Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Evolution of the 'Captcha'

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the why-can't-i-even-read-them-half-the-time dept.

FireballX301 writes "The New York Times is running an article about the small word puzzles various sites use in order to defeat automated script registration while still letting humans through. It seems many people can't actually solve them anymore, so new alternatives (image recognition) are being created. This, of course, seems breakable as well — is there a feasible alternative to the captcha, or are we stuck jumping through more and more hoops to register at places?"

11 of 383 comments (clear)

  1. I am torn by jollyreaper · · Score: 5, Funny

    As a Christian fundamentalist, I cannot in good conscience believe that catchpas have evolved, yet at the same time since I can never figure out what to type to make them work, I cannot believe any intelligence was involved in their design.

    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    1. Re:I am torn by dattaway · · Score: 5, Funny

      Here in Kansas, captcha evolution has been subject to legal review. Kansas City's Road Runner is employing packet shaping to eliminate the evolution of captchas. You might not see the captcha, but others believe it exists.

  2. Inverted problem by sveinb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ask the user to perform a task that only a computer is likely to succeed at, like factorizing a 6-digit number. If the user gives the right answer, and this is the cunning part: Then it's not a human!

    MAN, I feel clever some times.

  3. Re:Knowledge tests... by CrazyTalk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ummm I dont think this would work in the US, where (considering our educational system) some people might answer "yes". In fact, some celebrity (I forget which) recently thought that Japan was a country in Africa, which is why Africa has the best sushi.

  4. Stop testing the Humans, test the Robots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I always get annoyed by captchas.. its like a forced human intelligence test.
    We know that humans are more intelligent than scripts, so I always thought it should be easier to test the lack of intelligence in scripts than proving intelligence in humans.

    For example just use a simple honeypot in a html form. Put a dummy input field in a form. You can hide the field with CSS/noscript tag or just mark it: "This field should be left intentionally blank" or something of that nature to make it more human friendly.

    Seeing that all form fields are generally blank, the spambot/script will fill your dummy field. On server side check if the field has data, ignore the submission. It would be a VERY intelligent script that could COMPREHEND the purpose of any particular html input field.

    my anonymous 2c

    1. Re:Stop testing the Humans, test the Robots by jimstapleton · · Score: 5, Interesting

      have a random or semi random set of field names, with an associated "key" field. Use the key field to retrieve the field names of interest. Also have a "name" and "password" field set up so they are invisible to a normal user.

      Block any IP submitting a non-blank "name" or "password" field.

      --
      34486853790
      Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
  5. See you in court? by tepples · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ask the user to perform a task that only a computer is likely to succeed at, like factorizing a 6-digit number. If the user gives the right answer, and this is the cunning part: Then it's not a human! Now you're discriminating against autistic savants like Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man, in possible violation of disability discrimination acts in the United States, the United Kingdom, or other countries. See you in court.
  6. Re:Great idea by 0123456 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Indeed: these things are getting to be an appalling nuisance. If I see a site that use them I increasingly just say 'fuck it' and leave; particularly the sites that keep asking for another one every few pages.

    Meanwhile, having an automated system feed them to Chinese people on $0.50 an hour can't be too hard, and they'll have at least as good a chance of getting the correct result as I do.

  7. Re:Knowledge tests... by bobmarleypeople · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've seen several sites using questions similar to yours except they were more obvious. An example was:

    Which is a food?
    A) pink
    B) car
    C) Britney Spears
    D) Hamburger

    There is of course the possible registration by a disturbed and horny male who would say "Britney Spears" but you get the idea.

  8. Re:Knowledge tests... by kbox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If there are four possible answers even a script will be right 1 in four time... So if they make a registration attempt every second they will still get 900 successful registions an hour.

    --
    God Be Gone
  9. Re:Captcha too hard by Snaller · · Score: 5, Funny

    "OK, I am a bit shrotsighted,"

    And dyslexic.

    --
    If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating