CAPTCHAs have evolved to reflect the untenable distinction between real and fake users.
Differentiating between humans and bots may appear as a straightforward technical operation, but the evolution of CAPTCHA suggests otherwise.
The origin of CAPTCHA can be traced to a now largely forgotten 1990s-era search engine, Alta Vista. Its unique value proposition at the time was a feature that allowed users to submit links for indexing and inclusion in search results. This made for a more participatory search experience, but it was vulnerable to hacking. Simple scripts could be written to automatically flood the search engine’s index with results for particular topics or products, allowing ideologues and hucksters to temporarily capture valuable search terms. Manually moderating the
onslaught of submitted URLs was untenable, but a team of developers enlisted by Alta Vista’s parent company, the Digital Equipment Corporation, formulated an ingenious solution: Build an automated system that could detect and deny other automated systems from participating.
https://reallifemag.com/bot-or-not/?utm_source=digg
EbiyHooXkAATEOc.jpg
captcha.jpg