Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
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Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
Please boost for more replies. Thanks.@JoBlakely If I trust the source, I use them. A lot of colleges and universities seem to rely on them. I encounter them often as a student and a librarian. Museums and other businesses (restaurants, parking lots, etc.) use them a lot as well. But out in the wild, if I just saw a random code, I wouldn’t interact with it.
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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
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 less risk of mistyping and accessibility for people struggling typing.
@weddige thank you. I figured there were accessibility benefits, and even maybe less risk of going to the wrong or phishing site by accident.
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Do you use QR codes or do you avoid them?
Please boost for more replies. Thanks.@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!
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@JoBlakely Of course. Anything is better than typing in a URL. I own an English school in Japan and using QR codes to help my students access what they need has been a really game changer.
Also, I have a QR code on a poster in the front window of my school that interested people can scan to access our website.
@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
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Yeah, I'm *really* cautious, in public. -
@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
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Yeah, I'm *really* cautious, in public.@deborahh
I heard about that too. Yikes.
@softicecreamlesley -
@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.
