Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes • Hacker News Board

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#171

Post by gowld » Mon, Jul 08, 2024, 6:28 PM UTC

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #144

NavinF wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://xkcd.com/1390/ I don't see the issue. Every social media site does this, FB was just naive enough to share their research

And this just proved my point. During the Nazi regime, everyone was hating the jews. And everyone was doing fascism. Now to bring this to a close, people like you, who will jump companies for 20_000 and have lost the ability to see a clear ethical violation will be holding the guns and guarding the gas chambers when the next Hitler comes along. Meditate on this. Also this XKCD is dumb. Previously the feed was chronol…

Did you get informed consent from me regarding the methods by which you constructed your comment? Or are you manipulating my emotions unethically?

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#172

Post by jcranmer » Mon, Jul 08, 2024, 6:29 PM UTC

chuckadams wrote: post #160

liendolucas wrote: post #147

It's baffling that you have to carry a mobile phone to access a show. What if you run out of battery? Or if you accidentally break the screen just before entering the venue? The more the technology evolves the more we find horrible uses for it. People should fight back by refraining from purchasing tickets from them, I know is not easy for people to miss their favorite artist but until a monopoly is broken there is n…

You can still print the ticket on paper. Tho nowadays that means a trip to a FedEx store for me, since I refuse to keep buying inkjets I only use a couple times a year.

> I refuse to keep buying inkjets I only use a couple times a year.

Laser printers are the solution, and Brother laser printers seem to remain the most highly-regarded.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#173

Post by rangerelf » Mon, Jul 08, 2024, 6:29 PM UTC

fmbb wrote: post #106

RScholar wrote: post #55

> Software developers are the wizards and shamans of the modern age. We ought to use our powers with the austerity and integrity such power implies. This is one of the most powerful truths underlying the world we currently inhabit. The sooner we can agree to behave accordingly, the better our prospects for ripping the reigns of society from the hands of those whose only animating principles are avarice and exploitati…

I dont think it’s a truth. Shamans and wizards (never heard this used to describe anyone in history but let’s assume it’s just any kind of supposed magic user) were people at the top tier of their societies in terms of political power. Not kings or chieftains, but above everyone else. Programmers are just making a living selling their labor power like every other office drone in the world. We’re one of the most commo…

> Shamans and wizards (never heard this used to describe anyone in history but let’s assume it’s just any kind of supposed magic user) were people at the top tier of their societies in terms of political power. Not kings or chieftains, but above everyone else.

I don't know where you came by such a notion; Shamans, "Wizards", witches, "wise women/men", are usually shunned from society such that they tend to live near the outskirts of towns or cities, nobody really wants to live close to them; and when "bad things happen" tend to be the first ones to get blamed for it; then they also are commonly used as scapegoats for whatever political, economic or religious effort some corrupt officials try to push.

That doesn't sound very societal top-tier to me.

We're definitely not witches or wizards, at most we are scholars or [specialized] craftsmen. "Knowledge workers" if you will. Not as unlikable as the wise folk that live towards the edge of town, and not as at risk of getting tied to a post and lit on fire because the bishop believes we commune with unclean spirits.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#174

Post by torcete » Mon, Jul 08, 2024, 6:29 PM UTC

A $COACH_COMPANY in the UK has recently announced that they are moving to only app-purchased tickets. Except tickets purchased directly from the driver, which is VERY expensive.

Well, F.U. $COACH_COMPANY. I don't want to have to install your app for that, but I guess I won't have any other option if I need to get to the airport.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#175

Post by PaulHoule » Mon, Jul 08, 2024, 6:30 PM UTC

A system like that could work in an entirely disconnected mode where the "ticket" device has a cryptographic token whose signature can be checked at the door without either side having internet access. The weakness of that system is that you can't "revoke" or sell tickets. Such revocation would be possible though if either the ticket or the validator device is internet connected.

I saw the New York Red Bulls play not long ago and had to use Ticketmaster's system for the first time. I travel with a tablet, not a smartphone, and I was expecting trouble. Turns out the only trouble I had was that they didn't want to let me in with a tablet but they did when I explained my ticket was on my tablet. It did require an internet connection but Red Bull Arena has great WiFi so that was no problem.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#176

Post by immibis » Mon, Jul 08, 2024, 6:30 PM UTC

digging wrote: post #111

phoronixrly wrote: post #34

With regards to the end of the article. > Can I work for a bad company and still be a good person? > No. https://apenwarr.ca/log/20201121

And pretty much every company is bad. But this is a wrong answer because the question is actually nonsense. The answer to "What happens when you move faster than light" is not "nothing", it is undefined because the question is invalid. Asking if a person or a company is good or bad isn't a question that can ever have a well-defined answer: the answers we give are rounded according to our own values. To get more speci…

> Asking if a person or a company is good or bad isn't a question that can ever have a well-defined answer: the answers we give are rounded according to our own values.

Counterexample:

Was Hitler bad?

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#177

Post by gowld » Mon, Jul 08, 2024, 6:30 PM UTC

yread wrote: post #123

RScholar wrote: post #55

> Software developers are the wizards and shamans of the modern age. We ought to use our powers with the austerity and integrity such power implies. This is one of the most powerful truths underlying the world we currently inhabit. The sooner we can agree to behave accordingly, the better our prospects for ripping the reigns of society from the hands of those whose only animating principles are avarice and exploitati…

I personally think we are more like "plumbers but with JSON". I have principles and apply them but I don't expect the others to do that

architect+builder+plumber.

The suits at TM couldn't build the app+backend, even if they could hire someone to maintain and replace parts of it.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#178

Post by qazxcvbnmlp » Mon, Jul 08, 2024, 6:30 PM UTC

BobaFloutist wrote: post #145

jrockway wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup exactly. Some events are pretty bad at opening the doors early. The Brooklyn Nets seem to open 30 minutes before the game, so they need to get 20,000 people through 20 metal detectors in 30 minutes. Every second extra they add to the process is a second you don't have to buy a $25 drink, and that's how they make their money. We check IDs for flights because airline yield management demands that there be no resale…

>We check IDs for flights because airline yield management demands that there be no resale, or business travelers would be traveling on leisure fares. Sorry, what? Surely business travelers pay more just by virtue of traveling by business class? Or, if travel through business portals was consistently significantly more expensive than just buying the ticket directly on the airline's website, businesses would just star…

Business travelers != travelers in business class.

Airlines use a fair number of techniques to price discriminate between leisure and business passengers.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#179

Post by hinkley » Mon, Jul 08, 2024, 6:30 PM UTC

There's a faire this week in Oregon that draws people in from 500 miles away.

I've been a couple times, and what I've learned that was still not common knowledge to faire vendors as recently as last year is that T-Mobile brings out a mobile cell tower to support the faire, and no other cellular network does.

So if you're trying to accept electronic payments, the whole thing tends to fall over and you only get to sell to people who brought loads of cash and prioritized hitting your booth first. Only the vendors on T-Mobile are able to take purchases for a big part of the day, and a few other people who use the rare billing system that is fine queuing up Visa transactions until after the bulk of people leave. The line for the cash machine sucks up a substantial part of your time budget for the faire, meaning you probably miss out on some things altogether.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#180

Post by mightyham » Mon, Jul 08, 2024, 6:31 PM UTC

digging wrote: post #63

999900000999 wrote: post #39

>Software developers are the wizards and shamans of the modern age. We ought to use our powers with the austerity and integrity such power implies. You’re using them to exclude people from entertainment events. I can definitely think of worse things programmers are doing aside from making it mildly difficult to see Taylor Swift . I have personal qualms with working in certain industries because of this, but Ticketmas…

> Ticketmaster ultimately provides a luxury. You don't need to see a concert I don't agree. Entertainment/recreation is a need. Music is an important part of the human experience, and seeing it live, with other fans, is really valuable to some people. And the fact is, the value a person places on the experience is totally orthogonal to their ability to use/afford Ticketmaster. And it's not just about Taylor Swift - e…

I agree that experiencing music is a fundamental part of human life, but experiencing specific musicians at specific venues is not. It is very easy to find free live music without Ticketmaster or online portals.