Number 214 - March 2001

Cue-Cat
Excerpt from "Seen In The News" By Barbara Kreiss from Amador Computer User Group's Bytes & Bites
There is a cat fight going on about a cat-shaped scanner called a "CueCat" being given out by companies such as Radio Shack, Forbes and Wired magazines to their customers. The maker, Digital Convergence, began shipping more than 1 million of the scanners in hopes of introducing customers to a new technology that bridges the printed word with the Web. By installing the little hand scanner to your computer, customers can swipe bar codes either on products or within printed ads in magazines or catalogs to go to related Web sites with more information. Users must first go to the Digital Convergence Website and register personal information such as name, email address, gender, age range and ZIP code.     "Whenever you scan something, your browser will make a connection with Digital Convergence's site, report the bar code, your device number and a token that identifies you as an individual." a spokesman at an Internet security consultant group called Interhack said. Privacy advocates have expressed concerns about the possibility.     Last month, a security breach at Digital Convergence caused 140,000 consumer names, email addresses and zip codes to be exposed. "For the people that registered via our Web site...a hacker exploited a known error in the data script and was able to look into the data file," said Dave Mathews, vice president of new product development at Dallas-based DigitalConvergence. "From there, they could extrapolate the name, email address, age range, gender and Zip code of new members." DigitalConvergence took immediate steps to close the hole, and sent details about the problem and $10 gift certificates to the compromised customers. Similar problems at companies such as Eve.com, IKEA's catalog order site and Amazon.com have occurred within the last few months.	The fact that data has been compromised due to security breaches and the "appearance" of customer tracking by DigitalConvergence has some privacy groups concerned. Researchers say each scanner's unique ID number could be used to trace the actions of an individual user and create a detailed database on what the consumer is interested in, along with their email address and personal information they have registered. A DigitalConvergence spokesman said however, that the company is not tracking this type of information. He said customer registration information is retained only for the purposes of general demographics. "There is a unique ID within the CueCat so that we can see that some Cats came from Forbes and some came from Wired," said Dave Mathews, vice president of new product development at DigitalConvergence. "(But) individualized serial numbers are not designed to track individual behavior." Privacy advocates counter that the company has not adequately disclosed its practices.     Meanwhile, inventive programmers have found a way to use the CueCat without registering:     "No need to use their software... Cat Kit 32 on: http://members.aol.com/powercntrl will decode the output of the scanner in any 32-bit windows application and it doesn't invade your privacy..."[This is free software]. "Real Uses For The CAT..."     Check out www.readerware.com, a product that has been around for a while and now supports the CueCat, with no tracking. Want to catalog your library? Swipe the bar codes, it does the rest. They actually have Linux support too. It is the CueCat software that is doing the tracking, avoid their software and you have a useful device with a great price. [This software is $40, but you can try it free for 30 days.]     Get your kitty-cat with a purchase at your local Radio Shack.
Number 214 - March 2001