Remember when I got an iPhone? One of my main concerns about getting a new phone in general, and an iPhone in particular, was the issue of conflict minerals used in their production. (I held onto my “old” BlackBerry right up until the morning when I dropped it and watched pieces of it fly off in all directions. My phone before that was pretty much in the same shape when I traded it in.)

Addressing the issue of conflict minerals itsn’t an easy one. In a 2010 post about the situation, Steve Jobs himself noted that Apple was insisting that its suppliers use conflict-free minerals but there was no real way to know if they were telling the truth.

But the only guarenteed way to ensure that nothing changes is, of course, to do nothing. So tonight I’ve signed the petition on Change.org calling on Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, to make a conflict-free iPhone by 2013. Apple has been a leader to date in this area. I believe,as Delly Mawazo Sesete writes:

Apple is perfectly positioned to be the first company to create a Congo conflict-free phone, using minerals from Congo that further stability and economic development and don’t use slave labor or fund mass atrocities.

So mote it be.