Wal-Mart forces shutdown of site offering substitute barcodes

A satirical site that invited visitors to print barcodes as stickers for attaching to and lowering the price of products when shopping Mart has been forced to shut down its service following legal threats from Wal-Mart and Kellogs.17 Apr 2003

According to its operators, Re-code.com was intended partly as a joke, but also to make a statement against corporate fraud and deception.

It singled out Wal-Mart, which boasted revenues last year of $246.5 billion, as a prime target, citing what it saw as the real reasons behind the world's largest retailer's low prices, such as its alleged anti-union stance and bully-tactics for competing with small retailers.

Following legal threats, the unnamed operators decided to pull the plug. But while they say they are out of the barcode business, they claim victory as a result of the media coverage for their cause.

See: www.re-code.com