[Cabs-talk] Capcha

Thu Nov 12 00:03:18 UTC 2009

Yes thank you for your observation Terra.  In deed the idea behind the  
captcha is that the computer does not know all the words spoken, only  
those readily understood.  Often there are words in between that are  
not as clear, but if you get the words around them right, the computer  
assumes that you got the unclear stuff correctly as well.  It then  
compares responses on the unclear words and based on the most common  
answers, fills in the blanks in the text.  This is all part of their  
initiative to convert into text a collection of older books and media.

I actually give a link to this near the bottom of the form.

Regards
Justin Harford
CABS Secretary

On Nov 11, 2009, at 3:49 PM, Terra Peterson wrote:

> 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
>>>
>>>
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