1

I came across this today: How do you feel about the increasing usage of QR codes and instead of bumping the oldie, decided to start a new one. So, I am basically answering that question here, and sharing a thing or two on top, for anyone interested. Bear with me, it seems I feel particularly chatty today.

So, I am worried, how could I not be, and, at the same time, I actually grew to like them over the years. Let me explain. I’ve made a bunch of QR codes, for work and my own amusement. A bunch. But, that’s me. As I said, I dare to say I know a lot about QR codes. I am aware of quishing and can tell what looks suspicious and what doesn’t, things like that. But my aunt Millie has no clue about these things, you know?

There is a whole big group of people who are vulnerable and fairly easy to scam, and that’s what worries me. And makes me mad. I’m not naive and am old enough to understand that anything we make can be used for good and for bad, okay. Just, it’s a pity. I think QR codes are versatile little things that come in handy for many, many different purposes.

The Toyota comment in the old thread made me think of what I read last summer, how “QR codes have revolutionized the manufacturing industry” (source). Comes to inventory, asset, and supply chain management, they are incredibly useful. And things have evolved a lot in this area - you can create QR codes in multilingual formats, for example. Have them secured with a list of advanced features. And speaking about my personal life, I created and printed one to give WiFi access to my guests; not only that no one complain, but several of my friends and family members asked me to do the same for them. That’s just one example, I have many.

Anyway, it’s wild out there, most of us could be scammed one way or another at any point, QR code scams included. But I’ll wrap up with this very cool video if anyone wants to learn more about how QR codes work and why were they created in the first place:

Thank you for your patience, feel free to share your thoughts on this one. Cheers!

7 Spice ups
2

OK, I normally get a bit bored or impatient with videos of this length, but I truly enjoyed this one. I got a little “lost in the weeds” when he discussed the error correcting bits at around 18 mins in, but I at least understood the concept and have a much better understanding of how these codes are built and how they work. I will say, they still scare the crap out of me for all the reasons you already mentioned, but we’ve already seen them revolutionize our inventory and preventive maintenance processes where I work, so we can’t just turn our backs on them. We just need to educate the vulnerable populations on what to do to stay safe, just like we currently do with other technologies. Excellent post!

2 Spice ups
3

Saw this video a while back and it was really fascinating to see how these codes actually get created!

2 Spice ups
4

Coming soon to a grocery near you.

5

Thank you!

1 Spice up