...[A]ccording to a report published by oekom research...the reliance on outsourcing by IT companies often exposes those companies to implication by association in many often egregious labor and human rights violations. The report finds that "abysmal working conditions and inadequate environmental standards in some suppliers in South-East Asia and Mexico are tarnishing the perceived clean image of the industry."... Philipp Ruehle, the oekom analyst responsible for the IT sector...credited the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC)...with developing a code of best practices whose goal is to improve conditions in the electronics supply chain. [refers to positive steps by Nokia, HP, high corporate responsibility scores of ST Microelectronics, Xerox, Ricoh]