CAPTCHA is used to prevent bots from accessing websites. It issues a challenge that only a human can complete, such as a visual test or puzzle. Examples include Gimpy and Pix. However, visually impaired individuals may struggle with CAPTCHA, and spammers can develop programs to crack the images. Despite this, CAPTCHA is effective in preventing spam.
Obviously CAPTCHA is an acronym. The question is what does it represent? The answer is quite simple and so is the purpose of CAPTCHA. A CAPTCHA, or fully automated public Turing test for distinguishing between computers and humans, is used to prevent bots and other automated programs from signing up for offers, harvesting or subscribing to email addresses, violating privacy, attempting to crack password or send spam to unsuspecting email recipients. A CAPTCHA works by issuing a challenge to the person or entity attempting to gain access.
A CAPTCHA challenge is usually a simple visual test or puzzle that a sighted human can complete without much difficulty, but an automated program cannot understand. The test usually consists of overlapping or intersecting letters, numbers or other images. The images are distorted in some way or displayed against an intricate background to prevent them from being easily read by another computer.
Gimpy is one example. Gimpy is a type of CAPTCHA that chooses short, random words from a dictionary and creates seven puzzles like the ones described above from the words. The user must then correctly guess at least three of these words to proceed. Pix is another interesting example and, as the name indicates, uses images to create a challenge. This system provides six images on the same subject and prompts the user to determine the subject.
Unfortunately, the CAPTCHA technology runs into some problems. A visually impaired individual will not be able to respond to the challenge unaided. There is also the problem of relentless spammers and others hoping to take advantage of the online community that continues to develop sophisticated programs to crack CAPTCHA images. Even if the CAPTCHA technology is constantly updated, problems can still exist, especially when the images have to become more and more distorted to fool bots. Some CAPTCHA images are even difficult for humans to interpret and can drive away legitimate clients or customers.
Despite the obvious problems, CAPTCHA works quite well in many settings. It prevents countless bots from registering for thousands of email addresses each day that would be used to send spam. It’s an excellent tool, but continuing to improve it will require dedicated people and meticulous attention to detail to keep up with the spammers’ new tricks.
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