Slavery Footprint

[Taggerung_of_Redwall]

Okay, so this is daunting and also arguably awkward. It sounds repulsive, I guess would be the word. However, it's also completely real.

Like environmentalists, abolitionists have developed a service to track one's 'footprint' on use of products (clothes, food, electronics ect.) made by slavery.
You can access it here.
The number will be pretty accurate, as far as research can tell. The idea behind the service is to raise awareness amongst consumers.
A newly developed but beta-stage app called Free2Work is being worked on by the same people. Since most products have gone through the hands of slaves, most products on this will be listed as such.
Interesting fact-$27 are spent each year figuring what you want to buy. Brands and companies want to supply people with what they want to buy. Consumerism has shaped the world.
Tell them what you want. Slavery-free products, and change can be made. Providers will take action and act to clear slavery out of product lines.
So, how many slaves work to make products you use? Whether you purchase them or not, of course.
This comes during the month Obama has declared National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

[Lutra]

This part on their methodology page doesn't impress me much:

Additionally, we utilized published data pertaining to forced labor issues. This included vetted data drawn from a variety of international sources. The following inclusion criteria were used:

    Drawn from ONE Internationally credible source with expert review (i.e. ILO, International Office for Migration, World Health Organization, United Nations Security Council)
    Referenced in at least TWO multi-national reliable sources (i.e. CNN, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International)
    Reported on by at least THREE disparate and unrelated local news sources (i.e. The Guardian, Swedwatch, Jakarta Post, Enough Project)

Six sources....and they won't publish who or where.  That could be some serious bias right there.  I took their "test" and supposedly if I use what I said I did, I have 35 slaves working for me.  They assume they know where I bought the item and where the items were manufactured.  Oddly enough my car was one reason my number was so high (and its manufactured in Canada I believe).  Needless to say I'm a tad skeptical of this site; I don't doubt slavery exists, but I don't think its as extreme as the site presents it.

[Taggerung_of_Redwall]

While I severely doubt any slavery touched the manufacturing of your car in Canada, the materials shipped there might have been. Wood, rubber, metal, ect. needed to get there, and someone had to mine, cut and collect such materials. They may have been touched.
I'm not as knowledgeable about global economy, trade relations and the like, by a long shot, as the builders.
It is of course an assumption.
It's noteworthy this early development isn't based on particular brands or manufacturers.
However, the sources used are reliable, and number 11.

[DanielofRedwall]

I'll have to get my sister on to this, she would donate everything she has to these sorts of things if she could.

I can't access the site yet as I'm on my iPod, but when I do I'll tell you what I got.