Aussies launch anti-CAPTCHA petition. Is it time to kill CAPTCHAs?

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by ApK

Come up with a better alternative, because I assure you, you will hate weeding through the 1000 get rich quick offers and Rolex copy adds and warez site links to find the next real message in a thread even more.

How about, "prosecute the ones who distribute spam, the same way they go after those who distribute torrent links, for interfering with business and violating TOUs" -- and tying up phone lines; spam is actionable under the same laws that cover malicious faxing.

Extend the CAN-SPAM act to blog comments, and start enforcing it.

The problem isn't "there's no way to stop spam comments other than Captcha or similar;" it's that the legislature has refused to acknowledge that this is a serious business problem that should be addressed through legal means (or at least, have the option of being so addressed) rather than leaving it to individual webhosts to find creative coding ways to fix a problem that wouldn't exist if the current laws were properly enforced--except that large corporations aren't lobbying the government to crack down on spam; they like that small companies have to spend substantial portions of their IT budgets fighting it.

(If the feds can afford to send six armed officers to the homes of people searching for "pressure cooker' and "backpack", they can afford to track down some of those "This was a helpful post now visit my car site!!!" blog comments.)

[Jessica Lares]

The last audio CAPTCHA I tried was garbled junk I couldn't understand. And I have HD speakers on all my machines.

I probably enter the text based onrd 10 times before I get them right.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

How about, "prosecute the ones who distribute spam, the same way they go after those who distribute torrent links, for interfering with business and violating TOUs" -- and tying up phone lines; spam is actionable under the same laws that cover malicious faxing.

Worthy of thread in itself. Short response: Would be great if it worked just the way we want, and everyone agreed about the approach. Unlikely. See the Do Not Call law and SOPA.

(If the feds can afford to send six armed officers to the homes of people searching for "pressure cooker' and "backpack", they can afford to track down some of those "This was a helpful post now visit my car site!!!" blog comments.)

I'll leave to folks in the P&R section to explain why that's totally different.

[haydnfan]

I hate Captchas. In the beginning they were easy to use, but they've been become harder and harder to use, to pitifully try to keep up with spam software. This is just a temporary solution. It is the anonymous accounts that is the true problem. Anonymity allows for spamming, libel, cyberbullying, death threats etc etc etc I see a future, whether good or bad where governments step in and require legitimate ids across the net. This is not what I necessary want to happen, but I think that eventually it will.

[Xanthe]

I've never understood the hatred for Captcha, and I'm a person who does have visual problems. I spend many hours a day on the web, yet I come across Captcha and reCaptcha rarely, usually when making a purchase or posting to a blog.

I like the fact that reCaptcha serves a dual purpose. If I can't make out the first offering I just reload it and take a stab at the second one. It takes what, a few seconds all told? It's a small tool that does its job well. I've always looked at it as a puzzle rather than as an obstacle to be overcome, so perhaps that different mental outlook makes the difference.

[TadW]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

I've never understood the hatred for Captcha, and I'm a person who does have visual problems. I spend many hours a day on the web, yet I come across Captcha and reCaptcha rarely, usually when making a purchase or posting to a blog.

ReCaptcha is the nice one among all captchas. But have you seen other captchas, such as this one:

https://www.keycaptcha.com/products/

= Highly annoying, at least in my opinion.

[Grace Elliot]

I don't mind CAPTCHA's but I do find it upsetting when I get the maths ones wrong.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by Grace Elliot

I don't mind CAPTCHA's but I do find it upsetting when I get the maths ones wrong.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by TadW

ReCaptcha is the nice one among all captchas. But have you seen other captchas, such as this one:

https://www.keycaptcha.com/products/

= Highly annoying, at least in my opinion.

See, now to me, that's a fun one.

[shelle]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

I hate Captchas. In the beginning they were easy to use, but they've been become harder and harder to use, to pitifully try to keep up with spam software.

Agreed. Half the time I can't read Captchas, they're so annoying. I say Kill 'em with fire.

[willus]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

One of the most popular spam tools is XRumer. From what's been said elsewhere and from what we've seen, CAPTCHAs like ReCaptcha can be cracked, either automatically (through OCR/averaging) or semi-automatically (through third parties who offer the solving of captures within seconds through APIs). Text-captchas, too, are easily cracked. From what we've seen, users of said spam tools were given credits for any solved text-captcha that is then stored in a global database. Easy permutation (simple math problems changing digits) is also solved by the tool.

Very interesting! I just had my own custom-written capcha cracked a few days ago, and this explains the motivation and method of the crackers. i've got ideas for improvements, but it will be cat and mouse. It's sad that people resort to this. Anything for a buck. Thank you, Alex!

[Edit 15 Aug 2013: Turns out my capcha was not cracked. I had a "hole" in my entry form so that it could be submitted without the capcha and still be accepted. I've patched it.]

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by ApK

You do realize that's kind of the point, right?

No, I thought the point was to make it HUMAN-readable and not MACHINE-readable? If it's human-ambiguous (I'm always mixing up X x, S s 5, K k, P p, etc.) then the human has to enter it about 3 times to get it right. I usually go through about 3 screens per captcha trying to figure it out.

It used to irritate me no end when google would have me do them, I mean, I have all these accounts with them and I try to use it to look up a dictionary word (which I do ALL THE TIME) and it makes me enter those stupid things. FEH.

[Alexander Turcic]

The biggest issue I see in captcha is that it doesn't stop those anymore who are supposed to be stopped. There is an analogy to DRM. It may hurt those who are not targeted, while those who were targeted couldn't care less about it.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Joykins

No, I thought the point was to make it HUMAN-readable and not MACHINE-readable? If it's human-ambiguous (I'm always mixing up X x, S s 5, K k, P p, etc.) then the human has to enter it about 3 times to get it right. I usually go through about 3 screens per captcha trying to figure it out.

Ideally sure, but the point is if it were easy, machines could do it too.
But I see what you mean. Honestly I don't know if eliminating confusion pairs would really make it too easy for the machines or not, but in my mind, hard to read is hard to read, which is by design, so telling an l from an I hasn't particularly bothered me any more than discerning any two other smoothed and twisted characters.

[jersysman]

I REALLY hate them. It is hard for me to discern the letters there. I had a stroke a few years ago and my brain does not process information as it did before and I have a very hard time with these things. I just keep hitting the "refresh" button until I can get one that I can read. After 4 or 5 clicks there is usually something I can read. I understand the need for keeping spammers away. I just wish that there was something that would make it easier for me.