Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
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@deborahh
I heard about that too. Yikes.
@softicecreamlesley@deborahh It depends on where you live. That happened to my friend in Britian but I’ve never heard of it happening in Japan. In any case, it sounds like how @JoBlakely would be using it would not be in a public context.
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Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
Please boost for more replies. Thanks.@JoBlakely, does using a barcode scanner to "copy" QR codes to open parcel machines count?
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@JoBlakely, does using a barcode scanner to "copy" QR codes to open parcel machines count?
@mgorny no. I don’t think so.
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It seems that so far, regardless I have to print the website in text. So is there any benefit to using a QR code?
@JoBlakely if the website is printed in text that's best case scenario! That way you know what the URL should look like when you scan it, so you don't have to type but can still compare. -
@JoBlakely if the website is printed in text that's best case scenario! That way you know what the URL should look like when you scan it, so you don't have to type but can still compare.
@len yeah. I’d do both regardless.
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Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
Please boost for more replies. Thanks.@JoBlakely my avoidance is helped by my phone not reading them, much to my wife's annoyance.
I'm curious if there's a correlation between users/non users and age.
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@JoBlakely my avoidance is helped by my phone not reading them, much to my wife's annoyance.
I'm curious if there's a correlation between users/non users and age.
@BadgerDad
In addition to almost never taking my mobile phone with me, I also have that option turned off. I turned it on once to use to test my own QR code on my business postcards, then turned it back off. I limit what has access to my camera heavily. -
@JoBlakely
I avoid them, though I do often think about pasting over QR codes in public spaces with different QR codes that lead somewhere else. In a lot of scenarios it would be quite easy to do.@artemis @JoBlakely I've seen multiple times a QR code sticker pasted over top the original. That's why I'm very cautios scanning these things I'm public
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Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
Please boost for more replies. Thanks.@JoBlakely I’d rather a plain-text URL so I can see where it leads.
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@artemis @JoBlakely I've seen multiple times a QR code sticker pasted over top the original. That's why I'm very cautios scanning these things I'm public
@polinamials @artemis @JoBlakely
Apps which hide the data in a QR code and immediately connect to whatever it points to are not anyone's friend.
At the very least, apps must show the data to the user and let the user decide whether to continue or not. And logging would be most helpful as well.
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Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
Please boost for more replies. Thanks.Rarely. Setting aside the security concerns, forcing me to waste my time fumbling with my phone and then squint and scroll trying to read a document designed to be read on a PC is a great way to make me loose interest.
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@polinamials @artemis @JoBlakely
Apps which hide the data in a QR code and immediately connect to whatever it points to are not anyone's friend.
At the very least, apps must show the data to the user and let the user decide whether to continue or not. And logging would be most helpful as well.
@polinamials @artemis @JoBlakely
I have a little pocket barcode scanner I can use to read barcodes without any actions being taken by an app. It is very useful.
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Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
Please boost for more replies. Thanks.@JoBlakely QR codes have many use cases. Most often, they are used to track users. Restaurants want to know how often you frequent their establishment and how much you spend each visit, ad agencies use them to track the "stickiness" of their ads, bad actors use them to install malware on your device. I will NEVER scan a QR code that I did not generate myself. The more you know...
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Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
Please boost for more replies. Thanks.@JoBlakely My QR code reader shows me the link so I can validate them. Some are fun but I don't trust links in the wild.
I do put them on the back of my books to go to the landing page and links to ebook vendors.
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@weddige @Frantasaur
Yeah, that was what I figured too.
You just need to have some discernment going to any site. Even then there is always some, often significant, risk.@JoBlakely @weddige @Frantasaur
Most people are unlikely to type in Cyrillic characters (as one example) when hand typing or using voice transcription to input a URL, but could easily mistake those when a phishy URL shows up when they scan the QR code.
QRs remove friction at a time when people really need friction removed, like when being tired, stressed or in a hurry, making it even less likely that someone would catch a scam URL. I think they're dangerous for general use.
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@JoBlakely @weddige @Frantasaur
Most people are unlikely to type in Cyrillic characters (as one example) when hand typing or using voice transcription to input a URL, but could easily mistake those when a phishy URL shows up when they scan the QR code.
QRs remove friction at a time when people really need friction removed, like when being tired, stressed or in a hurry, making it even less likely that someone would catch a scam URL. I think they're dangerous for general use.
@Mikal good point.
@weddige @Frantasaur -
Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
Please boost for more replies. Thanks.@JoBlakely I can't read a QR code, so I have no idea where it will go
I can read a URL though
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@Frantasaur @JoBlakely tbh. QR codes are not more of a risk than a printed URL. They have been used in demonstrations to scare people, but I would classify these demonstrations itself almost as a scam. They usually are based on the implicit assumption, that it would be more secure to copy the URL by hand, which it isn't. Do not rely on recognising phishy URLs to be safe online!
TL;DR QR codes are fine; don't trust any website you got from a flyer blindly.
@weddige @Frantasaur @JoBlakely QR codes are generally contextually located so more trustworthy - the restaurant table is a protected space, with the restaurant invested in making sure the QR codes do the right thing, for example.
A URL shortener or unrecognized, unmonitored URL or QR code in the wild real world, and even more so on the Internet, are to be treated with caution. -
@weddige @Frantasaur @JoBlakely QR codes are generally contextually located so more trustworthy - the restaurant table is a protected space, with the restaurant invested in making sure the QR codes do the right thing, for example.
A URL shortener or unrecognized, unmonitored URL or QR code in the wild real world, and even more so on the Internet, are to be treated with caution.@thesquirrelfish
Makes sense and good advice esp. re: url shorteners. -
@weddige @Frantasaur @JoBlakely QR codes are generally contextually located so more trustworthy - the restaurant table is a protected space, with the restaurant invested in making sure the QR codes do the right thing, for example.
A URL shortener or unrecognized, unmonitored URL or QR code in the wild real world, and even more so on the Internet, are to be treated with caution.@thesquirrelfish
URL shortener should be really suspect, because there is absolutely no need for one in a QR code.
@weddige @Frantasaur
