Racism on the internet

Ever wondered why many websites ask you enter random gibberish when you're trying to do something in a hurry? Blogspot itself is guilty of this. Want to read a post in a hurry and comment on it before the boss notices, sorry buddy; you've got to type "Ima-nid-iot" before your comment gets posted. Which in itself is forgivable since it protects the site from the scourge called spam. What makes it all the more difficult is the way the letters are scribbled and arrogantly lie sprawled across the screen at impossible angles. If your boss can't find out you're blogging from what's displayed on your screen, then the way you twist your face and hang upside down from the ceiling just to read the blasted code surely will give your game away.

I call it the monkey check, since you look like a monkey trying to read the code.

I only found out a few months ago that the monkey check was designed to deter spammers, until then I simply thought that was a cruel joke being played out on netizens by web designers. As spammers got more innovative, the text had to be more and more squiggly and unreadable. If a human struggles to read it, a computer sure as hell can't seemed to be the prevalent logic across board rooms the world over. I suppose the next step in anti-spam security would be to print out your comment, sign and date it, go to a designated building and hand it over to another human being who will scan the document and email it to another designated human being who would print the text out and get yet another human being to deliver it to the human being who posted the original blog on which the comment has been given. Wait a minute... isn't that called the postal system? The very system the internet is threatening to replace? I wonder if we are taking steps backwards here...

Without getting into the rather complex argument on backward steps, I should probably leave it to said occupants of board rooms to decide how to fight spam. The purpose of this post is different. It is to expose the true intent of this so called anti-spam check.

Like all other inconveniences, I often have a stiff upper lip when it comes to gripes and comply without complaining. I resigned to my fate and went about my fate squinting and groaning all the way. This morning, something pushed me realise the true intent of this check - racism. Allow me to explain.

I was, as usual, sneaking a peak at the good friend's rants on the Indian prison system and wanted to offer my 2 cents worth. I typed in a long winded comment and jubilantly hit publish, only to be confronted with this:

I thought, of course I'm a human you stupid computer, tell me which other animal can type so many words and click on publish and imagine what a coincidence it would be if the words mostly made sense! Never before have I actually been confronted with the truth on why the gibberish is to be entered, it took me completely off guard. And then the real truth stared me in the face - this check was born out of racist tendencies of humans. The designers of the internet wanted to future proof the internet so that only humans can comment on blogs and create email ids. Non-humans, i.e., animals and aliens, would not be allowed to benefit from the internet since this check is only for humans. I am ashamed and shocked! Innocent users, including myself, have unwittingly become accessories to this cruelty.

Having been scorned, I did what any human would do under the circumstances; I posted a blog about it and now more people can become monkeys to prove they are human!

P.S.: Should you want to post a comment, please enter the following text (and the text blogspot asks you enter):