[Buycott] itself is the work of one Los Angeles-based 26-year-old freelance programmer, Ivan Pardo, who has devoted the last 16 months to Buycott. “It’s been completely bootstrapped up to this point,” he said. Martinez and another friend have pitched in to promote the app.
Pardo’s handiwork is available for download on iPhone or Android, making its debut in iTunes and Google Play in early May. You can scan the barcode on any product and the free app will trace its ownership all the way to its top corporate parent company, including conglomerates like Koch Industries.
So, basically, you can find out via this app that some company likes to invest in cheap energy or improved crop yields. You will not find out via this app that the typical user of Buycott is quite hypocritically happy to use an electronic device made in a Chinese sweatshop – but then, we already knew that. Continue reading Use Buycott on *your* sweatshop smartphone to identify corporate malefactors!