A New Year’s resolution for tech companies: knock it off with the CAPTCHAs

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Check your BMI

A photograph of a CAPTCHA grid on a screen.
Horrible. 0/10.
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The thing about CAPTCHAs is that they’re old enough to drink. The bots are better at them than I am. So why am I still being asked to fill them out?

I am not talking about the inoffensive ones with the puzzle pieces. I am not talking, even, about matching or rotating shapes. I am talking, specifically, about the grid of insane photos — the kind of thing you may be familiar with from Google’s reCAPTCHA system. If you are looking for a measured take on why they exist or the efforts to build replacements, go read this. I am not feeling measured, although I will resentfully note that CAPTCHA exists in order to stop bots and does an okay job at it.

You know how I am feeling? Furious.

I was trying to buy tickets to a double-feature of Blade…

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