Could This Be the Alternative to CAPTCHA That You Never Knew You Wanted?

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Logo courtesy of Minteye

Logo courtesy of Minteye

You know those human verification challenges that pop up when you try to buy a ticket on Ticketmaster or complete some sort of online registration form?  The ones that show you the image of scrambled text and you have to decipher the secret code in order to continue.  They are all over the web, and they can be seriously annoying.

Sometimes, the code is impossible to figure out because the image is too blurred.  Sometimes, the challenge includes a character that doesn’t even exist on your keyboard!  They often take multiple attempts and it’s been said that these challenges can deter users from completing the forms, not to mention that it does not always keep hackers out.  According to Minteye, the current CAPTCHA technology only has a 76% solve rate and a 1/3 hack rate.

Minteye’s goal is to create a better, more user-friendly way to detect whether or not you’re a human.  You are a human, right?  Either way, it looks like there could be  a better solution out there.  Minteye’s “no-type” solution is  rather inventive; using a twisted image and a slide bar, the user only needs to slide the bar until the image straightens out.  Minteye claims that this method has a 94% solve rate.  Whether or not this will deter hackers has yet to be determined.

Take a look at this example:

Animation courtesy of TheNextWeb

Animation courtesy of TheNextWeb

Not only is this method an improvement for use while web surfing with a mouse on PCs and laptops, it also brings an improved mobile experience.  It is much easier to slide your finger across a touchscreen than solving a CAPTCHA on a mobile phone’s keyboard.  Additionally, the image used to solve the challenge can be sponsored, bringing extra revenue to the site using the new technology.  Every time a user completes the image verification, your site generates revenue.  In order to complete your registration, you need to straighten out a picture of an iPhone, for instance.  Pretty sneaky advertising.

Here’s hoping that more websites start to introduce Minteye’s new solution to their forms; I know I’m rooting for it.

Via  The Next Web

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About the Author

Perry Brauner
I'm an architect by trade, but the overarching theme of my life has always been trying to keep up with the newest, coolest technology. Ever since I picked up an NES controller, I've been hooked on the latest and greatest gadgets, gizmos, and toys. Whether it's gaming, mobile phones, and accessories, or PCs and Apple products, I'm interested. I use many Apple products in my daily life, such as the iPhone, iPad, and my MacBook Pro. I've also built a few PCs in my day, so I'd like to say that I'm a pretty well-rounded techie.

3 Comments on "Could This Be the Alternative to CAPTCHA That You Never Knew You Wanted?"

  1. I’ve run across this on a web site once or twice recently. Love it as the captcha words are getting harder to decipher. Nonsense syllables are hard to type as the brain wants to make real words out of them. This method give an ad which may have relevant content and is simple to perform.

  2. I agree with Bruce – too often I am unsure about the Captcha symbols and get frustrated, and occasionally people have lost business or lost my participation in a community due to annoyingly requiring re-captcha-ing way too often.

  3. I think this is a great idea, do they also have an audio version for the blind or partially sighted though?

    CAPTCHAs are not terribly accessible to those with disabilities. I am dyslexic and I cannot read conventional CAPTCHA at all so I use a CAPTCHA bypass program called RUMOLA to enter them for me!

    I guess it is hard to find something secure that works for everyone!

Comments are closed.