I remember a couple of years ago I read up about the details on how QR codes are created. Specifically the masks that are added at the end to ensure that there aren’t any areas with too much whitespace or something that ends up inadvertently looking like the corner of a QR code (that square inside a square thing).
And for some reason, I’m staring at two QR codes in front of me, looking at the details, one looks like it contains a pipe going around a corner, another looks like it has a bit of a star, which made me wonder… Why have I never seen a QR Code with a swastika or something else you really don’t want to have on there? I’ve never seen any word on filtering out stuff like that when it comes to masking.
Am I just too bored out of my mind so that I’m staring at QR Codes like this with way too much imagination or is there something I’m missing?
EDIT: I’m sure it’s possible to intentionally create one, I’m thinking more of accidentally creating one. Specifically when I see, for instance, a different QR code on the back of every seat in a train, for instance - you’re generating so many, no human is going to check that.
Most likely if you wanted to generate qr code that looks like swastika, you would have to input very specific letter nonesense to do it. Its very specific scenario and just pointless waste of manhours to prevent it, when someone who would want to generate such qr code would just do something else if prevented.
I’m sure it would be possible to do it on purpose, I’m thinking more of the scenario of a company pumping out thousands of different QR codes and one of them accidentally having something offensive on it.