Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Google Buys reCAPTCHA, Creating a Potential Privacy Issue
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:34:25 -0400
Talk about digital divide. Not only are visually handicapped impacted but a whole set of folks who , for various reasons, have big issues with it, djf
Begin forwarded message: From: Rich Kulawiec <rsk () gsp org> Date: September 17, 2009 8:09:20 AM EDT To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Cc: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>Subject: Re: [IP] Google Buys reCAPTCHA, Creating a Potential Privacy Issue
On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 07:06:43PM -0400, Lauren Weinstein wrote:
CMU's reCAPTCHA is a specific implementation of the more generalized CAPTCHA concept, which attempts to validate user input as coming from a human, not a (typically spam-related) robot.
The entire "captcha" concept, never a good idea in the first place due to its unfair impact on the visually-impaired, is dead. Spammers and other abusers now have the ability to defeat it at will by usinga combination of automated and manual techniques -- and are already doing
so where it's worth their attention. Automated attacks on captchas have pushed the necessary obfuscation to a level that blurs the boundary between "one too hard for an automaton" and "one easy enough for a human being". And while human beings aren't getting any better at this -- software is. Manual attacks on captchas are carried out by workers hired at very low wages (often performance-based) to execute repetitive tasks, and by unsuspecting users who are tricked into participating by methods similar to trojans. "Never underestimate the decode rate of a room full ofadept typists", to borrow from a famous aphorism regarding magnetic tapes.
While thus far these attacks have (mostly) been directed at high-value targets, it's reasonable to presume, given well-known past patterns of spammer/abuser behavior, that they will spread beyond those as methods are refined and resources more efficiently deployed. ---Rsk ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- Google Buys reCAPTCHA, Creating a Potential Privacy Issue Dave Farber (Sep 16)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Google Buys reCAPTCHA, Creating a Potential Privacy Issue Dave Farber (Sep 17)
- Re: Google Buys reCAPTCHA, Creating a Potential Privacy Issue David Farber (Sep 17)
- Re: Google Buys reCAPTCHA, Creating a Potential Privacy Issue David Farber (Sep 17)