tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955229912066643523.post4521058809366487897..comments2013-03-20T09:59:02.381+00:00Comments on Hacking the Book: CAPTCHA, reCAPTCHA and Turing TestsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955229912066643523.post-66304448309152002272011-10-04T20:58:49.225+01:002011-10-04T20:58:49.225+01:00This raises (at least) two interesting issues: a) ...This raises (at least) two interesting issues: a) accessibility and b) human nature.<br /><br />With CAPTCHA you focus on just one feature of being human, visual pattern recognition. Of course this seems a perfectly easy thing to require in order to shut out automated log-in attempts etc, but unfortunately it also shuts out people who are blind (and presumably also dyslexics). Hence you need to provide an alternative, which is now usually available in the form of a sound recording. I cannot remember, but I am sure that this was not the norm at the start, and that many CAPTCHA systems still do not have this. So always think hard about what you are testing, and whether there are humans who might fail this for other reasons. <br /><br />The second one is the reason why we have CAPTCHAs in the first place: because technology is abused. First humans post spam messages, but then they use computers to automate the process. As a result, blogs and forums require logins to shut out those programs. Next step: the spammers get more savy and get their programs to create user accounts. So you need further verification, either by requiring an emailed link to be clicked on, or a CAPTCHA. As Joe said, in previous generations' views the future was positive, robots and computers helping humans to do their drudge tasks, but what has actually happened is that computers are abused to be a nuisance with spam emails and comments, phishing attempts, scams and all sorts of other things. Rather than just being a tool for the good, as people have thought in the past. And I'll stop here before it gets too depressing...!Oliver Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15470911924018335990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-955229912066643523.post-50146720698876182742011-10-04T16:49:28.375+01:002011-10-04T16:49:28.375+01:00Like many people I suppose, the CAPTCHA is a pheno...Like many people I suppose, the CAPTCHA is a phenomenon I've frequently encountered but not one I've thought in great detail about. As previously mentioned they highlight a fundamental difference between people and computers. This is the same ability that lets us focus on a problem analytically and find the solution without looking at every combination in a 'block' approach. The same ability that allows us to listen to just one instrument in a score. <br /><br />I may be the only one that feels this way, but when our technology has got to the stage that we need to perform tests to establish whether an agent is human or machine, our technology has become scarily advanced.<br /><br />This is not some paranoid fear nor some knee-jerk reaction to a piece of technology that maybe invades and disturbs our concept of humanity. This is simply a reflection. Previous generation's visions of the post millennium era were robotic figures a common part of day to day life. The reality is a lot more subtle; instead of being able to tell a machine from a human by the difference in the way it looks, we are only able to spot a machine from a human by the difference in the way it acts.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17034190584335504563noreply@blogger.com