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CAPTCHA Arbitrage

bit-player.org

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Re: CAPTCHA Arbitrage

#2
"In an attempt to learn where the solvers live, Savage et al. sent out specially fabricated CAPTCHAs with images of words in various languages. [..] But one organization showed exceptional linguistic versatility, even solving challenges in Klingon."

This is a rather surprising finding.

Re: CAPTCHA Arbitrage

#3
post #2

"In an attempt to learn where the solvers live, Savage et al. sent out specially fabricated CAPTCHAs with images of words in various languages. [..] But one organization showed exceptional linguistic versatility, even solving challenges in Klingon." This is a rather surprising finding.

I came here to post the same. Has someone written an algorithm than can recognize an alphabet and solve any CAPTCHA based on an alphabet it knows (maybe all of Unicode)? Good god....

Re: CAPTCHA Arbitrage

#4
post #3
post #2

"In an attempt to learn where the solvers live, Savage et al. sent out specially fabricated CAPTCHAs with images of words in various languages. [..] But one organization showed exceptional linguistic versatility, even solving challenges in Klingon." This is a rather surprising finding.

I came here to post the same. Has someone written an algorithm than can recognize an alphabet and solve any CAPTCHA based on an alphabet it knows (maybe all of Unicode)? Good god....

The hard part is to insert more "mistakes" on the CAPTCHAs that are supposed to be tougher.

Re: CAPTCHA Arbitrage

#5
I went to a speech by savage earlier this fall. The point that I took away from it is that what captchas do is filter out the bad guys who haven't figured out a business model.

On the klingon point: They theorized that the particular organization was a bunch of PHDs rather than farmed labor - and that it had learned from previous 'example answers' they had submitted. That particular organization, it was noted, was also an order of magnitude more expensive than the others.

Re: CAPTCHA Arbitrage

#6

I went to a speech by savage earlier this fall. The point that I took away from it is that what captchas do is filter out the bad guys who haven't figured out a business model. On the klingon point: They theorized that the particular organization was a bunch of PHDs rather than farmed labor - and that it had learned from previous 'example answers' they had submitted. That particular organization, it was noted, was al…

I don't understand what difference it makes being in Klingon? usually Captchas are just jibberish anyway. Recognizing individual letters remains the challenge.

Re: CAPTCHA Arbitrage

#7
post #3
post #2

"In an attempt to learn where the solvers live, Savage et al. sent out specially fabricated CAPTCHAs with images of words in various languages. [..] But one organization showed exceptional linguistic versatility, even solving challenges in Klingon." This is a rather surprising finding.

I came here to post the same. Has someone written an algorithm than can recognize an alphabet and solve any CAPTCHA based on an alphabet it knows (maybe all of Unicode)? Good god....

wouldn't they be Klingon phrases written with normal letters? i mean, nobody has a Klingon keyboard, do they?

Re: CAPTCHA Arbitrage

#8
post #3
post #2

"In an attempt to learn where the solvers live, Savage et al. sent out specially fabricated CAPTCHAs with images of words in various languages. [..] But one organization showed exceptional linguistic versatility, even solving challenges in Klingon." This is a rather surprising finding.

I came here to post the same. Has someone written an algorithm than can recognize an alphabet and solve any CAPTCHA based on an alphabet it knows (maybe all of Unicode)? Good god....

They were trying to measure the worker's native language by assuming error rates would go down. One provider had low error rates across the board - the easiest explanation for this is a different incentive system that promoted low error rates, likely at the expense of speed. I'd guess this was one of the expensive service providers, and is how they try to differentiate themselves in the market.

Re: CAPTCHA Arbitrage

#9

    This last caveat leads to an interesting economic question. As noted above, retail prices for CAPTCHA-
    solving vary over a wide range, from about $1 per thousand to $20 per thousand. This price spread, and 
    the fact that it’s technically feasible to route a CAPTCHA through the system more than once, suggests a
    major arbitrage opportunity. We can set up a high-price CAPTCHA service and farm out all the actual work to
    low-price competitors. In a free economy—and what economy could be freer of regulation than a criminal
    one?—that situation is not supposed to endure.
Well, at least until they add CAPTCHAs.

Re: CAPTCHA Arbitrage

#10
post #6

I went to a speech by savage earlier this fall. The point that I took away from it is that what captchas do is filter out the bad guys who haven't figured out a business model. On the klingon point: They theorized that the particular organization was a bunch of PHDs rather than farmed labor - and that it had learned from previous 'example answers' they had submitted. That particular organization, it was noted, was al…

I don't understand what difference it makes being in Klingon? usually Captchas are just jibberish anyway. Recognizing individual letters remains the challenge.

They were asking for english translations of words in various languages - hoping to determine the demographics of the workers solving the captchas.
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