Australian man wants to kill CAPTCHA

A disabled internet user has begun a campaign that will attempt to rid the internet of CAPTCHA.

CAPTCHA (which stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) is an online security measure used by many leading websites that is designed to stop spam bots from automatically creating or accessing accounts.

TechSpot reports that Wayne Hawkins, who is blind and lives in Sydney, has started a petition arguing that the technology frequently prevents him from accessing parts of the internet.

The way CAPTCHAs are constructed blocks lots of software specifically designed to help disabled people use PCs. Hawkins adds that the audio versions offered for those with impaired sight are often incomprehensible.

He argues that CAPTCHA tests "fundamentally fail to properly recognise people with disabilities as human".

Wayne, trust us – things are little better for those of us with perfect sight!

A host of Australian organisations have hit out at CAPTCHA including Able Australia, Blind Citizens Australia, ACANN, Media Access Australia and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Wayne’s change.org petition can be found here.