Tech Term Tuesday, Issue 8

Captcha

What is Captcha?

Captcha is the acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. It is a set of technologies used to verify that humans are performing various online transactions as opposed to a computer. Utilized as a means to prevent online fraud and spam, a captcha is normally presented as a distorted image of letters and numbers that may either be black and white or color.

Are There Any Examples of Captcha Use?

Captcha use is implemented on many web forms users complete online. A typical scenario is where a user may wish to register for online email service from Gmail. On the sign-up page the user will see an image similar to the one shown below. The user then has to type the characters seen in the image and would not be able to process the sign-up until the characters are entered correctly. 

Any Interesting Facts?

  • Some of the words that may be occasionally generated for Captcha use have been known to create quite a stir due to its offensive and derogatory nature.