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Thread: Facebook CAPTCHA verification, when is account verification required (for social media accessibility study)

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Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Wed, Apr 27 2011 10:27PM
Subject: Facebook CAPTCHA verification, when is account verification required (for social media accessibility study)
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Hi everyone and sorry if this seems very off topic.

I am participating in a study of m.facebook.com and other Facebook
accessibility alternatives for visually impaired users.
We have been wondering when Facebook requires users to verify their
accounts using CAPTCHA and what rules apply.
Of course they do when they create their account in, but, in my own
experience, Faceook also requires account verification whenever a user
changes locations significantly (I have experienced this when
traveling from NC to California and of course when travelling within
Europe).
I do not know precisely how they do this, some type of DNS look up, or
what criteria they use, but if someone has actually worked with this
and can point me to a page with rules on when users will be required
to verify their account (by using CAPTCHA) it would be a very useful
information tidbit for the paper.
Thanks everyone.
-Birkir

From: Keith (mteye)
Date: Thu, Apr 28 2011 8:54AM
Subject: Re: Facebook CAPTCHA verification, when is account verification required (for social media accessibility study)
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It probably is by a DNS lookup of the IP that is accessing the site. It
makes sense, as most people don't travel widely. Even in accessing the
facebook page by cell phone, most people are within a small area. When the
account is accessed from a signifacant distance, it could be construed that
a malicious attacker is hijacking the account. The verfication process is
definitely a pain, but there is an audio verification as well as the graphic
one. Inconvenient as it may be, my personal take is that it's all in trying
to protect valid users, and guard privacy.

from
Keith H.

From: John E Brandt
Date: Thu, Apr 28 2011 9:21AM
Subject: Re: Facebook CAPTCHA verification, when is account verification required (for social media accessibility study)
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I've never seen this. I have been asked to re-insert username and password,
but never a CAPTCHA. G-mail does the same thing and when you try to access
your iTunes from a different machine, it will require you to re-enter the
security number from the back of your credit card.

Granted I have only traveled around the US.

John E. Brandt
www.jebswebs.com
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
207-622-7937
Augusta, Maine, USA

From: Angela French
Date: Thu, Apr 28 2011 9:27AM
Subject: Re: Facebook CAPTCHA verification, when is account verification required (for social media accessibility study)
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I just assumed it was some sort of cookie, because I have had to do it at home on the same computer if I try to access my FB account from different user accounts.

From: Michael.Moore
Date: Thu, Apr 28 2011 9:33AM
Subject: Re: Facebook CAPTCHA verification, when is account verification required (for social media accessibility study)
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I think that re-entering CAPTCHA is a new security measure that is being deployed by large social network sites. I ran into the same thing yesterday on LinkedIn. I think that it may have been the first time that I attempted to log in from a new work laptop that I got about a week ago. I believe that this is a recent change since I have acquired new systems at home over the past year and did not experience the issue on those.

LinkedIn uses reCAPTCHA so there is an audio alternative but expanded use of CAPTCHA is definitely not good news from an assistive technology user perspective.

Michael Moore

From: D Hubbard
Date: Thu, Apr 28 2011 7:54PM
Subject: Re: Facebook CAPTCHA verification, when is account verification required (for social mediaaccessibility study)
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I too have periodically been asked to insert username and password on FB.
However, I haven't done much traveling either. Interesting question for
sure.
----- Original Message -----
From: "John E Brandt" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: "'WebAIM Discussion List'" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 11:20 AM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Facebook CAPTCHA verification,when is account
verification required (for social mediaaccessibility study)


> I've never seen this. I have been asked to re-insert username and
> password,
> but never a CAPTCHA. G-mail does the same thing and when you try to access
> your iTunes from a different machine, it will require you to re-enter the
> security number from the back of your credit card.
>
> Granted I have only traveled around the US.
>
> John E. Brandt
> www.jebswebs.com
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> 207-622-7937
> Augusta, Maine, USA
>
>