More and more websites want proof you’re human. Blame the bots

By Yang Xiang, Professor, Computer Science, Swinburne University of Technology

You’re trying to book concert tickets before they sell out. You click the link and before you can make the payment, you’re asked to identify traffic lights, bicycles or blurry crosswalks in a grid of tiny images.

Again.

For many people, this has become a routine part of life. Logging into financial apps, shopping online or creating accounts increasingly involves “proving you are human”.

These systems are known as CAPTCHA. Why are they everywhere?

The short answer is that websites are fighting a rapidly escalating war against bots:…

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