if clicked on, it leads users to a "End Piracy, Not Liberty" petition that asks people to sign-on to protest the two anti-piracy laws to be voted on by Senate and Congress.

"Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.," the petition reads. "Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late."

Over the course of the … Read more

Unhappy with their lot, six of seven second-tier browsers have petitioned regulators for increased prominence on the screen that gives Windows users in the European Union a choice of browsers besides Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

The browser makers on Thursday sent a petition to Neelie Kroes, a European Commission vice president, and other regulators who have been dealing with the browser-choice technology that Microsoft has begun distributing to millions in Europe as part of an antitrust case against the software company. The top five browsers dominate the market, but more obscure browser makers hope the EU antitrust action will grant … Read more

It's time for the United Kingdom government to scrap Internet Explorer 6, upgrading away from the browser introduced in 2001 and the problems it brings now, according to a petition submitted Monday.

"We the undersigned petition the prime minister to encourage government departments to upgrade away from Internet Explorer 6," according to the petition, submitted by Dan Frydman, a managing director of online publishing contractor Inigo. As of Monday afternoon PST, a few others had signed it; only British citizens or residents may.

"The German and French governments have started to encourage people to upgrade away from the browser Internet Explorer 6. IE 6 has some security flaws that leave users vulnerable. These two governments have let their populations know that an upgrade will keep them safer online," the petition said. "We should follow them. When the U.K. government does this, most of Europe will follow. That will create some pressure on the US to do so, too."

In an interview, Frydman said the chief difficulty with supporting IE 6 is one of extra work--making sure additions needed to make a site work with later versions of IE or other browsers don't break the IE 6 support, for example. In addition, it's not up to modern graphical Ajax interfaces that require faster JavaScript performance.

Plenty of tech companies, most notably Microsoft itself, are urging an upgrade from IE 6. The browser was introduced in 2001, just as Microsoft had definitively won the first browser wars and just before Windows XP was introduced. Since then, IE 6 has been succeeded by IE 7 and IE 8, with IE 9 in the works. In the meantime, Firefox has grown to account for nearly a quarter of Web usage, and Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome account for nearly another 10 percent. … Read more

The European Commission is moving toward punitive action against Intel for violating antitrust law, according to reports.

The European Commission has sent to EU member states a draft decision that rules against the world's largest chipmaker, according to reports from Reuters and Bloomberg.

The Commission may deliver a formal decision within weeks, based on past practice, according to Reuters.

In the draft decision, the Commission states that Intel abused its market power in violation of EU antitrust law.

Intel's only real competition in the worldwide PC processor market is Advanced Micro Devices, which sued Intel in 2005 on … Read more

Updated at 3:45 p.m. PST with Intel comments.

On Tuesday, an EU court rejected Intel's bid to delay a deadline for the chipmaker to address antitrust concerns.

In October, Intel filed a petition with the Court of First Instance, Europe's second-highest court, asking for a delay in the investigation by the European Commission so the company could gain access to additional documents to bolster its defense.

The world's largest chipmaker is accused by the European Commission of giving rebates to a large retailer with the aim of discouraging the retailer from using chips from rival … Read more