Our Kingdom Ministry has a Bar Code?!!

VM44

I just noticed that the August 2012 "Our Kingdom Ministry" has at the bottom of the last page a Two Dimensional bar code!

When did that start?

Is the Watchtower putting bar codes on its other publications as well?

losingit

Are theykeeping track of who is receiving them too? Wonder if oublishers have bar codes on their cards?

Finkelstein

Wonder if publishers have bar codes on their cards?

No they have them on their foreheads imprinted by the Watchtower Corporation.

That is called a "QR code", likely for mobile phone users. They're on the back of the public WT and Awake! too. I think they just take to you jw.org though, nothing fancy. You'll need an app for your phone to scan them: https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+scan+qr+code

They just started doing this with the August OKM, I noticed the Canadian KMs have them too. I don't know how long they've been putting them on the public WT and Awake though.

EDIT just tried out the August OKM, August Awake, and August public Watchtower QR code and yes, they all just take you to jw.org.

OUTLAW

JW`s of the Future will No Longer be Baptized..

They will be Issued a..

WBT$ BarCode..

...................... ...OUTLAW

notjustyet

I'm not a techy,. But think this would be possible.

They can have many different barcode that lead Sam the same URL. If someone were to scan one of these qr codes and then put a Asian on this site, they might be able to find what congregation or circuit that the scan originated from.

it would be a way for the WTBTS to track down who was scanning its literature and posting.

Just ddon't include the we code canyon are scanning for public view. Of course this is all just speculation,

NJY

Barrold Bonds

I love these threads because the crazy tinfoil people come out. It's a friggin QR code. That's it. Anyone can make one for any URL. Nothing to see here folks. If they wanted to track them they'd have to print a unique code for HUNDREDS of batches. They're not going to stop the presses, make new plates, just for that.

insearchoftruth4

qr is an abbreviation for queer, I kinda thought some Bethel dudes was little you know "happified"...the gb had few qr's on their elite "happified" bunch...it nothing really new, just bunch nasty dudes that like dudes...

Jeffro

insearchoftruth4:

qr is an abbreviation for queer

(Simon, please provide a 'facepalm' emoticon.)

QR stands for Quick Response™. (In the design stage for the 2-dimensional barcode system, it probably stood for Quadratic Reciprocity, in relation to the complex math involved for decoding them, but that name would probably never catch on.)

The barcodes on Our Kingdom Ministry, The Watchtower (Study and Public editions) and Awake! are identical, and represent a link to the JW.org homepage.

The resultant JW.org link includes parameters for the site language to use and a flag indicating that the link was generated from the QR code (without uniquely identifying a specific publication).

The presence of the codes on The Watchtower - Study Edition and Our Kingdom Ministry seems a little odd to me, because the QR codes would be more relevant for grabbing the interest of outsiders. Perhaps it's to give the general perception that the Watch Tower Society 'really is' entering the 21st century.

Hortensia

Yeah, we need a facepalm emoticon, a nice big one.