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Corporate Fallout Detector 267

Posted by michael from the ideas-whose-time-has-come dept.
BandwidthHog writes "MIT student shows off Corporate Fallout Detector. Acts and looks kinda like a Geiger counter, but it's a UPC scanner with an internal, updateable database of corporate misdeeds, with both Pollution and Corporate Ethics modes. I want one."
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Corporate Fallout Detector More

Corporate Fallout Detector

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  • In case of slashdotting (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    here is a mirror of the movie [fuckingpimp.com]

  • A New Corporate Vision. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jonsey ( 593310 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:16AM (#6550418) Journal
    So... I scan a product. :: beep beep ::

    And I get free, instant, corporation level blackmail?

    Sweet.

  • An interesting first step (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TopShelf ( 92521 ) * on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:18AM (#6550440) Homepage Journal
    While this kid makes a funny point, one thing that's missing is the fact that a UPC barcode only links to the manufacturer or wholesale distributor of the finished good. Taking the trail back into the supply chain to contract manufacturers and raw materials suppliers would probably yield more enviro-nastiness than you'd find in consumer-oriented companies.

    • No, it can work (Score:3, Interesting)

      by delmoi ( 26744 )
      It tells you what product you have in your hands. All you have to do is the requisit research into the product. So if I scan an XBox the thing could figure the fallout from Microsoft and flextronics and any other companies who's products are inside. If I scan a copy of Windows XP, it would give me just the fallout from MS.

      • Re:No, it can work (Score:3, Informative)

        by TopShelf ( 92521 ) *
        And just how would it make the link to all those component suppliers? While some high-profile deals are public knowledge (i.e. Flextronics), most are private contracts between companies.
    • Do they get more beeps for Nabisco enslaving elves and converting them to E.L. Fudge cookies, or extra beeps for being owned by RJ Reynolds/Phillip Morris cancer stick makers who also own the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese company my kids love so much? Having a Morse Code type interface is also pretty stupid.

      Doesn't matter I suppose. It's not like I could stop buying Oreos.

  • It's a good thing that Enron and Worldcom products can't be barcoded, because the thing would explode if it scanned any of those...

  • Jumpin' Jehosophat! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Violet Null ( 452694 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:18AM (#6550445)
    The guy in that video was handling that Diet Coke bottle and that 3M spray can without any sort of protection at all, and those readings were through the roof!

    I give him two to four hours, tops. Oh, what a brave sacrifice for research. I hope his suffering isn't prolonged needlessly.
  • Has anyone seen OpenGov MIT Project [mit.edu] ? What is it with all this uncovering business, can't the creatures at MIT leave our act of a society alone?

  • Who shaves the barber? (Score:4, Funny)

    by AndroidCat ( 229562 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:19AM (#6550457) Homepage
    So, what happens if you scan one of these detectors with another detector?

  • Why not scan MIT? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Thinkit3 ( 671998 ) * on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:21AM (#6550480)
    Supposedly so important that they only need be known by their initials. So do they have a monopoly on math and science? Or can any other school (or individual person) develop a sufficient weapon to wipe this "MIT" off the map?

  • Google Cache (Score:5, Informative)

    by wawannem ( 591061 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:25AM (#6550517) Homepage
    Does really seem to show much, but the original site /.'d...

    google cache [216.239.51.104]

    <article text>
    Corporate Fallout Detector

    The Corporate Fallout Detector reads barcodes off of consumer products, and makes a noise similar to a gieger counter of varying intensity based on the social or environmental record of the company that produces the product.

    I came up with the numbers by correlating several online bardcode databases with a pollution database and a corporate ethics database. Of course the data produced by this approach is subjective and inaccurate at times, but that's part of why I built it: It's difficult for consumers trace corporate actions through the maze of corporate ownership, and find who is really responsible. This helps create an environment where consumers have difficulty making informed purchasing decisions.... without the use of "special tools"...

    The case is made from a discarded steel computer case, cut on a waterjet cutter and bent with a metal brake. Inside is a SaJe microcontroller and a Wasp barcode scanner.

    Click on the thumbnails at left for larger images.
    </article text>

  • MIT = Shogun of the Dark? (Score:3, Funny)

    by cubyrop ( 647235 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:25AM (#6550519)
    After looking at this and all other articles pertaining to MIT generating massive amounts of ingenuity and vigilant social intelligence such as this bizarre device, my question is: how many more years will pass until MIT's home-grown nerd-mercenaries release their top-secret 9 Android Devils of Cambridge on the earth, therein enslaving man in a gruesome and enlightening web of technology, power and fashion emergencies?

    • Re:MIT = Shogun of the Dark? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by EvilTwinSkippy ( 112490 ) <yoda AT etoyoc DOT com> on Monday July 28, 2003 @12:27PM (#6551548) Homepage Journal
      Carbon based life form, you do not comprehend the subtle ways in which this transformation has already taken place.

      You get your money from a machine. Machines dispense your cola. Machines count your money, pay your bills, and gently remind you that your ass is due in a meeting 15 minutes from now.

      In the Tao Te Ching, Loa Tzu refers to the idea ruler as follows:

      Chapter 17

      The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;
      The next best are loved and praised;
      The next are feared;
      The next despised:
      They have no faith in their people,
      And their people become unfaithful to them.

      When the best rulers achieve their purpose
      Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.

  • Barcode this (Score:4, Funny)

    by Sogol ( 43574 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:30AM (#6550563) Journal
    Thats great. Another MIT dweeb attempts to take the moral high ground. Meanwhile MIT sit on an entire Class A address block, as entire countries are forced to switch to IPv6. Got a scanner for that fallout?
  • I can't remember where it was -- might have been an interview -- but he envisioned something like a UPC scanner for your Palm Pilot. You'd point it at stuff in the grocery store and get a short summary of the good and bad about it. He said something like, "How would it affect people's buying habits if it said 'sure, these peas are 60 cents cheaper, but they'll give your kids liver cancer'?"
    • I for one would not want to know. The amount of people who would still buy those peas would be saddening
    • You mean kinda like this [rose-hulman.edu]?

      Developed by some people I know (well, only Anna actually) who graduated one year after me. It doesn't give you an environmental lecture about the product you're scanning, but I guess it very well could. Aimed at the blind to help them with shopping. Actually, make it remotely possible...not easy to tell 200 different soups apart, or cereal boxes, when you're blind.
    • Sort of off topic, but here in Germany some folks are planning a service that uses a scanner connected to your mobile phone to scan the barcode, send the code to a server via SMS, and it sends a reply that tells you where you can get the product cheaper.

      Unfortunately the gadget doesn't exist yet, at the moment people can input the code only manually, though the system also searches using the product name (just type in "Philips 19" monitor", for example).

      Saw it on TV, the hosts claim they managed to bargai
    • You mean like a cue-cat?

    • Include product reviews in this device... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      How about a scanner with a database of product reviews from various sources? You scan an item at Home Depot, Fry's or whatever and up pops what Consumer Reports, PCWorld, etc. have to say about the item. Ever see some interesting electronic gimmick that looked really good, then you didn't buy it because you weren't sure if it was as good as it looked? Wouldn't you like to know if a reviewer said it was flawed, overpriced, or had a miserable user interface? Or if reviewers said it was a great product?

      O

  • Mine blew up. (Score:5, Funny)

    by cyclist1200 ( 513080 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:34AM (#6550605) Homepage
    I built a corporate fallout detector, scanned a copy of SCO OpenServer, and the damned detector blew up!

  • here we go again (Score:4, Insightful)

    by deanj ( 519759 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:39AM (#6550629)
    I bet it would beep and buzz at nearly every single product out there. Someone, somewhere, considers just about any product you can name un-ethical, and they are PISSED about it.

    Any company that uses meat of any kind would be on PETAs list, all energy companies would be on the list, any company that uses plastics would be on the list (evil petroleum used to make plastics, you know), and the lists go on and on.

    • Re:here we go again (Score:5, Insightful)

      by femto ( 459605 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @11:03AM (#6550846) Homepage
      What one really needs is a scanner which one programs with one's OWN ethics. It then measures against these ethics and beeps accordingly.

      Not sure how one goes about 'programming' ethics though. I imagine delegating your ethical decisions to a beeper also raises a whole lot of new ethical questions!

      • Re:here we go again (Score:3, Insightful)

        by hey! ( 33014 )
        I agree that the user should be able to program his own ethical parameters in. However, almost equally important would be to do a good job at scaling the results.

        Basically, ethics like everything else in the corporate world tends to reach an equillibrium determined by financial considerations; on a scale of 1-100 of badness, most companies would probably bunch up around the 80 point mark. The distribution is likely to be, not normal, but log-normal. Therefore a linear scale is probably too sensitive at

      • Re:here we go again (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Blondie-Wan ( 559212 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @12:35PM (#6551617) Homepage
        Better yet, why not just have the scanner report all the potential troubling ethical data known, and let the user decide based on that? Let's say Bob doesn't give a flying handshake about animal rights, but corporate accounting scandals and the like concern him deeply; if he goes and scans the products he considers buying, and the scanner provides him with info about companies' animal rights records and financial doings, he can choose to just ignore the animal stuff entirely and concentrate on what he wants. That way there's little/no risk of having an inadequate filter setting inadvertently withholding data Bob would like to have.

      • Re:here we go again (Score:4, Interesting)

        by plover ( 150551 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @12:43PM (#6551689) Homepage Journal
        Hey, I like the suggestion.

        A list where you tick off your preferred political and social leanings (or even a questionaire to help you determine them.)

        That way I wouldn't be tempted to buy an Interstate Battery for my vehicle because it was made by religious zealots, or drink Snapple because they donate to pro-life causes; but I would be OK buying the package of napkins because the company that produces them makes official targets for the NRA.

        And the PETA folks could choose not to buy Nike shoes because of the leather, the green folks would be sh!t out of luck trying to buy anything because the plastic packaging came from Amoco, etc, etc, etc.

        Of course, widespread use of this would lead to widespread fraud, where corporate hackers start attacking the watchdog databases trying to convince users that their brand was made from organic soy but the other guy's brand was made from ground-up third-world children.

      • A simple program that I used to toy around with as a kid was called "Animal" - it asked you a series of questions to figure out what kind of animal you were thinking of. If it got it wrong you'd add one more question to specifiy the animal you were thinking of... perhaps you could do something simialr to program what a person thoguht of ethics:

        EthicBuilder> Do you care if animals are hurt?
        N
        EthicBuilder> Even if they are little bunnies?
        N
        EthicBuilder> Oh really, here are some pictures. How about n
      • MORALS are relative.
        Ethics are not. Ethics are empirical.
      • What one really needs is a scanner which one programs with one's OWN ethics. It then measures against these ethics and beeps accordingly.


        That's great, but how long can I live if all it lets me buy are Apple computers, tentacle pr0n, Pocky sticks and RC Cola?

    • Right, I know, I know. You can't beat 'em, so join 'em...Do you always give in so easily?

  • The data is "somewhat inaccurate" *BUT* you want people to use it as the do-all end-all of consumer evaluation? Heh. Fat chance. Who guarantees the database is not full of this guy's issues with the companies that set the sensor off? (New coke was a *good* idea... how could you drop it? Let's see how you like being corporate depleted uranium!). I really dislike this "dumbing down" of the consumer... people trusting the device could be tricked into believing bad things of good companies and vice-versa.

    Some

  • In other news... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Viceice ( 462967 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:50AM (#6550744)
    "MIT student shows off Imminent Slashdoting Detector. Acts and looks kinda like a Geiger counter, but it's a packet shaper with an internal, updateable database of slashdot users, with both Geek and Troll modes. He needs one."

  • Cool! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm going to set this right next to the key to my electric car, my organically grown bean sprouts and my copy of Gore's "Earth in the balance." It should round out my "Liberal with too much time on his/her hands" tool kit nicely.
  • The article is /.ed but a google search implies that the ethics component is just simple number scale. So what if my ethics are different than the guy coming up with the scale? For example I like companies that make health care products, like new drugs. They generally help us live longer for less money than surgery or other proceedures. But Christian Scientists have a different view. And people who think we should test products on humans instead of animals might also object some but not all of those produc
    • So what if my ethics are different than the guy coming up with the scale?

      What if you had a simple bar-code peripheral you could hook up to your wi-fi PDA? (Combining a couple of ideas from earlier posts.) Ideally, it would be built-in; have it dual-function as a laser pointer.

      Anyway, then you could set up your PDA to query based on that UPC. You might disagree with PETA and the Christian Scientists, but like Consumer Reports and the Catholics. Set up an open rating protocol and you're set.

      Then, of cou

      • Then, of course, you have to worry about the privacy implications. If the store is providing the wi-fi access, can/should they monitor what people are scanning? At the very least, this is an interesting project that raises interesting questions.
        Indeed - imagine entering a store with the scanner... Minutes later a couple of men wearing black glasses appear all around you... Busy consumers don't hear your screams... Another terrorist (you) bites the dust...
      • There are lots [symbol.com] of products [socketcom.com] (yes I know it's down but that's their website) that integrate barcode scanners into PDA equipment. The dual-function-as-laser-pointer feature I have not yet seen....
        We (along with many other retail chains I am sure) are building UPC lookup via barcode PDA applications as we speak. They are rather trivial - the hardest part being designing a good UI
    • What the concept needs is a database by issue. For each issue, companies are given a score from 0.0 (demonic) to 1.0 (angelic). Issue databases would be maintained by different groups. Issues would have names like 'PETA' (no animals were harmed in the making of this product), 'kosher' (if animals were killed, it was done humanely, and you're not eating anything made from swine or snails), 'gambling', 'pro-life', 'pro-choice', etc. Users would subscribe to and weight issues of their choice.

      In addition

      • BTW, how does one go about testing the rightness of an ethical standard? Or is it an arbitrary individual choice? If the latter, is there any good reason why anyone should regard Saddam or Bush or Clinton as 'immoral'?

        Depends on your own personal philosophy. If you're religious, then it's easy, you've probably got some standard set for you based on your religions teachings. If you're not religious you still have options. Some people are Ethical Relativist which means that they believe ethics are not absol

  • Bad design (Score:4, Insightful)

    by xyote ( 598794 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:56AM (#6550787)
    This need to be designed using stealth technology. Stores can and do restrict behavior on their premises (it's private property). They won't allow behavior that they believe is not in their best interests. So if you are going to design products for today's brave new world, you are going to have to avoid unwarranted assumptions like free speech, individual rights, etc...
    • This product isn't neccesarily bad for the store. If the store stocks two competing items beside each other and the detector doesn't like the cheaper one, the shopper might pick up the more expensive one (which likely has a larger profit margin for the store).

  • Adbuster's greenscan (Score:4, Informative)

    by morcheeba ( 260908 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @10:58AM (#6550800) Journal
    Adbusters [adbusters.org] is working on a design for an opensource version of this [adbusters.org]. It appeared in the previous issue & they've gotten some feedback.
    • While I personally agree with many of Adbusters arguments and such - I think that often times they, and most activists, go about things the wrong way. For instance, how does graffiti help anything? It only makes people and property owners mad, and most people don't even pay attention or understand. At most it is a rallying call for people who already know and agree - but does little to help the cause.

      I find that extreme behavior or unpopular behavior hurts causes. Instead of boycotting, protesting, and
      • I've been following adbusters for a number of years... I browse the magazines at borders, etc., but I agree that they go about things the wrong way.

        One of their adverts describes how much an average american consumes versus the consumption rates of 3rd world nations .. it's an interesting statistic, but it so oversimplifies things that it's useless trolling... if you follow their argument, then you'll probably find that americans consume more because they produce more (i have to buy a computer, but I can d

      • Re:Adbuster's greenscan (Score:2, Insightful)

        by sker ( 467551 )
        I find that extreme behavior or unpopular behavior hurts causes. Instead of boycotting, protesting, and destroying - why not work to solve the problem

        Boston Tea Party? American Revolution? Extreme examples I guess...

        Instead of boycotting, protesting, and destroying - why not work to solve the problem. Opposed to sweat shops making shoes? Start a shoe shop and make better shoes. Tired of companies that pollute? Start a "clean" business, or a business helping them *not* pollute.

        Unfortunately, the reason

  • An excellent AND stupid idea. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mumblestheclown ( 569987 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @11:02AM (#6550832)
    This is an EXCELLENT idea as far as using the barcodes as a link to a company's CSR/Ethical/Environmental/etc history.

    Ths is a STUPID idea as far as summarizing the result as a single-magnitude noise from a "geiger counter." Companies are large and complex--there aren't just "bad ones" and "good ones." there are interrelationships, hidden subsidiaries, and every manner of nonsense. put another way--remember that stuff about the brent spar oil platform that was sunk? it turns out that royal dutch shell was actually right and the (largely german) "environmentalists" didn't understand the science or engineering.

    the point is that under the current 'geiger counter', you'd get, say, one loud crack for royal dutch shell. under a more nuanced system, which is what is required, you'd have some way of making your own judgement based on your own values and understandings rather than somebody elses. no, it wouldn't be perfect, but it would be a hell of a lot better than the current cartoon idea.

    (incidentally, would nike get a big "crack?" as well? because nike's labor practices are seen as either laudable or despicable, depending on who you talk to).

  • i can't find the link right now, but there was a related handheld device like this, that you could scan barcodes, and it would list political things related...it was a simple design, would do something like a google search for the product and company name, plus other words like child labor, etc

  • Interesting ... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by InfiniterX ( 12749 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @11:13AM (#6550933) Homepage
    A coworker and I were just talking about this sort of concept not a few days ago. I brought up the fact that the founder of Domino's Pizza (as opposed to the Domino's corporation itself, which is not true), has made significant contributions to Operation Rescue, which is pretty hard-line against reproductive and gay rights.

    He mentioned "what if there was a tool..." basically exactly like this -- scan a barcode, and find out if purchasing that item could potentially result in money moving to organizations that you don't support.

    Even if it's a small concept, I honestly wish such a device went further, even if only as a demonstration piece -- take it into someone's kitchen and see what social issues are represented by the food in their pantry.

  • In the open source spirit... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by stomv ( 80392 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @11:13AM (#6550937) Homepage
    As long as the code is open, one could set his or her own parameters (In this case, reals from 0 to 1).

    * Don't care much about animal cruelty: set the parameter to .05.
    * Concerned about consumption of foreign oil: set the parameter to .85
    * Somewhat worried about obnoxiously high (CEO salary)/(average employee salary): set the parameter to .4.

    Bring in the databases that you trust, and weigh them accordingly. Exclude information provided by folks you don't believe. Whatever. Each person could configure his or her own rating system, in an attempt to model his or her own levels of "anti-goodness".

    Don't poo-poo the idea. Embrace it, and it's configurability.

  • "I want one..." (Score:3, Interesting)

    by PSaltyDS ( 467134 ) on Monday July 28, 2003 @11:56AM (#6551291) Journal
    Which, interpreted, means: "I want someone else to tell me who to like/dislike."

    Q: Why does the web-phone NOT tell you the nearest restraunt to your current location?

    A: Because only certain restraunts have PAID the phone company to be available that way.

    In other words, if you let someone else compile a database and then use it to make decisions, you give them the power to adjust that database in accordance with THEIR AGENDA. If you know and support the specific group and their ideals, that can be a good thing. But if you don't know how many groups are involved? How did they make their decisions? How was it keyed in? What are all their agendas?

    This kind of thing comes under the heading of believing everything you hear/read/download...

    It was a typically British birth... I was three at the time... They had a strike in the maternity ward... I came out in sympathy.
    I was destined to be an actor. The day I was born I stood up and took a bow. Really. When the doctor slapped me, I thought it was applause!

    Bobe Hope - 1903-2003
  • It is quite fitting that a Slashdotter named "BandwidthHog" would post a story about something that ends up slashdotting their server.

    I guess it's not just a clever name after all.
  • Doesn't the detector yell at?

    Just about everything we buy is made by someone who backstabs, double-crosses, drives down wages, busts unions, pillages the environment, and/or is involved in political shenanigans.

    Oh wait, I just read the implementation. He just generated a beep based on the MD5 hash of the first 7 digits of the barcode. Clever.

  • Here are a few questions (Score:4, Interesting)

    by gaudior ( 113467 ) <{marktjohns} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday July 28, 2003 @02:44PM (#6552772) Homepage
    1. Who determines what goes into the database? What definitions are used to determine 'Corporate Mis-deeds'? Are they using perhaps successful criminal prosecutions, or vague charges by disgruntled whistle-blowers?
    2. Will this database also include corporations who support anti-family, anti-morality organizations like Planned Parenthood or the United Way?

    Of course, I will be modded down as flamebait, but it bears noting that not everyone around here is on the Liberal side of the aisle. Some of us who care about Corporate responsibility want to see these concerns addressed across the board, not just in support of liberal causes.

  • Left-wing, hand-wringing hysteria in a can. Plus it saves the users the terrible bother of making up their own minds.

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