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Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

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Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#511

Post by Arrath »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #459
Arrath wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 RPS, per scanner, surely?

Can you imagine 5 people moving thru scanner in 1 second? Even at 1 rps that's if we assume 1 meter distance that's 3.6 km/h or a normal walking pace. Do you ever see crowd at ticketing move at walking pace?

Not at all, I was imagining over speccing the system.

E.g. this weekend I went to a show at a 70,000 seat arena. Knowing from experience, there are 4 entrances. This time there were 10 people scanning tickets at the gates I entered. Friends reported the same at the one they came in.

5 RPS per scanner is obviously overkill, but if those 10 at one gate were linked to a hub that could issue 5 RPS I would call that adequate, if barely.

If all 4 gate areas were linked centrally to a system that could do 5 RPS, well, actually, that might explain the throughput I experienced getting through lol

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#512

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

lotsoweiners wrote: post #473
reddalo wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only seen the flight data change, not the code itself.

Even that isn’t updated correctly very often. There is always at least a gate change that doesn’t update the tickets in my Apple wallet.

I like playing the game of which app has the most correct flight information. Sometimes it isn't the official airline app.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#513

Post by OvbiousError »

jyrkesh wrote: post #313
divbzero wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is available offline if you “Add to Apple Wallet”. The ticket in Apple Wallet is still revocable if you transfer the ticket to someone else using Ticketmaster’s website, probably through an update that Ticketmaster pushes to the wallet [1]. [1]: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Us...

Just recently dealt with this for a big Ticketmaster event. The Apple ID has to match the email address on the Ticketmaster account, or the ticket will show as Void in the Apple Wallet. But it does solve the offline issue that the blog author was experiencing.

OP explicitly states he doesn't want to add the ticket to a google account. Fair to assume they wouldn't want apple either.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#514

Post by tsukurimashou »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #504
ipsum2 wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you work at ticketmaster? Otherwise, how do you confirm this?

Every big corp holds money longer than necessary to maximize interest. It’s free money. We know TM. “Why wouldn’t TM do it” is what you should be asking proof for.

exactly this

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#515

Post by csomar »

lakerz16 wrote: post #94

I hate TM and ridiculous fees as much as anyone, but this article is overly hyperbolic. There's a section named "Pirating Tickets", that just explains how to re-create a barcode that you already paid for. You're not using this to rob anyone of anything. And at the end, "Have fun refactoring your ticket verification system". Why? There are no vulnerabilities here. A rotating barcode (even if following a known pattern)…

Are you sure you understood the article? The token is supposed to be a secret and the TOTP generation should happen remotely. This is not the case and this suggest a fundamental lack of security practices at the company.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#516

Post by jen20 »

dylan604 wrote: post #404
xp84 wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but the data you give them is pretty much a condition of attending their shows, not whether you use their app, Chrome, or a PC in the library to buy the ticket. Regardless, they will get some contact and basic financial info for you unless you avoid all their concerts (which is certainly a principled and defensible choice!)

They do not need to know my address, my phone number, credit card number or any of the other BS that "they need" including my name. Their website has a ton of trackers uBlock blocks, so their website is trying to collect even more data than what their "forms" request.

How would an iPhone app (I don’t know about android) collect any of that?

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#517

Post by VMG »

lmm wrote: post #401
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…

> 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. No, the problem is artists wanting to falsely advertise low prices, and using gimmicks like first-come-first-served ticket sales and "scalpers" (u…

but how would the artist continue to pretend to be close to The People?

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#518

Post by sofixa »

mattmaroon wrote: post #446
shiroiushi wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expecting the US government to properly handle monopolies and anti-trust issues is a fool's errand. It's like saying the US government should solve the issue of gun proliferation in the US: it's simply not going to, in our lifetimes.

I don’t think that’s accurate. They’ve successfully handled plenty of anti trust issues in the past and very recently got on this one.

When was the last time they did it?

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#519

Post by ricket »

sofixa wrote: post #518
mattmaroon wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think that’s accurate. They’ve successfully handled plenty of anti trust issues in the past and very recently got on this one.

When was the last time they did it?

I googled "us government anti trust wins" and found a few articles that point out some recent ones, e.g. Adobe and Figma in December 2023, and an Apple lawsuit in March 2024.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#520

Post by sambf »

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.

You should consider thermal printers like the Brother PJ line. A bit expensive but so small you can put it in a drawer, and no cartridge or toner at all. Just thermal paper, which I run off the same pack since I bought the printer 3 years ago.
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