[jaws-uk] Re: Thoughts on captchas
- From: "Tiddy Ogg" <oggy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2011 15:52:28 -0000
Sorry, can't remember.
-----Original Message-----
From: jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Jamie Cuthbertson
Sent: 19 March 2011 13:46
To: jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: Thoughts on captchas
Hi Tristram, Tiddy and Keith,
Thanks for your input - especially your essay Tristram!! (Smile)
All very helpful feedback. Tiddy and Keith, can you remember any of the
sites where you have experienced the numerical captchas? It would be good
to be able to point these out as an example.
-----Original Message-----
From: jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Tristram Llewellyn
Sent: 17 March 2011 17:37
To: 'jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: Thoughts on captchas
I know this isn't much help and probably provocative at best but here goes,
I hope it will at least provide some understanding of the issues involved.
The CAPTCHA is a test designed to tell a human and computer apart. It
relies solely on the fact that there are certain tasks a human (properly
equipped with senses) can only do. It has (incorrectly as it turns out)
been assumed that all humans have the same senses, and that assumption that
sight makes one human is therefore equally suspect.
However one must consider more carefully what is going on before assuming
this is merely a case of discrimination against non sighted web users.
A CAPTCHA test normally taking the form of an image is displayed that a
sighted human deciphers. Because what you get as an image a screen reader
cannot decipher it and therefore neither can a user of that software since
their screen reader cannot help the crack the test. Of course other
software exists that aims to defeat CAPTCHAS is used both illegitimately by
those who want to break into resources they shouldn't and those who may for
legitimate reasons which to break a CAPTCHA just to get access to things.
At this point we should be clear both groups described above are essentially
breaking the CAPTCHA which is a test of humanness (albeit flawed).
Blind users fall into this second category by using various software to
effectively break a CAPTCHA that is sufficiently weak in order to do so (one
such example is Webvisum for Firefox) The other approach is effectively to
hire some eyes like the Solona approach where a human intermediary is used
as a service to decipher the CAPTCHA.
The problem philosophically is to genuinely find a test that a blind person
met with a CAPTCHA can genuinely pass which carefully crafted software could
not. When one begins to carefully consider what makes a person uniquely
human over a distant internet connection it is actually really quite hard
and therefore an accessible CAPTCHA is a tautology since by being accessible
it no longer functions as an effective test of being a human..
The only ways I have actually thought may be of any help are re-purposing
technologies that are really designed for authentication like OpenID or
using some kind of one time password system. Neither of these are really
the answer however. Therein lies the rub, there really hasn't been a
solution so far offered that really tackles it since blind people are more
heavily mediated by technology in order to access the websites that use
CAPTCHA it is in effect more difficult to tell them apart from a sighted
fellow human using the same website.
Apologies for the small essay but it may help people to understand why this
problem seems so intractable rather than it simply being a question of
nobody doing anything.
Regards.
Tristram Llewellyn
Sight and Sound Technology
Technical Support
www.sightandsound.co.uk
Mail:
Tristram: tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Technical: Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
General - info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Phone:
Support line: 0845 634 7979
Sight and Sound Technology Limited is a company registered in England and
Wales, with company number 1408275.
Sight and Sound Technology
Welton House North Wing
Summerhouse Road
Moulton Park
Northampton
NN3 6WD
VAT Number - GB 860 2121 66.
-----Original Message-----
From: jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Jamie Cuthbertson
Sent: 17 March 2011 15:18
To: jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jaws-uk] Thoughts on captchas
Hi there,
I know that there's been some discussion of the issue of captchas on this
list in the past but I'm looking for your thoughts on alternatives that a
web designer might use.
I'm currently working with a software developer who is considering
introducing a captcha on their site but which, even with the audio
alternative, is really hard to use. I'm sure that most folk will have
encountered these at some stage.
I fully understand the reasoning behind the desire to have these as an
additional security defence but personally hate them with a vengeance.
Having said that, my dislike of them isn't a particularly pro-active way of
helping the company achieve their desire for increased security but at the
same time wishing to make the site as accessible as possible.
My question...does anyone know of any commercially available accessible
captchas or similar security device that will satisfy both requirements?
I also think that some people have mentioned that Firefox has some features
that make captcha solving easier - if this is correct, what is it about
Firefox that makes this possible?
Thanks in advance.
Jamie
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