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Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

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Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#331

Post by bonestamp2 »

jcranmer wrote: post #172
chuckadams wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yep, I've bought 3 laser printers over the past 30 years... 1 about every 10 years, and not because I needed to... because I wanted more features. I've passed the old models down to others and they're still running. Toner never dries out, heads don't need cleaning. I would never buy another inkjet. The only use I can see for inkjet is photo printing, and even then I'd rather get them done at CVS or walgreens unless it is a special size or printing material that they can't handle.

A brother laser can often be had for $100 these days.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#332

Post by yard2010 »

ikesau wrote: post #14

Really good post! I also found this quote which distilled their position in the 404media coverage of the situation. > “What I can say for sure is that TicketMaster and AXS have had every opportunity to support scam-free third party ticket resale and delivery platforms if they wished: By documenting their ticket QR code cryptography, and by exposing apps and APIs which would allow verification and rotation of ticket s…

[flagged]

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#333

Post by johnflan »

noodlesUK wrote: post #27

This 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.

I’m not sure that would fly in Europe. And I personally don’t want to hand over my id to use a ticket

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#334

Post by bonestamp2 »

ReliantGuyZ wrote: post #294
chuckadams wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Tho nowadays that means a trip to a FedEx store for me I've really appreciated my local library for allowing 20ish pages of printing per day, which has allowed me to limp through the no-printer lifestyle. Plus I usually grab a DVD movie while I'm there. Life's good in the mid-2000s.

For sure. Additional info... many libraries also let you stream movies through kanopy.com, and read/listen to e-books through the app Libby.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#335

Post by nedt »

noodlesUK wrote: post #27

This 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.

I wouldn’t bring my ID to a concert. I don’t have my wallet with me and even if I would they wouldn’t like me to have a backpack. I‘m coming as light and minimal as possible and also would hate to lose my ID jumping around at a concert.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#336

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

TremendousJudge wrote: post #154
probably_wrong wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad we cleared that up. Now all that remains is a good, measurable definition of what a bad company is.

If you're asking the above question, it means you already think the company is bad according to your own morals.

I ask myself if my company is bad all the time. They don't get a perfect score, but I feel better about this one than any of the previous ones (that's why I'm here and not there). If the answer is ever a resounding yes, I'll leave this one too.

When most of the relevant work around you is in some way related to ICBM's, you either sell your soul early, or you end up with habits like this. By my reckoning, about 80% of technology companies are bad.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#337

Post by pompino »

probably_wrong wrote: post #67
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

I'm glad we cleared that up. Now all that remains is a good, measurable definition of what a bad company is.

> Now all that remains is a good, measurable definition of what a bad company is.

Lets re-invent religion.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#338

Post by bonestamp2 »

GuB-42 wrote: post #298

Does anyone knows how Ticketmaster works, really? I have been to Ticketmaster events that use reasonably priced, printable tickets, you could even buy a printed ticket with cash. In fact, even though there are so many Ticketmaster events, they are not all working the same way. And Ticketmaster doesn't have the monopoly on shitty practices, the article gives a good example in the beginning. What I suspect is that Tick…

> but I am sure people have a choice

Often, they do not. The DOJ is currently suing TicketMaster because they have exclusive agreements with nearly all of the large venues and that prevents those venues from using other ticket providers. To be fair to TicketMaster, they argue they are not a monopoly because there are many smaller venues that they are not exclusive with.

But, TicketMaster even requires that artists use TicketMaster's promotional agency if they want access to these large venues.

And more evil stuff! Details here...

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-live-...

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#339

Post by jmholla »

mlyle wrote: post #316
LeonM wrote: post #315

Let's face it, the real problem with ticket sales is scalping. OP may not like Ticketmaster, and doesn't want to install the app, but the majority of fans don't have a problem with that. The real problem for most fans are the scalpers who push prices out of their budget. Of course we all like to dream up all sorts of technical crypto solutions to this, preferably decentralized to remove evil Ticketmaster from the equ…

The problem is scalping. Unfortunately, this "solution" is Ticketmaster cementing their control of the ticket marketplace and spying on their users.

And (and I think you were implying this), Ticketmaster giving themselves complete control over the still existing scalping market which they use to boost their own profits without any benefits over the standard scalping market (arguably also including further downsides).

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#340

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

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…

It doesn't need a well defined evaluation scheme. You're the one asking the question, you can provide your own scheme, and come up with your own answer. Whether you're honest with yourself in this process is up to you.

It's still useful to point out that IF you think your company is bad THEN you should do something about that. It establishes that "I was just following orders that I know are wrong" isn't a valid excuse (e.g. like if you end up in court for something you did on the job).

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