QR code at park next to west Edmonton school leads to porn website

QR near local school leads to porn site A QR code at a park near a local elementary school directed a woman to a porn website. CTV Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson reports.

An Edmonton mother was shocked when the QR code she scanned with her phone while her kids played at a park near a west Edmonton elementary school led her to a pornography website.

The code, located on the Norwell Outdoor Fitness Park’s information sign next to the St. Martha Elementary School, was meant to take users to the fitness park’s website.

“I scanned the QR code in it, and big surprise, it was a pornographic website,” Kathy Mayer told CTV News.

Edmonton Catholic School District (ECSD) spokesperson Lori Nagy emailed parents and said staff are working to fix the issue.

“We know for a fact when the playground equipment was put up several years ago, that the website and the QR code went to the manufacturer's information,” Nagy said.

CTV News learned the QR address no longer belongs to Norwell. It was bought by another party on April 5.

“As a business, buy your website domains for a long time,” NAIT Digital Media Chair Steve Chattargoon said.

With files from Jeremy Thompson