The Lie on 100% KeyCAPTCHA’s Protection (Unbreakablity) from Bots: Debunking KeyCAPTCHA’s Myths
The myth about 100% protection from bots (or, rather, marketing slogan) is republished in thousands publications on the internet.
Those republishing it obviously did not minimally bother to search internet by keywords:
- jigsaw puzzles machine (computer) solving (assembling)
- visual recognition
to know that jigsaw puzzles were being successfully solved (assembled) by computer (machines, bots) long before CAPTCHA invention, image- video- or speech recognition.
Later, I shall update this article with references of concrete reports debunking this myth
Related article:
- Автоматическое распознавание KeyCaptcha
In Russian (use http://translate.google.com):
With video and code
Hacking jigsaw puzzle game KeyCaptcha used as anti-spam protection in sites powered by PHP web-CMS suchs WordPress, SMF (SimpleMachines Forums), IPB (IPS – InvisionPower Services), Drupal, Joomla, etc.vBulletin)
http://intsystem.org/448/vzlom-keycaptcha - Взлом интерактивной CAPTCHA (10 Febr 2011)
Automatic Recognition and Solving of Interactive CAPTCHA (KeyCAPTCHA pairs)
http://webbonews.ru/vzlom-interaktivnoj-captcha
Antispam KeyCAPTCHA.com Email Spam
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This is funny.
.
It was an open secret for a very long time that its support@keycaptcha.com is in list of known spammers (difficult or impossible to unsubscribe from a service once subscribed) as well as there were reports that KeyCAPTCHA.com’s antispam protection collects Emails.. .
.
I’ve got a 3d-party Email confirming this (I leave contacts as they are publicly available on the internet)
From: | gloria<at>gloriarand.com |
to | Gennady <Censored@gmail.com> |
date | Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 8:07 PM |
subject | Fwd: Changes in KeyCAPTCHA Terms of Service |
Check out this email I got today. I don’t recall signing up for their service.
Gloria
Gloria Rand
SEO Copywriter & Social Media Consultant
(786)942-8321
gloria@gloriarand.com
Turning Keywords into… Copy that Clicks!
Authorized 1&1 Hosting Affiliate
Follow me on Facebook
Follow me on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter
Read my blog
———- Original Message ———-
From: KeyCAPTCHA <support@keycaptcha.com>
To: gloria@gloriarand.com
Date: September 8, 2011 at 7:33 AM
Subject: Changes in KeyCAPTCHA Terms of Service
Please, get to know with the updated Terms of Service at www.keycaptcha.com
For more information on amount of your income, click here .
Ad displaying in KeyCAPTCHA at your website(s) will launch on September 12, 2011.
An advertisement in KeyCAPTCHA will be displayed if we have advertisers who are willing to advertise in KeyCAPTCHA at websites whose subject matter suits your website’s subject.
If for some reason you are reluctant to earn money by our service, and you are unwilling to display ads in KeyCAPTCHA at your website, you have to go to your website’s additional settings atwww.keycaptcha.com and turn off ad displaying in KeyCAPTCHA at your website.
We anticipate a long-term and fruitful collaboration.
Best regards,
KeyCAPTCHA
Related articles:
Antispam “KeyCAPTCHA is Under Attack” Forum Spam as an Example of “Best PR is Black PR” Technique
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.“Life is not about waiting
for the storm to pass,
it’s about learning
to dance in the rain”
~Unknown Author
(sometimes attributed to
Viviane Greene)
.
.
.
KeyCAPTCHA.com antispam service created viral publicity of its service as absolutely free, having involved in this campaign many others unaware.
KeyCAPTCHA.com creators being professional spammers and blackhat profiteers routinely use Email and forum spam (See also: “Antispam KeyCAPTCHA.com Spam“) , spinning software, content farms to fill internet with spam promoting its antispam KeyCAPTCHA service.
One of the latest examples devoted to slandering me personally was botted by hundreds identical texts over the internet
Here are my answers to it:
.
“The person spreading a slander and a lie regarding the KeyCAPTCHA Service uses different nicknames on different web resources” [1-2]
My answer:
I have to use multiple accounts since they were deleted by the requests of KeyCAPTCHA.com without any check of facts.
By the way, most was created due to instructions of ex-employer KeyCAPTCHA.com, before the date of my dismissal (May, 2011) and if it insists, I can expose them publicly.
Please read my “KeyCAPTCHA, I’m a Liar – Pants on Fire – Was I Good or Bad?”
,
I do not post in the same site under different nicknames and accounts as it is routinely being done by KeyCAPTCHA.com continuing to spam forums under multiple nicknames (usernames, accounts) in the same topic.
For example, KeyCAPTCHA account and its clones (babnicks, Drew_007) were banned in http://forum.searchengines.ru for aggressive spamming, off-topic, flame (personal insulting of its concurrent business in Russia) in the same topic!
I do publish only part of truth which is is easily available for check in public access on the internet!
“You can find it out by googling “KeyCAPTCHA is under attack” (quoted)” [1-2]
My answer:
Well, you can’t find all because exact copies of the same text are blacklisted by search engines but I give the partial (that I could find) list of references (URLs) below [1].
KeyCAPTCHA.com:
“This person extorted money from our employee. And he had been caught by the police when he was taking the money” [1-2]
My answer:
I could not extort money from KeyCAPTCHA’s employee because I was informed by this “employer”, already after my dismissal that company that hired me (I am in Russia), was not registered legal company having changed its previous alleged locations (now it is US-based Mersane) and legally could not have employees
Also read:
KeyCAPTCHA.com:
“This person alleges that he had been our employee. But it is the lie.
We are not going to conceal that he assisted us in supporting our twitter account.
But after the numerous reprimands regarding the quality of his messages on our twitter, we had fulfilled all our obligations to this person and renounced his assistance” [1-2]
My answer:
This is already 7th variant of my story by KeyCAPTCHA.com I am reading about me.
The 1st one was that I had never worked in KeyCAPTCHA.com,
stole @KeyCAPTCHA twitter account with the help of which I extorted money
(Isn’t it reidiculous that someone can extort thousands UDSs by stealing a twitter account?)
Read my post: “How I Stole My Own KeyCAPTCHA Twitter Account”
I was employed as Software Developer in Test.
Getting job for supporting a twitter account with my qualifications and experience is ridiculous
Read also: “Who Stole @KeyCAPTCHA Twitter Account?”
KeyCAPTCHA.com:
“But he has never been an employee of our company.
We just had a verbal agreement with this person” [1-2]
My answer:
By Russian Labor Legislature and Employment Laws, the employment is being determined by the fact of working employer-employee relationships (working in office, fulfilling working instructions under daily timetable, etc.) but not by writing and signing agreements.
This is quite similar in EU labor legislature.
I was promised the formalization of written contract after 2-month probation which I successfully passed as well as I have thousands proves and witnesses of my work as employer.
KeyCAPTCHA.com: "The Twitter support team had blocked his 3 accounts of his slander and lie on the KeyCAPTCHA Service right after our request and his 2 accounts without our requests Scam.com support team has blocked his 2 accounts of the same lie" [1-2]
My answer:
And I believed that KeyCAPTCHA’s efficiency was, at least 80% while it is just 1-2/7=71%
I shall publish the list of banned for spamming KeyCAPTCHA accounts soon
Also, read my article: “Why Twitter Supports Criminals?”
.
KeyCAPTCHA.com:
“We are not going to reply to his future messages on this website. It is not our goal.
We just wanted to publish the facts regarding this person” [1-2]
My answer:
KeyCAPTCHA’s spambot has a bug.
It swears everywhere multiple times in the same threads that it is its last reply .
For example, there are the same promise in the same threads with continued self-talking thereafter:
- the last phrase of post on 08/19/2011:
“Уважаемые форумчане, отвечать на данном форуме на дальнейшие опусы Nedodurok’а мы не будем в виду отсутствия времени и исчерпанности темы обсуждения”
and in the same thread already in 2 langauages on 09/11/2011:
“Мы не планируем отвечать на его последующие сообщения на данном сайте”
“We are not going to reply to his future messages on this website. It is not our goal.
We just wanted to publish the facts regarding this person” - Ibid in
http://forum.searchengines.ru/showthread.php?p=9494514#post9494514 - etc.
KeyCAPTCHA.com:
“Our service and company are absolutely legal.Here are the variants of using KeyCAPTCHA:” [1-2]
My answer:
The facts are that KeyCAPTCHA.com continues to use intentionally deceptive, misleading, false and fraudulent marketing and advertising I published before and none of them has ever been addressed (if to ignore the attacks on my Multiple Nym Disorder Syndrome induced by my experience from working in and protecting from KeyCAPTCHA.com)
.
.Cited above:
[1] Some of the links to “KeyCAPTCHA under attack” publications (posts, comments, etc.):
[1a] In English only
- http://drupal.org/node/1255790#comment-4973198
- http://scriptmafia.org/index.php?do=lastcomments&userid=50342
- http://pcvaluware.com/blocking-comment-spam-on-wordpress/comment-page-1/#comment-580
- http://wordpress.org/support/topic/anti-spam-plugin-keycaptcha-captcha#post-2332367
- http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-keycaptcha-free-interactive-captcha-service-buddypress-support#post-2333352
- http://abelads.com/1526/keycaptcha-spam-service-joomla-plugin.html/comment-page-1#comment-6693
- etc.
- http://mywordpress.ru/support/viewtopic.php?pid=95367#p95367
- http://ipbskins.ru/forum/topic7159.html/page__view__findpost__p__54382
- http://masterpro.ws/forum/26-extensions-joomla/369—joomla?limit=10&start=10#2946
- http://www.web57.ru/index.php/rascshirenie/plagins/item/79-keycaptcha.html#comment35
- http://forum.searchengines.ru/showthread.php?p=9494514#post9494514
- etc.
[1c]
Ibid, In Russian:
[1d]
Ibid, deleted by webmasters as spam:
- http://www.wjunction.com/showthread.php?p=1006604
http://www.wjunction.com/showthread.php?p=1005826
http://www.wjunction.com/64-webmaster-resources/73521-keycaptcha-spambot-protection-2.htm#post1006589 - http://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/keycaptcha/support/misinforming_descriptions_of_keycaptcha-t_94587
http://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/keycaptcha/support/misinforming_descriptions_of_keycaptcha-t_94587-p_228509-sid_0b43072a24ad587660305a74bbe43dcb#p228509 - http://phpclub.ru/talk/posts/620417/
- etc.
Dear Visitors,
The person spreading a slander and a lie regarding the KeyCAPTCHA Service uses different nicknames on different web resources.
He thinks up his new slander and lie from time to time.You can find it out by googling “KeyCAPTCHA is under attack” (quoted).
======= Ooops, cut in order to avoid creating large chunk of duplicated content
.
Related articles:
New Trends in Spamming: Spam Fused into Antispam Protection with Spamming Visitors Instead of Web Sites
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“There are only 2 ways of telling the complete truth –
anonymously and posthumously”
~Thomas Sowell
.
“Find out what the meaning of life is,
and see if we can monetize it”
@bizcartoons (Ted Goff)
.
Spamming web sites with links to fool search engines was always doomed game because it irritated both owners of web resources and visitors.
Also, even appearing of website in top of SERP (Search Engine Result Pages) did not mean having marketing success
So, the recent trend is to deliver unwarranted advertising, aka spam, directly to visitors without leaving spam on web resources (sites, blogs, etc.) as well as to bribe (sorry, share profits with) owners of web resources.
Looks like spamming through antispam solutions became more lucrative than previous spamming schemes.
The author exIV of an article
- Modern Spam Protection Systems by the Eyes of Ex-Spammer
Взгляд на современные системы защиты от спама веб-форм глазами бывшего спамера
.confesses in comments to this articles that:
- he is professional spammer and blackhat specialist
(“А спамер я был по-совмеместительству, я занимался черным СЕО…и было время когда на клик-клике да рупоиске по 500$ в день капало 🙂 “ - and now the owner of KeyCAPTCHA
(“ну то есть конечно я владелец кейкапчи”) - always approached the spamming and spambot development with imagination considering it to be an art and his botted comments were contextual and undetectable by antispam filters
“Я подходил к этому делу как к искусству и мои комменты были зачастую «прямо в тему»… Хоть делал их робот…”
. So, now he developed a new miraculous technique of unavoidable spamming through antispam protection KeyCAPTCHA.
Though, what’s the difference?
Earlier his bots entertained end-user with meaningful spam comments and now with meaningful entertaining spam (puzzle) pictures, leaving happy not only advertisers but now also owners of web resources.
.
Though, one profound problem remains with this antispam spam scam.
.
Spam or not spam is not determined by happiness of advertisers and advertising intermediaries, even when they are happy with spam owners of web resources, but by explicit consent of end-users, or visitors of web-resources.
KeyCAPTCHA Scam – How to Make Spam Unavoidable
It is like in any scam scheme: first, a victim is enticed by an irresistible offer of absolutely free of charge novel (“first”, “innovative”, “sexy”. “unique”, etc.) miracle or easy way to earn money (including interesting job offer like it was for me by KeyCAPTCHA.com). Then you are trapped by a sneaky change in conditions of bargain (employment)… Accordingly, first, KeyCAPTCHA.com filled the internet with ads of its first absolutely free of charge (“unique”, “novel”, “innovative”, “unbreakable”) anti-spam miracle. It was not only without any advertising but even buyers of commercial fee-based KeyCAPTCHA service were initially prohibited to create CAPTCHAs with any advertising. Then, in the beginning of August, 2011, after bloggers started to write about and webmasters with sysadmins to advise each other this miracle en masse, KeyCAPTCHA.com changed its ToS convering KeyCAPTCHA from antispam captcha into spam platform.
That is, a webmaster that installed it, cannot avoid spam served through installed KeyCAPTCHA plug-in from KeyCAPTCHA.com’s servers, except “agreeing” to buy “Personalized CAPTCHA” service or uninstalling KeyCAPTCHA plugin.Well, the end-user (a visitor) of a protected web resource, cannot just close your eyes and skip it like with any other spam. KeyCAPTCHA usually blocks access to webresource, like registering for forum, commenting blog article, posting, downloading a file, resetting a forgotten password, etc.
- KeyCAPTCHA Spam Platform – Rebutting KeyCAPTCHA.com’s Claims that Spamming is Legal
- KeyCAPTCHA “Genius” Demagoguery – Antispam Spamming Platform: Why to Buy a Spambot, Buy the Spam-thru-CAPTCHAs Share
- What Is the “first” in KeyCAPTCHA and Why to Have it Externally, i.e. Out of Control?
History:
- August 9, 2011 -Created and published
- Sept 15, 2011 – Changed the published date to Sept 09, 2011 in order to cjange the order of posts presentations
To Spam or Not To Spam: That is Not The Choice Anymore?
This is something new that I did not discover immediately because Twitter is very lousy in presenting me my own tweets and the owner of twitter account is not notified about its own tweets.
Every 10-12 hours, for quite a time now, I supposedly tweet from my twitter account spam-tweets with the same content:
“Are you serious about weight loss? Read this article ASAP! <a varying URL link to a site with the same content>”
I left two tweets as a sample:
- https://twitter.com/#!/WebMAOhist/status/112281390808186880
- https://twitter.com/#!/WebMAOhist/status/111387319138910209
Are you serious about weight loss? Read this article ASAP! http://trustedwebnews.com
I removed access to all applications but these spam-tweets reappear, mostly at my night-hours, so I remove them in 6-8 hours after their staying in my feed under my twitter account-name!
I can login to web resources (sites, blogs, social networks, etc.) sites through a SSO (single-sign-on or single-sign-through) using Twitter, Disqus, OpenID, etc. accounts without re-typing my username and password, even after explicitly removing my access. I simply press confirm-access buttons and my cached in browser credentials are being used.
Why cannot the earlier given access be cached by the sites and re-used by hackers after I removed my access from target applications. And what about if I am presented the wrong descriptions during signing in?
And what choice I do have anyway?
There are simply no tracking of resources (sites) to which I ever signed in with Twitter.
I login with my SSO to comment, to post, etc. and then I even do not remember all such sites.
Even if I did, they mostly do not let to drop my accounts anyway
Is it a wrong question?
Tell me how to track and/or to stop spam-tweeting from my twitter account if I removed access to it to any application!
Related article:
Woah! Read Those Twitter Authorizations Carefully
Update:
Spam tweets stopped
Before appearance of spam tweets I created only one derivative (through my twitter account login) account on a web site having built-in based on IPB (IP.Board) WCMS functionality of tweeting from it and republishing tweets from twitter account to that website.
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And my account was banned soon after I tried to ask site’s administration team about possibility of spam tweets through my account on that web site.
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I shall not indicate the URL of the site since this topic is interesting from conceptual point of view but not for tracing concrete technical or ethical breaches.
Protected: Lies, Big Lies and Statistics of KeyCAPTCHA Service Part 1 On the Amount of Protected Sites
If Interested in a Free Service, then Don’t Promote it?
Half the work that is done in this world
is to make things appear what they are not
~Beadle, E. R.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic
~Arthur C. Clarke’s 3d Law of Prediction)
But magic can sometimes just be an illusion
~Javan
Belief in the absence of illusions is itself an illusion
~Barbara Harrison
A hallucination is a fact, not an error;
what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it
~Bertrand Russell
So, after a storm of angry publications by unhappy webmasters and uninstalls of KeyCAPTCHA plugings, on August 14, 2011, KeyCAPTCHA.com “announced” (by posting a few replies, for example here and there) that the free of charge option of its service was restored from August 8, 2011 (probably because the last post of KeyCAPTCHA defending its removal was from August 7, 2011, see the same links upward). Novosibirsk time (GMT +6:00) everywhere in this article.
The most funny thing was that there were no changes in ToS or any descriptions on keycaptcha.com webite whatsoever! But wait, there’s more
How to Lie without being Caught-22 (Lessons Learned from Communicating with KeyCAPTCHA.com)
Wisdom says that a liar should have a good memory. Not true on the internet, it is enough to manage to change or remove your previous publications.
I and others caught KeyCAPTCHA.com, my former employer, to publicly lie hundreds times and you will not find any such publications.
From my observations, the posts on the forums based on WCMSs (Web Content Management System) like
- vBulletin – permits changes
- phpBB – – permits changes
- SMF (SimpleMachines Forums) – permits delete
- Drupal
- Twitter (well, it is probably not WCMS and permits only to delete tweets but I hate Twitter no less for having permitted to slander and scam me by this feature)
usually let to change posts later, even after replies, whenever an author likes.
While on
- WordPress
- Joomla (after being replied?)
- IPB (aka IP.Board, InvsionPower Board) Services, how one should tag it in Social Media, I wonder?
do not (but only in a few minutes time immediately after posting) .
CSS Tutorials
What’s the point of permitting life-time changing (or deleting) what some has written, even after having dozens replies, I wonder?
One can check the forum’s CMS at the bottom of a web page and double-check it at webpage souce finding a string “generator”. Here is an example of HTML element from WordPress forum HTML-element:
- <meta name=”generator” content=”WordPress 3.2″ />
What about comments in blogs and posts that cannot be edited/deleted?
That’s also simple. KeyCAPTCHA Team has done it many times. It is enough post personal attacks on a participant the more and uglier the “better” until any sense is lost, then ask moderators, administrators/owner of the blog to delete the whole topic or branch for a flame and/or off-topic.
100% results of topic ensured to delete a thread, branch or a whole topic!
If the results are not immediate, just return and do it again and again.
08/19/2011 Update:
Hilarious confirmation of this shit-technique employed by KeyCAPTCHA itself.
Read all thread!
“We have detected spam activity, your actions are blocked”
In Soviet Russia, spam activity of spam-captchas block human’s access
Another technique is to block writers (blog commenters) through its KeyCAPTCHA by IP-address.
This is very clever to self-advertise you, only fans of KeyCAPTCHA and advertising will be able to use internet soon.
Catch-22: How to Annoyingly Block New Users on a Web Site
Recently I tried to register in http://www.aspenandvolare.com/forum.php
Even with the help of internet, I could not answer anti-spam registration question, it is always one and the same:
- What was the most common engine used in the Dodge Aspen & Plymouth Volare?
Why Is KeyCAPTCHA the Lose-Lose for a Webmaster/Publisher
“The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat one’s self”
Pearl Bailey
So, KeyCAPTCHA.com announced commercialization of its anti-spam service enticing webmasters by paying for letting unavoidable unwarranted to end-users advertising pass through anti-spam CAPTCHAs.
What’s wrong with it for webmasters (owners of web resources)?
Webmaters And Advertisers Earnings Depend on End-User but Not Vice Versa or How the Formers Share End-User’s Money
The earning of webmaster depend on on website popularity, eventually on its user-friendliness, convenience, respect of user’s rights, etc.
End-users (visitors of websites) hate CAPTCHAs, even more they hate advertising
Leaving no choice but to inevitably interact with advertising will not make most users content
Eventually, it is end-users whose money is shared , advertisers and webmasters are just intermediaries.
Intrusive Unavoidable Advertising is Crime
Sharing the earnings with webmasters or established practice of unwarranted advertising doesn’t make the latter legitimate
Laws on advertising and on-line services providing of any countries stipulate that advertising cannot be intrusive – the user should explicitly agree on advertising and have options to reject, or, at least, ignore it. Publishers (in this case webmasters) are risking to be prosecuted
Is it Really So Lucrative in Practice?
Advertisers do not pay for any interaction with advertising but only by specific users with specific profiles (interests) from specific geo-locations, etc.
KeyCAPTCHA does not have (a lot of) advertisers and here are some feedbacl of disfrunted webmasters from campaigns of advertising-capthchas with existing pool of advertisers:
- “And remember that is thirty days of revenue. I make more on two or three adsense clicks”
- “My board is not visited by US citizens so I’ll never get the revenue”
- etc.
What’s the Point in Outsourcing and Centralizing Your Security?
-
In Soveit Russia, CAPTCHAs Block Humans from its own Spam Activity
You are outsourcing your decisions on whom to interact with your website and who is spammer.
For example, I am not bot but I am blockedby IP-address from any webresource access or functionality requiring KeyCAPTCHA because KeyCAPTCHA.com Team decided that I am a spammer!
How do you know who else they do not or will not like?
- Centralized Services are More Frequent Victims of DDOS Attacks
While working in keycaptcha.com, I had asked:“Why do I make from me a fool by promoting KeyCAPTCHA http://hidemail.at while the keycatcha.com website publishes its Email support@keycaptcha.com without ?”and the answer was that it is externl service which can be down or blocked by a DDOS attack.Note it should not be down completely, it is enough if a DDOS attackcomes from your region for a datacenter used by KeyCAPTCHA service to geo-filter packets from your direction and KeyCAPTCHA appear down for you.
KeyCAPTCHA Spam Platform – Rebutting KeyCAPTCHA.com’s Claims that Spamming is Legal
In my previous article
I wrote about the dispute between the owner of http://ipbskins.ru, caught unawares by KeyCAPTCHA.com anti-spam service started to serve spam (ads picture puzzles + ads link) and disappearance of previous non-ads free captcha options.
In the followed afterwards discussion, in comments to Fisana’s blog and in ipbskins.ru forum post. KeyCAPTCHA Team re-stated that, according to changes of rules on August 2, 2011, webmasters have no free no-ads options any more. Now, there are 2 options to use (3d one to stop using) KeyCAPTCHA service ONLY:
- to buy “Personalized CAPTCHA” service (and serve whatever you want, including your own captchas without ads)
- to create advertising campaign permitting 3d-party ads to earn money. Hacking to remove ads picture (puzzles) and ads links will lbe punished by ban
- to uninstall KeyCAPTCHA plug-in and install alternative measure of anti-spam protection
So, recapitulating the “new” KeyCAPTCHA’s policies and rules:
- no opt-in to refuse (unsubsribe) from ads by addressee
In Russia, it is illegal under Part 2 of article 10 of Федеральный Закон Российской Федерации 149-ФЗ от 27 июля 2006 г. “ОБ ИНФОРМАЦИИ, ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЯХ И О ЗАЩИТЕ ИНФОРМАЦИИ” - the ads are being provided without prior obligatory consent by addressee
In Russia, it is is illegal according to article 18.1 of Федеральный закон Российской Федерации от 13 марта 2006 г. 38-ФЗ “О рекламе” - no option of free of charge service without external/3d-party ads
This seems to be available in any other CAPTCHA service, including those promoted as ads platforms - impossible to identify of a person distributing ads:
KeyCAPTCHA Team is in Russia,
now presents itself as US-based Mersane Ltd.,
having presented itself untill the March, 2011 as Joint Stock ITNP (ЗАО ИТНП)
under the jurisdiction (see item 10.6) “of the Republic of Seychelles, without regard to conflict-of-laws provisions”
In Russia, it is illegal under Part 2 of article 10 of Федеральный Закон Российской Федерации 149-ФЗ от 27 июля 2006 г. “ОБ ИНФОРМАЦИИ, ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЯХ И О ЗАЩИТЕ ИНФОРМАЦИИ” - No guarantees or liabilities by KeyCAPTCHA.com , see item 4 of KeyCAPTCHA’s ToS
In Russia, it is illegal under article 12 , article 38 of Федеральный закон Российской Федерации от 13 марта 2006 г. 38-ФЗ “О рекламе”
I cited the laws of Russian Federaration though there are similar statements in the laws of most countries stating that unavoidable advertising (or intrusive or inescapable or indivertible or unpreventable or encroaching or meddlesome or invasive advertising) is illegal.
Read for example: “Unavoidable Advertising – Is It Legal in the U.S.?”
I skipped EU legislation since US one is the most relaxed.
The KeyCAPTCHa.com Team argues then that:
- unwarranted advertising is omnipresent in TV, printed press, cinema, etc.
Well, this is demagoguery – I can always opt to skip watching or reading unwarranted ads and by this will not block deprive me from access other resources. - that spamming is legal as far as online service informs about it in its ToS (Terms of Service)
No comments: commit any crime, just don’t forget write your rules for this, even afterwards, as KeyCAPTCHA.com did.
- KeyCAPTCHA Scam – How to Make Spam Unavoidable
- KeyCAPTCHA Spam Platform – Rebutting KeyCAPTCHA.com’s Claims that Spamming is Legal (this one)
- KeyCAPTCHA “Genius” Demagoguery – Antispam Spamming Platform: Why to Buy a Spambot, Buy the Spam-thru-CAPTCHAs Share
- What Is the “first” in KeyCAPTCHA and Why to Have it Externally, i.e. Out of Control?
History:
KeyCAPTCHA “Genius” Demagoguery – Antispam Spamming Platform: Why to Buy a Spambot, Buy the Spam-thru-CAPTCHAs Share
Why to buy a spambot, if one can buy the right to spam through the network of “anti-spam” “highly interactive” captchas?
Anti-spam CAPTCHAs as advertising platform are not new.
The new KeyCAPTCHA.com’s “innovation” is that:
- webmasters having installed anti-spam KeyCAPTCHA do not have any control of what is being served served, or spammed through such anti-antispam external KeyCAPTCHA service (including to opt for free non-ads captchas), except its uninstall
- initially it is promoted through non-ads KeyCAPTCHs with following change to obligatory spam without any notice
Let me cite (in my translation) the dialogue between KeyCAPTCHA Team and the webmaster/sysadmin of http://ipbskins.ru Fisana in her blog article:
The original article proposed a discovered hack how to continue serving KeyCAPTCHA without spam (ads puzlle + link) and stated about complaints of users and decreased rate of registrations on forum due to unwarranted ads served through KeyCAPTCHA.
The followed in comments dialogue, briefed by me + I added links:
- KeyCAPTCHA:
Hacking of our KeyCAPTCHA service will be punished by ban according to KeyCAPTCHA Terms of Service and Use Agreement - Fisana:
I was horrified to find out that KeyCAPTCHA plugin setting on keycaptcha.com website does not have an option of non-advertising captchas - KeyCAPTCHA:
According to “Publishers” section you can create advertising campaign with your own captchas - Fisana:
I do not need advertising campaigns and do not have the time to add my captchas , I just want to continue being served with non-ads pictures. - KeyCAPTCHA (my favorite one):
Our service is absolutely gratuitous, if you do not want ads, you can either buy out its abscence or use other alternative solutions (i.e. having uninstalled KeyCAPTCHA plug-in)
Besides webmasters’ earning on it, it provides 100% protection from spam-bots - Fisana:
This is you right.
But, before serving ads, you should have warned your users.
When I started to use your service, there was no advertising either in captchas being served or in your ToS!
There was a free unconstrained service + fee-based additional unasked options
I did not subscribe ads can be served to my website without my permission or even warning! - KeyCAPTCHA:
We warned by Emails only those webmasters whose webresource themes were interesting to our advertisers. No one of warned webmasters stopped using KeyCAPTCHA service but only thanked us
The rules at the moment of your registration told:
“KeyCAPTCHA may at any time revise these Terms of Service by updating this posting. By using KeyCAPTCHA, you agree to be bound by any such revisions and should therefore periodically visit this page to determine the then-current Terms of Service to which you are bound”
Such, or very similar item, is present in most of on-line srvices
- Fisana:
Serving the advertising requies obligatory consent by webmaster
KeyCAPTCHA’s Initial ToS (Terms of Service) did not mention any advertising at all. Adding ads and ads links is the change of service [my comment: what a naivity, see (*)]
And where is the guarantees that next changing of ToS will not bring to my website something illegal (porno, etc.)? - KeyCAPTCHA:
Our KeyCAPTCHA always had logo with links to keycaptcha.com website. It was also ads… What’s the difference? - Fisana:
Visitors do not like ads pictures/puzzles in captcha. Hadn’t they complained, I’d not have noticed it at all - KeyCAPTCHA:
Item 1.17 of our rules is:
“1.17 The User shall not evade, modify, crack or interrupt into the operating mechanisms of the Service and of the Site.
Any breach of the Agreement’s Terms results in the suspension of User’s account and access blocking to the Service and the Site.”
We reccommend WP-NOTCAPTCHA
YouTube service is inserting advertising into its video stream.
The comments were truncated by me. You can read them in full using online translator
I was dismissed under invented pretexts because I expressed on many occasions my disagreement with business model based on changing the rules, agreements, ToS which is, in my opinion, is cheating and fraud.
And you, what do you think about?
- KeyCAPTCHA Scam – How to Make Spam Unavoidable
- KeyCAPTCHA Spam Platform – Rebutting KeyCAPTCHA.com’s Claims that Spamming is Legal (this one)
- KeyCAPTCHA “Genius” Demagoguery – Antispam Spamming Platform: Why to Buy a Spambot, Buy the Spam-thru-CAPTCHAs Share
- What Is the “first” in KeyCAPTCHA and Why to Have it Externally, i.e. Out of Control?
History of changes:
Dismissal in “Good Will” a-la-KeyCAPTCHA
“Let’s part in good will” a la-KeyCAPTCHA, it is when you offered 11,500 rubles of dismissal payment having 43,000 rubles of unpaid salary (if to forget about few times bigger severance pack) and when you refuse such a generous offer, you are repeatedly threatened by criminal cases for theft in keycaptcha.com office, physical violence, etc.
Then, KeyCAPTCHA.com “company” offers you even more, than one can expect, to compensate your unfair treatment and you get caught red-handed by police called by your “employer” during receiving this payout money. It also happens that the KeyCAPTCHA.com “company” which hired you, has never legally existed (except on keycaptcha.com website) and you extorted money (but really rejected them few times) from persons that rented a business offce for keycaptcha.com activities on the internet.
So, instead of employment, payments of your work or seeking new employment after dismissal, you are forced to study criminal laws and prepare for criminal litigation with your former “employer”.
But what was the point?
I am trapped and have no ethical, moral or psychic restrictions to protect me against unfair accusations and forced to go until the end and by all means
Why Twitter Supports Criminals?
Many times I reported to twitter support (opened a few tickets) that a dozen of KeyCAPTCHA.com Team’s tweets from stolen from me @KeyCAPTCHA twitter account are lies and some of them are simply crimes:
The tweet “This person stole our twitter account @KeyCAPTCHA. And he started to extort money from our company” is lie
- I did not and could not ever steal my own @KeyCAPTCHA account.
See my article: “Who Stole @KeyCAPTCHA Twitter Account?”
Update:
Since the cited Tweet was deleted here is its cache
The tweet “When he started his threats we reported to the police immediately. The police helped us to get our twitter account back” is lie
- Dec. 11, 2010 – I was hired by keycaptcha.com
- Jan 21, 2011 – created @KeyCAPTCHA on under name @Coulombusser from my private GMail account. See also How I Stole KeyCAPTCHA Twitter Account
- May, 2011 – dismissed (though, since I was not paid, it is quite probable that I am still employed),
- May, 30, 2011 – reported by keycaptcha.com to police for alleged extortion
- June 3, 2011 – caught by police for extortion with proposed and paid by my former employer keycaptcha.com money
- When did I steal my Twitter account and How could I possibly extort money by stealing any Twitter account?
The Tweet of “He is under recognizance not to leave now” is crime.
- I am not and was never in my life under any recognizance oreven informed about opening criminal case against me until now (Updated on August 11, 2011). Although, By law, it should have been done in maximum 10 days
The Tweet “The police are investigating it (all his other illegal actions (extortion of money, his threats and publishing slander)) now” is crime.
- Until the end of investigation, the publishing of such “conclusions” is the crime under Russian and international laws.
The Tweet “Stop your lie. Your way can just aggravate your situation. See you in court” is intimidating threat publication of which is legally qualified as crime.
- etc.
Instead of returning stolen from me @KeyCAPTCHA twitter account or or suspending it for reported by me abuses, twitter support permanently suspended (i.e. deleted) my own (another) private account from which I reported (opened tickets) or tried to reply to such abuses and lies!
Except that I do not understand why Twitter obviously supports criminal activities, I do not understand why I am, as the author of my tweets, rejected the right at least to make copies of my content before blccking me from it without any warnings and expanations
Related article:
How I Stole My Own KeyCAPTCHA Twitter Account
In its recent Tweet :
“We have restored an access to our stolen twitter account @KeyCAPTCHA“
as well as in other publications of KeyCAPTCHA.com Team, I am publicly called the thief who stole my own twitter account!
- Update: Ooops… Whenever I comment KeyCAPTCHA’s publications, they promptly disappear.
1)Here is, in Russian, KeyCAPTCHA.com wrote:
“He stole our twitter account and started to distort money from us” (sickboy.ru)
2)“He has never been our employee. This person stole our twitter account @KeyCAPTCHA.
And he started to extort money from our company. He threatened us” (circvsmaximvs.com)
3)etc.
@KeyCAPTCHA twitter account has been created, used by me only from my private Gmail accounts by my own private initiative (having been always reprimanded for wasting time for this trash – Social Networking and communication) under its initially given by me username: @Coulombusser on January 20, 2011.
Renamed to @KeyCAPTCHA on Jan 23, 2011 (having changed it before final username @KeyCAPTCHA dozen of usernames).
I am the only author and user (before hijacking of @KeyCAPTCHA from me) having access to its activation link (with code), all , again my private, Gmail boxes and thousands Email notifications (about following, DMs – direct messages, etc) from it.
And I even opened a few support tickets from it on problems of accessing my another private twitter account in February and March, 2011
KeyCAPTCHA.com Team stole access to my @KeyCAPTCHA twitter account on June 3, 2011. by fraud , i.e. by promising to pay me negated earlier salary debt + dismissal fees for which I was caught by police.
KeyCAPTCHA Team does not have access to history of its use, Gamail accounts used with it and activation code!
Well, there are a lot of accounts for everybody in this world. I am not greedy.
Even more, I decided that tweeting is a waste of time for me, especially after Google stopped real-time indexing of Tweets.
KeyCAPTCHA Team, continue wasting it yourself.
But if KeyCAPTCHA Team insists, I can insist in my requests to twitter support to return me my @ KeyCAPTCHA twitter account back as I am the only author and user who has all copies about its activation and history of its use
Related articles:
KeyCAPTCHA Email protecting service: One More Little Lie For The Sake of The Big True Lie
Having a big employment experience in various countries, before my “employment” in KeyCAPTCHA.com, I’ve never encountered the situation when employer and colleagues are always misinforming you, even on unimportant trifles.
.
One more such petty lie I recalled after reading the question by Trevor Matthews:
What a great idea.
Will the service always be available if I use it on some of my websites?”
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?p=2295152#post2295152
and the answer there by KeyCAPTCHA:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?p=2295645#post2295645
Well, thу correct answer is that KeyCAPTCHA developers are or were never using this service to protect their own Email addresses.
When I asked “Why?”, the answer was:
Note that a service can be up but unreachable from certain destinations from/to which DDOS attacks come, kinda frequent situation in modern internet
I did feel me awkward by this answer because I advised this service not used by its own provider KeyCAPTCHA.com to my friends as well as I could not understand why I was misinformed about this before.
.
Business is business. In order to be deceptive one does not need to lie directly, just to omit some details.
At least, I could have full correct answer long before I made a clown from me before my acquaintances and friends.
.