back to article TPG flashes cheeky 'down under' CAPTCHA

Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, aka those CAPTCHA things you see on websites, raised hackles the other month for being less-than-useful for the disabled. An Australian Reg reader has since found one with the potential to get the won't-somebody-please-think-of-the-children? crowd …

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  1. LaeMing
    Happy

    Pants?

    If pants are all that is keeping your rectum from view, you had better see a good proctologist!

    My favorite CAPTCHA so far in life was a two-parter from Google: "Aware Sachets"

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: Pants?

      I got one on a wiki that described the article I had just edited. If only I could remember what it was.

  2. Khaptain Silver badge

    Reg Reader -meeeehhhhh

    Can some please explain, in a rational manner, how someone might feel offended or upset by seeing a word that does nothing more than describe a part of the body. Is it because the "children" might actually ask the adult what they mean and that the adult doesn't feel mature enough to respond correctly to the child...

    Are there some people on this planet that do not possess rectums, penis, vaginas, breasts, testicles etc...

    (There I hust have really offended someone now after using all of those Biological Terms) .....

    [What is the plural of Penis ?]

    1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

      [What is the plural of Penis ?]

      More penises?

      1. MrDamage Silver badge

        Re: [What is the plural of Penis ?]

        I always thought the collective term for a bunch of dicks was "parliament".

        1. Potemkine Silver badge

          Re: [What is the plural of Penis ?]

          I always thought the collective term for a bunch of dicks was "parliament".

          You mean "voters"?

          We've got the Parliament we deserve, we choose it after all

          1. Christopher Blackmore

            We've got the Parliament we deserve, we choose it after all

            At no point did I put an X in a box that said blue and yellow Tories ganging up to destroy the country.

        2. Euripides Pants

          Re: parliament

          It's pronounced "congress" on the left side of the Atlantic...

    2. thosrtanner

      Re: Reg Reader -meeeehhhhh

      > Are there some people on this planet that do not possess rectums, penis, vaginas, breasts, testicles etc...

      I think you'll find about most of the people on the planet are missing one or more of that list.

    3. Lamont Cranston

      Re: Reg Reader -meeeehhhhh

      I assumed that this article was more in the vein of "hee hee, it says BUM!", rather than "grr, that's an offensive word - OUTRAGE!".

      That said, there are doubtless plenty of uptight numpties who would be thrown into fits of apoplexy by the sight of the word "rectum".

    4. sisk
      Trollface

      Re: Reg Reader -meeeehhhhh

      [What is the plural of Penis ?]

      Well I know the plural of the head of a penis is 'politicians', though I've also seen 'patent lawyers' used.

    5. Gavin King
      Happy

      Re: Plural of "Penis"

      To drag the thread away from casting aspersions on the names of our hard-working and honest representatives --- and I almost wrote that with a straight face --- the plural of "penis" is "penes" (pronounced "/ˈpiːniːz/" in British English), according to Mr. Oxford English Dictionary.

      Made me feel like a wee child again, sneaking a look at the dirty words in the dictionary.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      People who do not possess a rectum.

      Me, for one. It had cancer. It's gone.

      See here, http://www.doctor-dark.webspace.virginmedia.com/LivingWithoutARectum.html for advice on managing without it.

      The plural of penis ought to be penes, but they don't seem to bother with proper Latin endings any more.

  3. frank ly

    Get your eyes tested

    It says 'techim'.

  4. Private Citizen.AU

    The 'N' word

    I was commenting on an Australian news site discussing a story about rascim and I got a CAPTCHA which had the word 'N*gger'. I have the screen shot at home somewhere.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The 'N' word

      Probably the result of an ongoing 'project' that's been knocking around 4chan for the past few years.

      Something that is not widely publicised is that, of the two words presented by reCaptcha, only the 'twisted' word is known to reCaptcha while the normal, often merely fuzzy, one is scanned from a book that Google's OCR has been unable to decipher and is unknown. reCaptcha uses people solving these words to decipher them and insert them into the corresponding ebook.

      As a result, if you get the 'twisted' word right you can substitute anything you like for the 'non-twisted' word and reCaptcha will happily validate your input. I've independently verified this myself, it does work. Type the twisted word correctly, and anything at all for the other, and it'll pass you.

      Enter 4chan and their evil genius. For the last few years, they've been instructing their ocean of piss to type the word 'nigger' for the unknown word in captchas every time they have to solve one. The intent is that Google's software would unwittingly place this word into their ebooks, which would offend people, get Google into trouble and a lot of bad press, and cost them a lot of money. However, it's possible Google have cottoned to this and are filtering it from their responses; but this hasn't deterred 4channers from doing it and encouraging the practice amongst others.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The 'N' word

        Probably the result of an ongoing 'project' that's been knocking around 4chan for the past few years.

        What you describe has nothing to do with the CAPTCHAs that are displayed. The results of reCAPTHCA go towards OCR for ebooks (which you seem to be aware of), and not towards making new CAPTCHAs. So this 4chan project won't mean the person you reply to will see the N word in a CAPTCHA.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You´re taking the piss, right?

    Rectum is a perfectly innocent word, as is scrotum and as for all this, I call it a pile of bunkum.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well I wasn't offended

    What offended me was that I couldn't get it to pump out "Sphincter".

    Thumbs Up - Although I think a prostate exam doesn't involve the thumb - usually.

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: Well I wasn't offended

      Seconded. This is not offensive. If you want offensive - try to book a ticket with Ryanair.

      You have to recite (with vigour and delight) back an advertisement. Just to make sure that you have provided them with the ad euros for "Prepaid American Express Cards" or "Duracell Batteries" in addition to the money you have paid for being abused while transported in a sardine can.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Special words"...

    Got a captcha script on my site which comes up with rather "special words" once in a while. But that's no problem, it's only used by spammers anyway.

  8. Ketlan
    Happy

    N*gger?

    'I was commenting on an Australian news site discussing a story about rascim and I got a CAPTCHA which had the word 'N*gger'. I have the screen shot at home somewhere.'

    Is that Randy Marsh?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: N*gger?

      My thoughts exactly...

      There is nothing racist about the word for an annoying person.

      1. Gavin King

        Re: N*gger?

        Or for that matter a large flat bottomed moat used (usually) to carry cargo on the Nile.

        1. Martin Budden Silver badge
          Headmaster

          Re: N*gger?

          Assuming your Nile "moat" is a boat, it is called a nugger: http://www.absp.org.uk/words/boats.shtml

  9. psychonaut

    Uh...im not sure we needed clarification on "nutrify"

  10. rcorrect
    Mushroom

    RE: Who put their ass on the line by putting a rectum in the script?

    Someone with a sense of humor who isn't a crybaby?

    1. Frankee Llonnygog

      Re: RE: Who put their ass on the line by putting a rectum in the script?

      The culprit will be identified by a probe

  11. Graham Marsden
    Devil

    This reminds me...

    ... of many years ago when a local computer shop had a Hangman demo program written in Basic.

    It was dead easy to go in, edit the word list to include certain *other* words that appealed to my schoolboy sense of humour at the time, and then wander off to the other side of the shop whilst keeping an eye on the next person to give the game a go...

  12. WraithCadmus
    Devil

    He returns

    Soon my brothers!

    All hail Inglip!

  13. Don Jefe
    Happy

    Not Desirable

    Maybe this is an unpublicized, stealth trial, of an advanced CAPTCHA system that in addition to determining your species, determines your desirability as a visitor to the site.

    "If you're offended by such a word we didn't want you anyway".

    1. wowfood

      Re: Not Desirable

      Or on some other sites, "if you aren't offended by this word, you're clearly not easily offended enough to appreciate our content"

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Rectum? I nearly killed 'em!

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    TITTY

    That's what the script gave me first go. Worht two in the bush mate.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumBolloxRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectumRectum.

    There, the word's lost all meaning.

    1. Lamont Cranston
      Coat

      Mushroom,

      mushroom!

  17. Kubla Cant

    Anus

    The other week on University Challenge there was an anagram question to which the answer was "anus and sauna". There was a perceptible pause while the student who answered it calculated whether he was really supposed to say "anus" on national TV.

  18. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Oh right

    So to attack this site you can just use a bog standard disctionary attack with bots, apply basic ocr and insert the nearest match.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    will a child know the meaning of rectum? they'll just think it's a made up word.

    i'd understand the complaint if bum, tit or fanny was there. kids have heard of those.

  20. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    "It damn near killed him"

    Famous Australian joke (or not necessarily Australian)

  21. NormansLament

    I got....................

    manroot

  22. NormansLament
    Happy

    Another.

    vicelike

  23. Gob Smacked
    Thumb Up

    VILLAGE

    Nothing special. Last I took a wrong corner and ended up there... It's a village nearby I didn't know of:

    https://www.google.nl/maps/preview?authuser=0#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d11798!2d6.5691904!3d52.3282564!2m1!1e3&fid=7

    1. magickmark
      Holmes

      Re: VILLAGE

      Must be the Arse (ass for our US cousins) end of nowhere!

      Sherlock? Alimentary My dear Watson!

  24. Potemkine Silver badge

    Sex vs Violence

    I'm always surprised to see how people from English culture (UK, US, ANZAR...) are shocked by everything connected with the human body (or worse with sex) when they are so tolerant about everything related to violence, wounds and death. Picture of a naked breast is shocking, picture of a gased child in Syria is not.

    1. Gavin King

      Re: Sex vs Violence

      While I broadly agree with you ( except I think us New Zealand types are a bit more reasonable than others), I am genuinely interested in what you mean by ANZAR; presumably it relates to Australia and New Zealand, but what do the letters "AR" stand for? I've never heard of it, and (an admittedly quick) seach only shows up an Arabic boy's name.

  25. Mark York 3 Silver badge
    Pint

    My favorite CAPTCHA was when asked to verify on Facebook that I knew a lady it threw up the name of our local bar & a less than flattering term.......leading to Crawford Minger.

  26. Andi Blonde

    I got 'jihad' once.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Cartman"

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Rectum? - Damn near killedum!

  29. Mother Hubbard
    Joke

    Fast Forward

    It's good to see Michael Veitch's arse still getting airplay in Australia. I was concerned that he'd forgotten his roots at Sunday Arts.

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