you see them on ebay and other places, thay say its for security but if i can read them cant everybody
2006-08-26 12:46:58 · 10 answers · asked by scottfamilytribe 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
Programs that perform operations automatically can't read them. That's why they're all wavy like that, the software isn't programmed to pick up wavy letters. It helps prevent viruses etc from doing things they're not supposed and keeps your computer from sending out 15,000 emails without you knowing.
2006-08-26 12:50:11 · answer #1 · answered by 006 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A CAPTCHA (an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart", trademarked by Carnegie Mellon University) is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether or not the user is human. The term was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas J. Hopper of Carnegie Mellon University, and John Langford of IBM. A common type of CAPTCHA requires that the user type the letters of a distorted image, sometimes with the addition of an obscured sequence of letters or digits that appears on the screen.
2006-08-26 19:52:58 · answer #2 · answered by crzybob 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are automated programs that spammers can use which will comb the net for things like message boards then automatically set up accounts to post advertising messages. These programs can read normal text on websites to help them do this but they obviously can't (easily) understand pictures, hence why you see these images on registration pages with the text made skewed and weird to defeat these bot programs.
2006-08-26 19:51:18 · answer #3 · answered by Bamba 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They prevent computer used for spamming the access the site. The computer can't recognize the letters and numbers with the distortion produced by the lines. This is a great way to stop spamming computers.
2006-08-26 19:49:57 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It prevents programs from signing up for services and such, as the programs cannot read those letter and numbers the way they are.
2006-08-26 19:50:20 · answer #5 · answered by lilmizzaniml 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it's so people who spam can't send automatic messages to those secure sites. This way each entry has to be an individual one.
2006-08-26 19:49:25 · answer #6 · answered by Sharp Marble 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
spam bots can't read them. So, they can't harvest the data at the website that has all the user info, emails addys...
And, to confuse and mystify the noobs, and others in search of their village.
2006-08-26 19:52:02 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They change after every entry, cant figure why they are squiggly unless it is so a program cant duplicate/copy them into the security area.
2006-08-26 19:50:40 · answer #8 · answered by True Blue 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Spammers and Robots that send spam cannot read it and type it.
2006-08-26 19:48:35 · answer #9 · answered by iWorkonComputers 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They do that so a real human has to read and type it in. Robots cannot do that.
2006-08-26 19:50:50 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋