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Now Even Photo CAPTCHAs Have Been Cracked
MoonUnit writes "Technology Review has an interesting article about the way CAPTCHAS are fueling AI research. Following recent news about various textual CAPTCHAs being cracked, the article notes that a researcher at Palo Alto Research Center has now found a way crack photo-based CAPTCHAs too. Most approaches are based on statistical learning, however, so Luis von Ahn (one of the inventors of the CAPTCHA) says it is usually possible to make a CAPTCHA more difficult to break by making a few simple changes."
Or better yet, after a dozen tries at the captcha allow entry into the site because obviously if it was a script trying to break the captcha it would have been successful by then.
try { Signature mysig = new CleverAttempt(); } catch(NonCleverSignatureException e) { postanyway(); }
If only we could get them to work as hard at improving the products they are hawking as they work on sending their spam, I'd be rich as hell with a giant penis!
Look where all this talking got us, baby.
Don't worry. Apparently there are programs that can read them for you. ;)
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
> If you were born in 1973 and JFK was shot in 1961, were you alive when he was shot?
I have developed a device that answers random yes/no questions correctly 50% of the time. Me and my flip-a-coin-bot will take over the world!
Good idea. Here are a few questions to start with:
1) What is the best editor: Vi or Emacs?
2) Was there a cabal?
3) Did Romero make you his bitch?
4) Rick Astley would never: give you up; let you down; run around and desert you; make you cry; say goodbye; tell a lie and hurt you?
These programs are Satan's rectum, poised to let loose over the web.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
Well, I think we have a capcha to prove someone is a lawyer.
So CAPTCHA images are ineffective at blocking the bots. No surprise. It won't be long before these AIs start joining Yahoo or Google mail for the same reasons we do: Chatting.
tiredbot&yahoo.com : "Boy I had a rough day at work today. My user wanted me to compile a new program AND surf the internet at the same time!"
spamalot@gmail.com: "Wow rough. I was lucky. My user took the day off, so I just spend the day spamming. I love how those humans react - sending me hategrams. hahahahaha! That just makes me want to send more spam! Fools."
tiredbot&yahoo.com : "You are so bad girl."
The government is not your daddy. Its purpose is not to raid middle-class neighbors' wallets and give it to you.
African or European water?
It's just a matter of time before we start seeing reverse CAPTCHA's: Text that is so hard to read that only a computer can do it. If you copy the text correctly you are a spambot.
you're pitting a machine generating questions and answers against a machine designed to answer questions.
You make it sound like that's hard. Here's a question that a machine could generate that another machine could not answer:
"What number am I thinking of?"
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.