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We all should send a special thank you to all the spammers out there. Because of them, now anything that we do on the web, we have to type in a code to prove we are a live human and not a spambot. I totally understand why web sites need to do this, but what I do not understand is why do so many sites make the code so hard to read? Why do they need to make lines go through the letters and numbers? I am far from an expert on security, but I thought that as long as the code is an image, the bots cannot read it. If that is the case why don’t they make the images a better quality so we do not need a magnifying glass to try to figure out what the digits are?
Here are a few examples I have run into recently. Mind you, I have blown these up from their original sizes. I would love some input on why they do these like this.
Popularity: 1% [?]
i have asked myself the same question almost every time i see a confirmation code using a billion different colours. i am colour blind, so sometimes it is even impossible for me to enter one correctly.
i guess there is a fear of intelligent spambots that scan the codes and enter the numbers automatically…
Vladimir,
Again, I am no security expert, but I don’t see why stripes and different colors makes the image any harder to read to a bot. It seems it just makes it harder for us live humans to read it.
Thanks for your comments.
I believe the purpose is to defeat OCR software plugged into the bot. The lines would appear to the software as part of the character being scanned.
I had read an article on how best to use these confirmation codes to some advantage.
why not have a company like Coke pay for the code so when the user types in the code it spells: DRINKCOKE
Just an idea for another type of marketing campaign
Bill,
Thanks for the comment. I agree that it seems like they do this to defeat OCR software, but there has got to be a happy medium between protection and giving us the ability to read them.
David,
That is an amazing idea!! To avoid the spammers, you would need to change the code around a bunch, but think of how you being able to sell that. How many users will type in Drinkcoke. Awesome idea David, thanks for sharing.