www.BreakingOut.NET » Please Enter the Captcha!

Is anyone else fed up with these “Please enter the Captcha” requests that seem to be popping up everywhere more and more?

I just had another one from Google. They changed their system recently to this auto-complete algorithm. It tries to complete your search term as you are entering it in the search box, in an attempt to be “helpful” and “save you time” by trying to know in advance what you happen to be searching before.

It’s a bit like that irritating “Clippy” paperclip that Microsoft used to have popping up when you were busy doing something in Word. It would dance about your screen uninvited and say things like: “It looks like you are writing a letter – can I be of any help?”.

Yes – you can bugger off!

And of course, like Clippy, most of the time Google’s oh so smart but ultimately as dumb as a jacket potato “auto-complete” feature is wrong.

What’s even worse is, it causes Google to go round and round biting it’s own tail and then have the audacity to claim: “You appear to be sending automated requests from your browser”.

You are then asked to jump through the hoop of “Entering a Captcha” to “prove” you aren’t a robot! All of which only wastes time and causes aggravation and delay.

Captcha… I hate that word. ”Gotcha” would be more appropriate.

“Please enter the Gotcha:”

I’m tired of all this “Captcha” crap that you now find everywhere.

It all comes down to the problem of authenticating ourselves correctly on the net. Right now the whole thing is a mess. The average person, I heard recently, has some 25 different login IDs and passwords, and the problem is getting worse. Many have much more than that. I haven’t counted but I would estimate that I must have over 200 different login accounts already and the number is continually increasing.

For a while I used Captcha requests on BreakingOut.NET to authenticate comments as a way of deterring comment spam. Since then I’ve got rid of the Captchas and substituted the Facebook comment system.

It’s a better solution than all that Captcha nonsense, but we urgently need a single common “quasi official” secure authentication system for all websites and services which is recognised by everyone on the net. With just one single login name plus a password. Perhaps also using a USB chip card, or – what I would much more prefer – by means of a touch-screen fingerprint recognition app – or maybe even an eye iris scan app. Or maybe in combination with our mobile phones.

Password and login problems are now a major cause of wasted time, support calls, delay, aggravation and expense for individuals, businesses and organizations. In the last big corporate environment I worked in, a not inconsiderable part of our time was taken up with account authentication issues. It’s a sign that the system isn’t effective. It isn’t working.

We can’t go on with things as they are at the moment. We have created password hell. The system is close to breaking point. Sooner or later we will have to get rid of all these different logins, passwords – and captchas. It also causes weak security because people feel overwhelmed by all the passwords they have to remember so they start to simplify them and use the same password for several accounts.

Then there are all the workarounds and third party solutions that try to deal with the problem. Putting passwords on PostIt forms – or in spreadsheets. The Facebook comments plugin is another. There are now even commercial solutions such as Roboform. But it’s all just sticking plaster that is going to fall apart.

And in any case I’m not a robot.

I’m a green bug-eyed monster from the Planet Tharg. We learn to fill in Captchas right from kindergarten. Didn’t know that, did you Google?

It’s time all this “Captcha” nonsense was done away with.