Difference between revisions of "CAPTCHA"

Revision as of 21:17, 24 January 2023

CAPTCHA is a nomenclature shorthand that refers to an assortment of automated systems used to distinguish between humans and computers. The concept was first created in 2000 by students and researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.^[1] The earliest version of the system is credited to Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas Hopper, and John Langford, whose joint academic paper introducing CAPTCHA—entitled "CAPTCHA: Using Hard AI Problems for Security"—appeared in early 2003.^[2] The quartet also coined the term "CAPTCHA", which is an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart."^[1] Since its origination, CAPTCHAs of various forms have become a ubiquitous security measure present across the entirety of the internet. They are employed by Google, erne

Forms of CAPTCHA rely on the limitations of current artificial intelligence, which struggles with particular tasks that humans generally have no difficulty with. However, as artificial intelligence technology progresses, new programs are often able to reliably evade existing security measures. Computer scientists view this as a win-win—either a CAPTCHA version cannot be defeated and a site remains secure, or the program employed to evade the existing CAPTCHA has successfully solved an open problem in artificial intelligence and significantly advanced the field. Regardless, CAPTCHAs themselves must evolve in response. This has led to the propagation of new challenge systems, such as reCAPTCHA, XXX, and XXX.

has been criticized for presenting a barrier to web accessibility and generating undue challenges for users with disabilities or atypical skill sets (e.g., internet inexperience, old age, youth.

Background

Evolution of Programs

Turing Test

Reverse Turing Test

Level 2

Level 2

Web Accessibility Concerns

Such users, in addition to potentially lacking skills presumptively possessed by "normal" humans, often actively utilize technology to enable or supplement their online experiences (e.g., screen reading or speech recognition software.) Their assistive devices, by design, are reliable unable to appropriately interpret or bypass certain CAPTCHA's.

legality?

presumption of experience

age

disabilities

Artificial Intelligence Progress

Computer Evasion

Use to Train Programs

Versions

original versions still in use btw

CAPTCHA

text

reCAPTCHA

text

SQUIGL-PIX

ESP-PIX

NuCAPTCHA

hCAPTCHA

text

Future Versions

enabled an open problem in artificial intelligence.

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Carnegie Mellon University. (2000–2010). The Official CAPTCHA Site. http://www.captcha.net/
2. ↑ von Ahn, L., Blum, M., Hopper, N.J., Langford, J. (2003). CAPTCHA: Using Hard AI Problems for Security. In: Biham, E. (eds) Advances in Cryptology — EUROCRYPT 2003. EUROCRYPT 2003. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2656. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-39200-9_18