[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Researcher Claims to Crack Yahoo's Antiscam Filter here

[Capri]

I hope Yahoo and other services eventually either get rid of captcha or preferably start using the user accessible ones that don't discriminate against and block out/punish real users who are visually impaired. Visual verification that requires you to enter characters in an image you see, or answer a question about what's in an image you see, blocks out anyone with a visual impairment, furthermore, many of these claim you have to prove you are human by entering in a visual code. That's an insult to those who can't see, and not only is that bad enough, it forces the blind to give up what independence they once had on site registration and forms, to begging a sighted person or site admin for help in account creation and other places that captchas crop up. It's infuriating and a threat to the dignity of people who are at the mercy of visual verification captchas.

Some sites (and not yahoo!) have used an audio option for people who can't see the image. But that still isn't good enough. It blocks out the deaf-blind in the same way as the visual code on its own blocks out the blind.

Other sites like Yahoo haven't bothered with accessibility at all.

There is a new captcha that should be more effective and accessible. It prompts you with a question in text format "What's 2&2?" or "What color is an orange?" as examples. and requires you to fill in the answer. That's the sort of captcha which should've been invented in the first place. It shouldn't be too much to ask of Yahoo and other services to upgrade to this 100% improvement in their security systems. But the questions shouldn't require a person to be able to see an image to answer. Bad example: "Which animal in the picture above hs four legs?" How is someone who can't read print and has to rely on a screenreader supposed to know that?

Having said all that, a big kudos to your site for it's accessibility and user-friendlyness to those with vision problems.