[ale] Ale Digest, Vol 59, Issue 9

[Charles Brian Quinn]

Geoffrey <esoteric at 3times25.net> wrote:

> So, I received an email from blockbuster telling me I had a free movie 
> rental coupon. I was expecting it, as it's some plan my wife joined. 
> The interesting thing is, I selected the link, a page loaded in my 
> browser, then I get a popup saying that the coupon has been sent to my 
> default printer.


Even more interesting is that the the link has a query string that's 
pretty easily discernable what the values are.  Essentially, you can 
create your own coupon, with different expiration dates, and even a 
different barcode pattern (pretty neat if you ask me).  If I was really 
malicious (read: had lots of free time on my hands), I'd start 
collecting those barcode patterns and deciphering those:

"I've never seen this coupon before, but here are your 5 free movie 
rentals, and a free box of ju-ju beans...."

-- 
Charles Brian Quinn
www.seebq.com