[Cabs-talk] Capcha

Wed Nov 11 21:33:07 UTC 2009

Dear CABS members,
	First of all I would like to compliment Justin on the excellent work
he has done over the past couple of weeks on the CABS web site. He has taken
ownership of the project, putting his heart into it in a way which is a
shining example for the rest of us to follow. 
	The audio CAPTIA which Justin has found is very accessible to blind
people, and to those of us who are hard of hearing. I had no trouble with
it, and my hearing, or lack of it, makes most audio CAPTIAS almost
impossible. This is quite literally the best CAPTIA I have come across. 
	The fact that this CAPTIA is not accessible to deaf-blind folks is a
concern to me as well as to Justin. I appreciate the concerns Michael has
expressed on this list, and would like to invite him and others to join us
in helping to find a solution to this problem. It is one thing to point out
a problem and encourage others to fix it, but joining in the effort and
helping to find a positive solution is truly praise worthy.
	As your president, I'm concerned about CABS members giving each
other what could be construed as negative feedback on a public forum. Justin
originally posted to this list asking for our help, and I would ask that all
future posts be directed in this vain. If we build each other in public,
sharing the knowledge and wisdom we've all been blessed with, and gently
correct in private when necessary, we will be a much friendlier CABS which
people will truly enjoy volunteering their time to serve. 
With deepest sincerity
Angela Fowler (president)
California Association of Blind Students

-----Original Message-----
From: cabs-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:cabs-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Justin Harford
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 1:05 PM
To: California Association of Blind Students Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Cabs-talk] Capcha

Good morning CABS

In light of the issues concerns brought up regarding the captcha that we
wanted to post I would like to say a few things with the purpose of
explaining myself and walking away with my dignity intact..

First to answer the question of whether captcha is really necessary, the
consensus among web developers is that it is, and not to keep out blind
people or blind/deaf people as is the feeling in some parts, but to keep out
spambots which may easily post messages to a form as well as any human if no
precautions are taken.  It was expressed that captcha is consisting of
visual images that blind people cannot access, yet this is not the
definition of captcha.  A captcha is  
merely a challenge that the user is put to in order to send a form.   
It is supposed to be a challenge that only a human could complete.  It could
be visual as most are, but it can be other things too.  I did a captcha on a
disability related sight that was a math problem.

I had selected this captcha keeping our blind users in mind.  I myself use a
screen reader and could speak of ample experiences in which, if not for the
small bit of vision I possess, I would have been cut out from a number of
things.  And no, the fact that I am a partial does not minimize the outrage
I feel when I see a captcha that is just an image.

As a result of this awareness, I took pains to make sure that if A captcha
were to be implemented that it would be not only accessible to a blind user,
but pleasant and easy to use.  The one I selected gives you clips from old
movies and radio shows and has you copy the words you hear into a field.
You don't have to get them all right.  It automatically routs your cursor to
the edit field so you don't have to fumble about trying to find the edit
field as the captcha is being spoken.  In addition, the text that people
input with this captcha goes towards an effort to digitalize old books and
audio in a text format, another positive for the blind.  Thus I hope you
would understand my excitement at finding such an option.

However, while I do think that most of the arguments made against this
captcha are unfounded, there is one important point still standing, the
issue for deaf and blind users.  In the sight that hosted this captcha, they
mention this as well, and that alternatives like email authentication should
be offered.  .

I still sort of think that we should have an accessible captcha as it sets
an example for other developers to follow.  I can promise you right away
that you will not convince many developers to compromise the security of
their websites altogether by simply leaving captcha out, much better to show
them how blind people can manage such security implementations.  is there no
way we could set up an alternative for deaf blind?  Or even better, set up a
captcha that asks basic math problems like that one I tried a while back?

Meanwhile, I have deleted the link to the form on our contacts page, thus
making it impossible for anyone to access the form from our home page.  If
anyone still cares to give input on the matter, the form can be still found
directly at:

http://www.nfbcal.org/cabs/contact/contactform.php

Eventually I will just delete it from the server.

When I found that option, I was just so overly excited at how much better it
was from other accessible captchas I had done, that I just wanted to show it
off to people.  I apologize for whatever inconveniences it may have caused
and hope that at least those who tried the form might see where I was
initially coming from.

Regards
Justin Harford
CABS Secretary
On Nov 11, 2009, at 11:29 AM, Michael Peterson wrote:

> Hi Justin I haven't looked yet and that might answer my question.  
> But is capcha absolutely necessary?
> Generally I don't like it Lots of times the sound capcha's have  
> really garbled sound.
> I'll maybe check and send a test message to see how I like this  
> capcha.
> Mike
>
>
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