The use of QR (Quick Response) codes has proliferated in places like India as it acts as a quick and simple way to transfer money to the recipient without having to even key in the 10-digit mobile number (and waiting for apps like Google Pay to live search on their database to show you the recipient name).
However, it is important that people understand what QR codes actually are – a way to create machine-readable labels that contain data for a locator, identifier or a tracker that points to a website or an application. This effectively means that QR codes can be used to surreptitiously make your phone do things that you would never want to do otherwise. It could not only add unknown/suspicious contacts to your mobile contact list, but also connect your device to a malicious network, automatically initiate phone calls, draft emails, send text messages – and this is before we get to the scary part, which is automatically make financial transactions from your phone or even install malware.
The idea here is that since QR codes are now ubiquitously used, it should be mandated that all QR codes are accompanied by text that displays the underlying action that the QR code is supposed to execute.
QR code scanning apps should also start showing you what the QR codes read before they automatically execute the action, and you should only confirm the action if the QR code translation in your phone matches what you see as text below the physical QR code.
This requirement to display underlying text also helps users who would rather be careful – if people are suspicious about scanning random QR codes (as they should be), then they can directly enter the phone number which the QR code is asking you to make payments to.
To summarize – the reason why this idea is important is because, without safeguards like these, a QR code is nothing but just a fancy way of executing some code on your phone without even telling you what it is doing.
If you don’t believe QR codes can do more than just make payments, scan the QR code below –
