New App Lets You Boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto And More - scan shop cart ...

[RKP5637]

Great !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New App Lets You Boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto And More By Scanning Your Shopping Cart

In her keynote speech at last year’s annual Netroots Nation gathering, Darcy Burner pitched a seemingly simple idea to the thousands of bloggers and web developers in the audience. The former Microsoft MSFT +0.67% programmer and congressional candidate proposed a smartphone app allowing shoppers to swipe barcodes to check whether conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch were behind a product on the shelves.

Burner figured the average supermarket shopper had no idea that buying Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper or Dixie cups meant contributing cash to Koch Industries through its subsidiary Georgia-Pacific. Similarly, purchasing a pair of yoga pants containing Lycra or a Stainmaster carpet meant indirectly handing the Kochs your money (Koch Industries bought Invista, one of the world’s largest fiber and textiles companies, in 2004 from DuPont).

At the time, Burner created a mock interface for her app, but that’s as far as she got. She was waiting to find the right team to build out the back end, which could be complicated given often murky corporate ownership structures.

She wasn’t aware that as she delivered her Netroots speech, a group of developers was hard at work on Buycott, an even more sophisticated version of the app she proposed.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/05/14/new-app-lets-you-boycott-koch-brothers-monsanto-and-more-by-scanning-your-shopping-cart/

[onehandle]

1. Got it. Lawrence talked about it last night. nt

[Duer 157099]

2. So the Koch's will just have to buy up everything now

Then what will we do?

But in the meantime, yeah, let's make them sweat.

[redqueen]

3. Ha!

Brilliant

[cui bono]

4. Not finding it in the Play Store or Amazon Appstore. Is this iPhone only?

That would be sad since that would only reach less than half of users. Hopefully they port it over soon, or did I miss it?

[RKP5637]

8. Don't know, just passing along what someone sent to me. n/t

[RevStPatrick]

5. Unfortunately, it crashes my android phone.

I really want to like it, but it messes everything up!

[cui bono]

6. Hm... Oh, I found a tweet about bugs in Android version.

Buycott ‏@BuycottApp 15 May

Sorry we had to pull the Android app from the store because we won't have time to fix the bugs for a couple weeks
Expand

[RevStPatrick]

7. Interesting...

Thanks!

[OnionPatch]

9. I used it today.

I thought it was very cool and I plan to keep using it. I hope it catches on and hits those a-holes in the wallet. It was a bummer to see how much money I've been handing over to companies I despise without realizing it. It was enlightening though. I know now I'm going to have to start shopping elsewhere for some things.

[RKP5637]

10. Yeah, it's easy to be funding a-hole companies and individuals, and

not even realize it ... Now, I'm wondering if the a-hole companies and individuals will start pressuring congress to pass legislation outlawing what is basically an organized collective response against these jerks. Often the line is quite blurred between a-hole companies and individuals ... and congress. If it cuts into someones $$$$$ wallet, one can be sure TPTB will stop it by any means they can. ... and 'we the people' will come last.

[OnionPatch]

11. I had that thought, too.

If this catches on, the mega-corps are not going to like it at all. Who knows what they'll do to try and stop it. I wouldn't put much past them.