<nettime> CueJack

["nettime's_anonymizer" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

CueJack - a free software product for the promotional
CueCat barcode scanner, is available at

http://www.rtmark.com/cuejack/
Created by digital artist Cue P. Doll and distributed
through RTMark, CueJack allows consumers to scan product barcodes
to learn "alternative information" about corporations.

The CueCat scanner was shipped last fall to subscribers of
Wired and Forbes magazines and is distributed free of charge at Radio
Shack stores in the US. Using CueCat's bundled software, consumers
scan UPC codes on products and are whisked directly to company
webpages depicting tidily packaged images of the company and product.
A "software parody," CueJack allows this same consumerist scanning
technique to instead whisk users to webpages containing information
such as boycotts against the manufacturer, corporate misbehavior,
or company profits. The information CueJack displays comes from
sources all over the web.

In addition to digging for information on scanned products, CueJack
also researches CueCat itself. CueJack displays pages
detailing the electronic privacy issues surrounding CueCat and the legal
actions taken by CueCat manufacturer Digital Convergence against Linux
developers.

In a recent interview, Digital Convergence told Wired News that the company
is
interested in having Cue P. Doll develop CueJack as a plugin for the
next version of the bundled CueCat software - that is of course, if she will
modify CueJack's unflattering treatment of Digital Convergence.

Originally released for Windows only, CueJack is now available
for both Windows and Linux. CueJack is open source and is distributed
under the GPL.

CueJack:
http://www.rtmark.com/cuejack/

Wired News article:
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,43154,00.html

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