Re: Free CueCat Device uses Barcodes to launch web sites

["David Berg" <dberg -at- dmpnet -dot- com>]

> In today's _Boston Globe_, technology reporter Hiawatha Bray (what a cool
> sounding name) reports on CuCat, a infra red scanning device from Digital
> Convergence Corp (DC), which when plugged into a computer, can read a bar
> code and then automatically launch a browser to open to a web page/site
> associated with that bar code. DC is giving the CueCats away for now,
> seeding the market Bray calls it. You can pick one up at your local Radio
> Shack while supplies last, or have one sent to you for $10 shipping and
> handling from DC. Bray reports that so far the codes in circulation tend
to
> be advertising extensions.

There's a reason they can afford to give away the CueCat for free; they
collect information on each user that registers the product and track that
with each time you use the device. For example, if you use the CueCat to
scan a baby toy, they then know that you have a baby, or are at least a
consumer with an interest in baby goods.

I read an article on ZDNet about the CueCat a few weeks ago. One reader
responded that shortly after he registered his CueCat he received an email
from Digital Convergence that their database had been compromised (hacked),
and that his personal information might have been exposed to outside
parties.

I'd imagine you can do a quick search on ZDNet or the EFF to find more
information about the CueCat.

My apologies to Eric for the OT nature of this post, but I felt like I had
to respond to this post.

David