I just read that these squiggly letters and numbers that we have to copy in order to prevent the spread of spam can serve another function. As most books and old newspaper articles are being digitized through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) it frequently happens that computers can't be sure of the letters, so they send them out there for us to decipher. If we recognize them as such, the ''OCR machine'' figures it got it right in the first place. If we miss one letter or number, then it must end up somewhere where people involved in the digitizing process have to make the decision.
I think it's neat as the computer needs us to make a decision. Reverse Cyborg as they say in the article in today's New Scientist Magazine.
Captcha is the name given to those squiggles.
I think it's neat as the computer needs us to make a decision. Reverse Cyborg as they say in the article in today's New Scientist Magazine.
Captcha is the name given to those squiggles.