[Cabs-talk] Capcha

Wed Nov 11 23:49:26 UTC 2009

Hi Justin,
I think you are doing a good job on the CABS website. I was concerned with 
the movie captcha only because I never understood if you had to put all the 
words in or just some of the words. Now that I know you don't have to 
actually get all of them right I think it's a good thing. I agree with you 
that you shouldn't leave the site open for spammers. They can and will take 
advantage of the site that way. It would be a good idea to have some sort of 
option for deaf-blind people, although I don't know what that would be. Keep 
up the good work!

God Bless
        Terra Peterson

www.lifesrace.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Justin Harford" <jharford at calmail.berkeley.edu>
To: "California Association of Blind Students Mailing List" 
<cabs-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 3:04 PM
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
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Cabs-talk mailing list
>> Cabs-talk at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/cabs-talk_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info  for 
>> Cabs-talk:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/cabs-talk_nfbnet.org/jharford%40calmail.berkeley.edu
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Cabs-talk mailing list
> Cabs-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/cabs-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> Cabs-talk:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/cabs-talk_nfbnet.org/poolprincess%40att.net 