OT Website Security Checks

[keno]

Once in a while, in registering on a website a so-called security check box will appear and next to it a five or six string of distorted numbers and letters that look like some kind of eye test. I will be instructed to type the characters in the box in order to continue registering, and the characters have no significance to me as an individual. What is the point, in the first place, and why the distortion in the second place? BTW, these are legitimate sites. I just don't understand the function or the style.

keno

[markie]

It is to prevent automated spam postings.

[rwsaunders]

You must be talking about Craigslist. I figured that since the website originated in San Francisco, the distorted numbers and letters were programmed by someone on mind altering vitamins.

[Climb01742]

and the tests are becoming more distorted as the robot spammers getting better at reading the letters. it's a cat and mouse game between spammers and legit sites. i forget the exact number but some astonishing % of all e-mail traffic is automated spam. it's a huge problem and drag on not just e-mail systems but high-speed data transmission networks. it's sometimes referred to as the "spam tax" we all pay.

[Kahuna]

Keno, markie is right. Besides being an anti-spam measure, it's also a deterrent against malicious software designed to flood websites with traffic in the form of a Denial of Service (DOS) attacks that can render a website unusable.

If you're still curious, you can read more about it here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha).

-K

Once in a while, in registering on a website a so-called security check box will appear and next to it a five or six string of distorted numbers and letters that look like some kind of eye test. I will be instructed to type the characters in the box in order to continue registering, and the characters have no significance to me as an individual. What is the point, in the first place, and why the distortion in the second place? BTW, these are legitimate sites. I just don't understand the function or the style.

keno

[keno]

interesting stuff. The Wikipedia article was very interesting, K.

keno