Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?

[clutch_lever@mastodon.social]

@JoBlakely i think it depends entirely on the context.... at a restaurant? fuck no! i'm with the boomers on that one, but to login to steam or jellyfin? hell yeah!

[deborahh@cosocial.ca]

@softicecreamlesley @JoBlakely I can see using them inside a closed context like a school. Very convenient.

But in public?

The local bikeshare uses QR codes to access the bikes. But of course someone has hacked that by putting stickers over the real QR codes, so people actually pay someone else .
Yeah, I'm *really* cautious, in public.

[joblakely@mastodon.social]

@deborahh
I heard about that too. Yikes.
@softicecreamlesley

[softicecreamlesley@famichiki.jp]

@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.

[mgorny@mastodon.com.pl]

@JoBlakely, does using a barcode scanner to "copy" QR codes to open parcel machines count?

[joblakely@mastodon.social]

@mgorny no. I don’t think so.

[len@nyan.network]

@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@mastodon.social]

@len yeah. I’d do both regardless.

[badgerdad@kind.social]

@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.

[joblakely@mastodon.social]

@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.

[polinamials@mastodon.social]

@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

[gavin57@toot.wales]

@JoBlakely I’d rather a plain-text URL so I can see where it leads.

[sasutina13@lgbtqia.space]

@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.

[kanamauna@sauropods.win]

@JoBlakely

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.

[sasutina13@lgbtqia.space]

@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.

[bolomkxxviii@mastodon.social]

@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...

[tsade@gts.curiouscabbit.social]

@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.

[mikal@sfba.social]

@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.

[joblakely@mastodon.social]

@Mikal good point.
@weddige @Frantasaur

[staringatclouds@mstdn.social]

@JoBlakely I can't read a QR code, so I have no idea where it will go

I can read a URL though