Via No Impact Man, I came across an article by Johann Hari, originally published in the Independent in 2006. In it, Johann traces the roots of the ongoing conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo to the scramble for natural resources; in particular coltan, a metal used in electronics like mobile phones and Playstations. 80% of the world’s supply of coltan is found in the DRC, where 4 million people have died in five years.
The choices we make, especially in the goods and energy we consume, have a direct influence on the lives of others. It’s difficult to mentally connect my cell phone and a mine in DRC, but the connection is there whether I choose to see it or not. My standard of living doesn’t exist in a vacuum and you could question how much of it I have a legitimate right to.
carbon limited 
A similar problem is encountered with food….in this global market. I just read about a project, the Fair Tracing project, going on at the Univ. of Bradford in the UK, which is developing a “digital tag that would tell the story behind your bananas..or your coffee or your chocolate.” The early version relies on bar codes, but “the final technology could take the form of a radio frequency identification system or, more simply, a unique number printed on the label. If it could work for food, why not for cellphones or laptops or whatever?