Let's see how many people come in here and side with the Government that simply speaking or publishing information is illegal.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030417/ap_on_hi_te/wal_mart_bar_codes_2
The site's legal owner, Mike Bonnano of Loudonville, N.Y., said that switching store bar codes may be illegal but there was nothing illegal about the site itself.
"It's just like publishing a book with instructions," he said. Bonnano, also a political activist, was not part of the group that created the site although he owns it.
http://www.re-code.com/
Corporations Win Again!
Wednesday April 16, 2003 6:18 PM EST
...but Re-Code.com corporate mascot Rico Barco is still smiling.
Read a letter from spokesperson Rico Barco
See pics of the site before it went down here.
For print use download a high res image of the old site here.
[April 17] Do you know or work for a video clipping or news clipping service? We need cheap news tracking especially video, radio and newspaper. Write us if you can help.
The goal of Re-Code.com is to encourage everyone to reflect on the real costs of the products that we buy.
In many cases, we can consider the real cost of a product to be much more than the sticker price. For example - an item containing petroleum products should have a price that reflects the enormous costs of war - it may in fact be priceless, to honor the scores of young Americans and Iraqis killed in the defense of the product, and/or perhaps to reflect on the looting of an entire city that has been called "the cradle of civilization."
In other cases, the real cost of an item might be much less than the sticker price - such as in the case of a name brand cereal, for which the consumer pays mostly for the brand, and very little for the actual contents.
Reflecting on the real costs of things is something we should all do while shopping - but huge corporations don't want us to think about the real costs of products, or to educate ourselves about what goes into the things that we buy. They are scared of what we might find out.
That is why Re-Code.com, a website that showcases the fraud and deception perpetrated by many global corporations has been strong armed into submission by several of these transnationals including the largest retailer in the nation whose profits for 2003 totalled $13.2 billion dollars . Needless to say, their legal team far outweighed ours. Chalk another victory up for the mega corporation Wal Mart© who now ranks second behind the U.S. government as the most sued organization in the world as of 2002.
Our site was intended to be satirical; however many legal and corporate officials failed to see the humor and we were attacked, first with a legal letter from Wal-Mart© and subsequently with a series of very personal threats that came from a consortia of lawers associated with Wal Mart©, Kelloggs©, and other unnamed companies. When the personal threats started rolling in, we decided to shut down. We are ceasing to operate this site, but we would first like to explain our position.
The practice of switching product labels has been done since before barcodes existed (as noted in the cease and desist letter). We highly doubt that our site was used to encourage such practice where it had not already existed. The practice was around before the personal computer, leaving us to understand that the same action could be accomplished with simply a photocopier and a glue stick! Even UPC databases have been online for years with the most famous being The Internet UPC Database© which has been online since 2000.
It is currently being argued by many consumer advocates that acts that could be defined as "re-coding" are perpetrated by many chain stores on their customers. Here are many researched testimonials that document this activity thoroughly through customer testimonial about a seemingly frequent practice of overcharging in chain stores.
We feel that we have accomplished our goals to a large extent and the tough tactics of global chain stores have helped to demonstrate to the world just how much they care for you the customer.
The best thing is that this site was made using code freely available from other sites. It wasn't hard to do and we would not doubt it if simi liar sites come online in the next few months performing simi liar services if they don't already exist. We, however; are out of the barcode business.
Re-Code.com will continue to exist as a live web archive. We will be documenting the entire media fiasco that has occurred over the past several days which has seen us do over 40 interviews, several live radio call ins, numerous cable TV news spots, and newspaper articles all over the world.
We ask you to help build this archive. If you see a news spot - tape it, see a newspaper article - clip it. We want to document the reality of how it all went down. Contact us at press@re-code.com.
We are still doing interviews and now more than ever are encouraging journalists and reporters to publicize the corporate strongarm tactics. Interviews, and videos are still available for news services only by contacting press@re-code.com.
View our current collection of Re-Code.com sightings. Help us make this grow.
Our Formal Apology:
Sorry Wal Mart©, Price Chopper©, and Kellogg's©. We hope we didn't cost you any hard earned cash.
You know we never actually switched any barcodes and we have the footage to prove it!
This service was brought to you by the members of the Carbon Defense League and Conglomco.org.
We would like to thank Daemons of the Damned for their undying support during a difficult time. If you have a project that needs hosting, please contact DOD.net. They are on your side.
On another Note: I was asked and will be attending the hearings here in Georgia where the Government stopped the Convention Operator for having speakers that were going to talk about an insecure Transaction Server that contains all of the student information for a Georgia Technology College.
http://subscriber.anandtech.com/messagepost.cfm?catid=38&postaction=post
Topic Title OT: Georgia in the media again... Glad I don't live there.
Date Posted: 04/17/2003 3:49 PM
Posted By: LANMAN (Platinum Member)
Conference Blocked By Court Order
(Just FYI)
--LANMAN
-------------------------
More Power!! More Power!!
BEOWULF Project - Please take a look!!
Don't roll the dice, if you can't play the game. (WC-III -- LANMAN4TA)
"Whenever you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
04/17/2003 15:50:48|U
Date Posted: 04/17/2003 4:06 PM
Posted By: dmcowen674 (Elite Member)
Quote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by: LANMAN
Conference Blocked By Court Order
(Just FYI)
--LANMAN
This was the Conference I spoke at.
This is the first time the Government has shifted from going after the message makers to the going after the Confernece Operator. If this is successful it would be the end of all Technology based Conferences at least in the United States.
-------------------------
Join the online family that saved my life - Team Anandtech
See the story here and make sure you have permission in WRITING if not your computer
Buy & Own Your Own DSL Modem of your choice
Date Posted: 04/17/2003 4:10 PM
Posted By: MoFunk (Platinum Member)
What they heck is the problem with Georgia? Do they think that if no one talks about this stuff, it'll all just go away? Bunch of sucks that run that place!
-------------------------
[ MoRig ] [ 62596 - Never Forget! ] [ Join TeAm Anandtech Seti ]
Date Posted: 04/17/2003 4:46 PM
Posted By: jliechty (Diamond Member)
If that's the same thing that Dave linked to in his thread, then I find it quite ironic that they claim to invoke the DMCA as a basis for their demands, when the DMCA (AFAIK, but IANAL) specifically has a clause that states that reverse engineering for the purpose of compatibility is allowed.
Edit: Do not think that I am approving of the DMCA; that couldn't be farther from the truth. Rather, I think the DMCA takes second place for the Official Piece of Sh!t Legislation award; the CBDTPA gets first, IMHO.
-------------------------
Rigs | Team AnandTech Folding@Home | Anti-TCPA
04/17/2003 16:50:21|U
Date Posted: 04/17/2003 4:52 PM
Posted By: RaySun2Be (Elite Member)
Great. Don't fix the gaping security holes in your software, just sue those who make the security holes public. Maybe if no one talks about it, the problem doesn't exist.
If I was a user of Blackboard's software, I certainly would want to know if there were any major security issues.
Quote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What they heck is the problem with Georgia?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Their poorly written and vague anti-hacking laws suck, which allows this kind of crap.
-------------------------
They can take away my job, but they CAN'T take away my sense of humor!
Join Team Anandtech and put those spare CPU Cycles to work!
Own Your Own DSL Modem!
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030417/ap_on_hi_te/wal_mart_bar_codes_2
The site's legal owner, Mike Bonnano of Loudonville, N.Y., said that switching store bar codes may be illegal but there was nothing illegal about the site itself.
"It's just like publishing a book with instructions," he said. Bonnano, also a political activist, was not part of the group that created the site although he owns it.
http://www.re-code.com/
Corporations Win Again!
Wednesday April 16, 2003 6:18 PM EST
...but Re-Code.com corporate mascot Rico Barco is still smiling.
Read a letter from spokesperson Rico Barco
See pics of the site before it went down here.
For print use download a high res image of the old site here.
[April 17] Do you know or work for a video clipping or news clipping service? We need cheap news tracking especially video, radio and newspaper. Write us if you can help.
The goal of Re-Code.com is to encourage everyone to reflect on the real costs of the products that we buy.
In many cases, we can consider the real cost of a product to be much more than the sticker price. For example - an item containing petroleum products should have a price that reflects the enormous costs of war - it may in fact be priceless, to honor the scores of young Americans and Iraqis killed in the defense of the product, and/or perhaps to reflect on the looting of an entire city that has been called "the cradle of civilization."
In other cases, the real cost of an item might be much less than the sticker price - such as in the case of a name brand cereal, for which the consumer pays mostly for the brand, and very little for the actual contents.
Reflecting on the real costs of things is something we should all do while shopping - but huge corporations don't want us to think about the real costs of products, or to educate ourselves about what goes into the things that we buy. They are scared of what we might find out.
That is why Re-Code.com, a website that showcases the fraud and deception perpetrated by many global corporations has been strong armed into submission by several of these transnationals including the largest retailer in the nation whose profits for 2003 totalled $13.2 billion dollars . Needless to say, their legal team far outweighed ours. Chalk another victory up for the mega corporation Wal Mart© who now ranks second behind the U.S. government as the most sued organization in the world as of 2002.
Our site was intended to be satirical; however many legal and corporate officials failed to see the humor and we were attacked, first with a legal letter from Wal-Mart© and subsequently with a series of very personal threats that came from a consortia of lawers associated with Wal Mart©, Kelloggs©, and other unnamed companies. When the personal threats started rolling in, we decided to shut down. We are ceasing to operate this site, but we would first like to explain our position.
The practice of switching product labels has been done since before barcodes existed (as noted in the cease and desist letter). We highly doubt that our site was used to encourage such practice where it had not already existed. The practice was around before the personal computer, leaving us to understand that the same action could be accomplished with simply a photocopier and a glue stick! Even UPC databases have been online for years with the most famous being The Internet UPC Database© which has been online since 2000.
It is currently being argued by many consumer advocates that acts that could be defined as "re-coding" are perpetrated by many chain stores on their customers. Here are many researched testimonials that document this activity thoroughly through customer testimonial about a seemingly frequent practice of overcharging in chain stores.
We feel that we have accomplished our goals to a large extent and the tough tactics of global chain stores have helped to demonstrate to the world just how much they care for you the customer.
The best thing is that this site was made using code freely available from other sites. It wasn't hard to do and we would not doubt it if simi liar sites come online in the next few months performing simi liar services if they don't already exist. We, however; are out of the barcode business.
Re-Code.com will continue to exist as a live web archive. We will be documenting the entire media fiasco that has occurred over the past several days which has seen us do over 40 interviews, several live radio call ins, numerous cable TV news spots, and newspaper articles all over the world.
We ask you to help build this archive. If you see a news spot - tape it, see a newspaper article - clip it. We want to document the reality of how it all went down. Contact us at press@re-code.com.
We are still doing interviews and now more than ever are encouraging journalists and reporters to publicize the corporate strongarm tactics. Interviews, and videos are still available for news services only by contacting press@re-code.com.
View our current collection of Re-Code.com sightings. Help us make this grow.
Our Formal Apology:
Sorry Wal Mart©, Price Chopper©, and Kellogg's©. We hope we didn't cost you any hard earned cash.
You know we never actually switched any barcodes and we have the footage to prove it!
This service was brought to you by the members of the Carbon Defense League and Conglomco.org.
We would like to thank Daemons of the Damned for their undying support during a difficult time. If you have a project that needs hosting, please contact DOD.net. They are on your side.
On another Note: I was asked and will be attending the hearings here in Georgia where the Government stopped the Convention Operator for having speakers that were going to talk about an insecure Transaction Server that contains all of the student information for a Georgia Technology College.
http://subscriber.anandtech.com/messagepost.cfm?catid=38&postaction=post
Topic Title OT: Georgia in the media again... Glad I don't live there.
Date Posted: 04/17/2003 3:49 PM
Posted By: LANMAN (Platinum Member)
Conference Blocked By Court Order
(Just FYI)
--LANMAN
-------------------------
More Power!! More Power!!
BEOWULF Project - Please take a look!!
Don't roll the dice, if you can't play the game. (WC-III -- LANMAN4TA)
"Whenever you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
04/17/2003 15:50:48|U
Date Posted: 04/17/2003 4:06 PM
Posted By: dmcowen674 (Elite Member)
Quote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by: LANMAN
Conference Blocked By Court Order
(Just FYI)
--LANMAN
This was the Conference I spoke at.
This is the first time the Government has shifted from going after the message makers to the going after the Confernece Operator. If this is successful it would be the end of all Technology based Conferences at least in the United States.
-------------------------
Join the online family that saved my life - Team Anandtech
See the story here and make sure you have permission in WRITING if not your computer
Buy & Own Your Own DSL Modem of your choice
Date Posted: 04/17/2003 4:10 PM
Posted By: MoFunk (Platinum Member)
What they heck is the problem with Georgia? Do they think that if no one talks about this stuff, it'll all just go away? Bunch of sucks that run that place!
-------------------------
[ MoRig ] [ 62596 - Never Forget! ] [ Join TeAm Anandtech Seti ]
Date Posted: 04/17/2003 4:46 PM
Posted By: jliechty (Diamond Member)
If that's the same thing that Dave linked to in his thread, then I find it quite ironic that they claim to invoke the DMCA as a basis for their demands, when the DMCA (AFAIK, but IANAL) specifically has a clause that states that reverse engineering for the purpose of compatibility is allowed.
Edit: Do not think that I am approving of the DMCA; that couldn't be farther from the truth. Rather, I think the DMCA takes second place for the Official Piece of Sh!t Legislation award; the CBDTPA gets first, IMHO.
-------------------------
Rigs | Team AnandTech Folding@Home | Anti-TCPA
04/17/2003 16:50:21|U
Date Posted: 04/17/2003 4:52 PM
Posted By: RaySun2Be (Elite Member)
Great. Don't fix the gaping security holes in your software, just sue those who make the security holes public. Maybe if no one talks about it, the problem doesn't exist.
If I was a user of Blackboard's software, I certainly would want to know if there were any major security issues.
Quote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What they heck is the problem with Georgia?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Their poorly written and vague anti-hacking laws suck, which allows this kind of crap.
-------------------------
They can take away my job, but they CAN'T take away my sense of humor!
Join Team Anandtech and put those spare CPU Cycles to work!
Own Your Own DSL Modem!
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