validation code : Java Glossary

by Roedy Green ©1996-2008 Canadian Mind Products
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validation code

aka security code. A validation code is a combination vision test, typing test and ESP test you must take to prove yourself worthy of using some program, signing up for a forum, submitting a PAD, sending an EMAIL, or even getting on a junk mail list. The idea is it proves you are a real human, not some malicious automaton. You have to type the deliberately distorted letters and numbers you see such as:

validation code

Is that first one v911 or v9ll? or V911? Is the second 9EC15K or 9ECLSY?

The catch is you can’t tell o from O from 0 in isolation, or i from l from |, etc. I have complained to the creators of these torments and they ignore me. You have a similar but not so serious problem keying serial numbers and Windows activation codes. Any time you want people to key random gibberish, e.g. serial numbers, activation keys and validation codes, the number should not use the characters 0 o O 1 l. Alternatively, you can use the ambiguous letters but treat all similar-looking letters as equivalent. This does not reduce the psychological stress on the person typing however.

CAPTCHA

Nice-looking but inept validation code software.

You will see the technique used on Blogger. Unfortunately, the creators of these tests usually require you to distinguish 1 from l and 0 from O without any meaningful contexts. So they waste the user’s time with ambiguous images.

How To Cheat

If you are having trouble keying a validation code, use the Opera browser and crank the zoom up to 200%. Then if you still can’t figure out the pattern, hit reload, and you will get a different, hopefully easier test.

Bogus Side Effect

On 2007-05-25, the CBC aired a story suggesting these typing tests use lines from books as the sample text, so that as a side effect, the old books would be digitised. This makes no sense. A validation test needs to know what the letters are in advance in order to decide if the typer is a sufficiently clever human.

PAD
Password

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