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Uncategorized Sunday, January 8th 2012 at 11:56 am

Android App Helps You Avoid SOPA-Supporting Products

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While the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, continues to snake its way through Congress, some citizens are attempting to take their concerns to the companies which support the legislation. For instance, a recent boycott of GoDaddy resulted in a surprising about-face for the company. However, the designers of the Boycott SOPA app for Android want to take it a step further. Using the app, shoppers can quickly weed out products from companies which have thrown their support behind SOPA. 

Currently available for free, the app hopes to gain the attention of SOPA supporting companies by going after their wallets. Users simply have to scan the barcode on the item they wish to purchase, and the app tells you whether or not the product comes from a SOPA supporter. Given how long and varied the list of supporters is, the app can take the guesswork out of your boycott.

For those concerned about security, the app’s creators report that Boycott SOPA only needs access to an internet connection and will not transmit personal information when the app queries its online product database. However, the app does require the installation of ZXing, an open-source barcode reader. Unfortunately the app is not infallible, with only 800 brands and products in its database. However, the creators say that they will continue to update the list over time.

It’s easy to dismiss a project like this; with so many enormous companies throwing their weight behind this legislation, avoiding their products is going to be an enormous chore. However, this app suggests that people are upset about SOPA enough to give it a try.

(Boycott SOPA via The Next Web)

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  • Denis Fogarty

    To anyone reading this, ParkerSmith91′s comment is a scam. They will tell you it’s free, but will require credit card details for, quote on quote, “handling and shipping”. They will charge you for “future purchases” which you did not approve of as you must tell them you don’t want the stuff before they stop charging you, and even then they probably will. Anything posted with News Daily 7 is a scam, and if an offer you see anywhere on the internet looks too good to be true, then it probably is.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah thanks for letting others know.  It’s pretty common scam.  Report them on the flag.

  • Max Eddy

    Thanks, I think we’ve cleared out most them now.

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  • http://twitter.com/CyberPhoneix ChrisNSide

    You didn’t actually read the bill did you. Here’s the breakdown…

    In
    short, any producer of content that can be considered to have a
    copyright (pretty much anything) can request to have a site shut down if
    someone find any copyright infringement on any site anywhere, or
    anything that in some way facilitates copyright infringement, or
    anything links to anything that can be deemed copyright infringement. In
    other words one link on Facebook to a site that can be considered to
    have copyright infringement gets all of Facebook shut down without
    notice (legally). Or if someone posts a picture that someone else
    created, your entire site can be shut down (legally). They erase your
    DNS entirely.  

    What counts as a copyright you ask? Anything that can be touched, referred to, bought, sold, pretty much anything… for example

    poems,
    medicine, plays, paintings, dances, musicals, photographs, audio
    recordings, sculptures, software, radio and television broadcasts,
    industrial designs, maps, recipes, graphic design, logos, charts,
    journal articles,  blogs, children’s monster drawings, tweets, status
    updates, short stories, song lyrics, emails, and anything else
    written/created/or otherwise produced anywhere by anyone at anytime.

    Wanting
    to stop copyright infringement isn’t such a bad thing (just really
    lame). The danger comes in the vagueness of the bill’s wording. It can
    be interpreted in any way. When government and individuals have the
    power to shut down websites for any reason, it ends with really bad
    results. But hey maybe this time corporations and governments wont abuse
    absolute power over the freedom of speech online, ya never know.

  • http://blog.conceptualbrains.com/ Android

    SOPA has been established as a regulatory body but some recent cases made big companies against it and now they are planning to boycott the SOPA…