So if the user is already engaging with this, why not make it an ad? That appears to be Microsoft’s mentality, as it has proposed exactly that with a patent application. The concept is simple. It works just like any other CAPTCHA, but it shows you a picture of a product (the Xbox 360 in an example from Microsoft) and asks you to type the name of the product you see.

Todd Bishop at TechFlash points to this and actually another mention of this concept from as long as four years ago, at Ad Lab, which simply presents the concept, showing logos for Tide and UPS.

Clearly this is a concept that has been around for some time, but you don’t see it very often, and you have to wonder why that is. There’s no question that the CAPTCHA is intrusive, and perhaps brands won’t always want to be associated with that kind of advertising, but in reality, it’s not the ad itself that is intrusive. It’s the step of completing the CAPTCHA form, which is already there. If it’s already there, you might as well utilize that space for some further benefit.

What you would not want to do is start displaying more CAPTCHAs specifically for the purpose of advertising. That’s where things could go sour. On the other hand, a user might not know the difference, and could reach the conclusion that you’re just throwing an intrusive advertisement at them.

The strategy has its pros and cons. It is an interesting strategy nonetheless. Obviously there is no click value to this from the advertising standpoint, but the brand value is certainly there.

What do you think about this concept? Have you seen it in use? Do you think users would be more turned off by something like this than they already are with the CAPTCHA itself? Please share your thoughts.

They created a game that is delivered via malware that is installed on your computer. When you launch Internet Explorer you are introduced to a game. In the game players are shown captchas (text embedded in an image), which are intended to stop computers from signing up for accounts like free email addresses. Each time they fill one out then a virtual woman takes off more of her clothes. Then spammers get their way and you get more junk mail.

I didn’t know what Captchas stood for until now but here it is (in case you need it for your next trivia game): “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.”

So far the program has been used on the sign-up process for Yahoo webmail. It builds in a reward system rather than just hoping people will respond to a request to type in the letters.

Two security firms, Trend Micro and Panda Security have discovered the tactic but note that it’s not widespread. The program runs on Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, and Server 2003. To avoid contact, run anti-virus and anti-spyware program updates. The technology to block spam has been working for the past six years.

Comments

A number of users were unable to solve the captchas presented by Blogger when they tried to post to their blogs. The new system was imposed by Google when blogs hit a certain level of spamminess per Blogger’s spam classifier.

Being prompted to solve the captcha doesn’t necessarily mean one’s blog has a problem, Jason Goldman posted:

Goldman also wrote that Blogger will work on a way to eliminate the captcha once a poster has been verified as legitimate. “It’s important that we find ways to put reasonable barriers in place to further prevent the automated creation of spam content,” he said.

Blogger’s efforts to fight spam blogs will be an ongoing one. People like Mark Cuban, owner of blog search engine Icerocket, have been loudly complaining about the number of spam blogs on Blogger. Icerocket has taken the extreme step of banning blogspot.com blogs from its index.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

Maybe this will make Mark Cuban a little happier with Blogger. It should make users with Blog*Spot sites happier.

The word verification feature, captcha, has been made available for blogs on the site. It is turned off by default, but it seems likely anyone affected by spammers dumping spam comments in blogs will be hitting the ‘enable’ button in a hurry.

Turning it on will require commentors to a blog to enter a word they see displayed in an image into a text box. Without doing this, the commentor can’t leave a comment on a blog. That should help cut down on any automated methods in place being used by spammers.

The Blogger Buzz site notes that captcha and flag aren’t complete solutions to the spam problem. Perhaps Google will have Blogger implement captcha for the blog creation process, where automated tools create the spam blogs. Those have Mr. Cuban on the verge of banning the whole blogspot.com domain from his IceRocket search engine.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.