Agreed, fuck Ticketmaster. Sincerely.
Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes
271–280 of 737 posts
Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes
#272Earlier quoted context omitted.
I doubt the second bit is true - they will still be marking the ticket as used in their backend. They are just trying to prevent scalpers printing off tickets 10 times and selling them outside the venues as a scam, which happened at every large concert I have ever been to until recently (so I assume this is working!).
> they will still be marking the ticket as used in their backend. I assume that's true, but it makes me wonder how their scanners are connected to the server. I mean, if 10,000 people showing up to an event with smartphones overwhelms wireless networks, wont that also kick their scanners off the network? They'd probably like to have a system where, if a scanner loses its connection, it can still validate tickets. It…
Simplest answer is a private wifi network for the scanners.
Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes
#273> 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…
Agreed. We're the blacksmiths making armor and swords and horseshoes.
Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes
#274Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't put any facebook developer in the same bucket as a guard at a concentration camp.
Because a concentration camp guard would be jailed or killed for refusing service, but a FB dev would lose a few $thousand in opportunity?
Working at a faang level company is associated with a large enough increase in income that it could support a handful of families in developing countries. I don't know what purpose it serves to downplay just how substantial that amount of money is.
Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes
#275This sort of ticketing thing is a trivially solvable problem. It is solved at every airport in the entire world millions of times per day. You provide the name of each concertgoer when you buy a ticket, and they show up with their ticket and ID. You often need to show your ID at these kinds of venues to prove you're old enough to drink beer anyway.
This improves the security over airline tickets. There was a recent story of someone taking pictures of other people's boarding passes, and using that to board the plane. With this ticketmaster scheme, unless the person has access to the secret keys, the pass would only be valid for a few seconds, likely defeating this attack against boarding passes. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/texas-man-board...
How often has this been a problem though? How about not keeping your boarding pass, or ticket, or credit card for that matter, visible for the world? Just put it in your wallet, I don't know.
This is security FUD. Stop solving problems that do not exist to the point where it makes the news when they do happen, once a century.
This DRM scheme concretely creates millions of small annoyances to millions of people and wasting our time as a society.
Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes
#276I am sure this is pointed out elsewhere, but ticketmasters business model is based on lying to the public so that the artists and venues don’t have to. Taylor Swift is a nice-ish person and wants her fans to think they can buy tickets for her shows at about 25 bucks because that’s a lot of money for a 12 year old and she does not want to alienate her fans. Her manager is an evil cackling bastard and wants to get as m…
Can you provide a source for artists getting a cut of the greater-than-MSRP resale market?
Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes
#277Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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…
You can find a bar with a band playing. I suggest Kingston Mines if you're in the Chicago area. Ticketmaster doesn't own have a monopoly on music. You can vote with your wallet.
> even local shows can be difficult to access without quarrelsome online portals
Not all of them, but online ticket is a convenience and then a trap. It isn't going to be outcompeted by me "voting with my wallet." That just betrays an ignorance of situation.
Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes
#278Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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…
Yeah, I don't think that's right either. They don't check your ID at the gate, it's just TSA that checks your id (if you have one).
Yes, and the airlines don't (generally) let you change the name on a ticket.
Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes
#279Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Fed up with high prices and long lines and ticketing SNAFUs for big shows with your favorite artists?" "Clearly, the best answer to this is to forget about all of the music you think you like. Just forget all about it." "Instead, go to the bar and see a band. It doesn't matter if you like the music or not; after all, we know that every live music performance is exactly the same as any other!"
Honestly you might even have a better time vs paying for seats where you can't even see the act. https://help.ticketmaster.com/hc/en-us/articles/978498452737... . I go to a lot of concerts. Ticketmaster covers half of the shows I go to. They're not that much worse than others who also tack on fees amounting to 20% of the purchase price. I'm not opposed to basic regulation, but let's not act like Ticketmaster is some…
Nope.
I'm going to keep going to see Big Rock Shows because that's what I enjoy the most. And I'm going to keep getting GA tickets (what seats?), because I am nowhere near old enough to stay out of the pit once my pant legs start flapping from a grotesquely overbuilt PA.
And in my neck of the woods, bands at bars can't scratch that itch.
So that means paying (and complaining about) Ticketmaster.
Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes
#280Nice reverse engineering! As a hacky way for the non-tech-savvy, couldn't you use a temp account to create ticketmaster account and then buy the ticket and then sell the temp account information to bypass their rules?
This reverse-engineering also breaks if ticketmaster forces venue staff to only scan if the barcode is in the ticketmaster app. Unless you create a lookalike app to trick the staffers.