If you are like most people, you've probably never heard of a "captcha."
But if you've ever registered for a free service online, there's a good
chance you've seen one.  The most frequently-used captchas are pictures of
somewhat distorted letters and/or numbers.  You, the computer user seeking
to register for the service, are told to "type the characters you see in
this picture."  By successfully completing this task, you are proving that
you are a human being and not a computer program seeking to exploit the
service in question.  Of course what you're really proving is that you are a
*sighted* human being -- or someone with access to a sighted human being.
Captchas significantly limit equal access to information for users who are
blind or visually impaired.

Captchas -- completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and
humans apart -- are becoming more and more common thanks to the
proliferation of spam.  First there was email spam, then instant messaging
spam, and now -- believe it or not -- blog spam.  I don't like spam any more
than you do and believe that it is in everyone's best interest that spammers
be thwarted.  Most people agree.  And that's why, when Google introduced a
captcha as a requirement for creating a new account at blogger.com, the
blog-using public was thrilled.  The problem is, of course, that a blind
computer user wishing to start a blog no longer can -- at least not without
sighted assistance. And adding this requirement to blogger.com is not
Google's only use of captcha; simply their most recent.  A blind user
wanting to sign up for Google News Alerts, which is a very useful way to
access the information you want or need, must get sighted assistance.  The
same is true for using Google's newest tool:  My Search History.

Google is not the only company to implement the use of captchas.  For
instance, Microsoft requires them of anyone wishing to sign up for a Hotmail
account; Yahoo does the same for their email service.  But Microsoft and
Yahoo provide alternatives for users with visual impairments.  Microsoft's
alternative is to provide a link labeled "I can't see this picture."  Follow
it and you'll receive an auditory representation of the characters on the
screen.  This, of course, does not remove the access barrier for users who
also have a hearing impairment, but at least it's a step in the right
direction.  The alternative provided by Yahoo is to have the user fill out a
form requesting that a customer service representative contact him/her by
phone.  This, of course, means that the visually impaired user does not have
immediate access, but again, it's a step in the right direction.  Google
does not provide any such alternative:  You either type the characters on
the screen, or you don't get to use the service.  Period.

There are undoubtedly other companies which have implemented captchas
without an alternative means of access, and that must certainly be
addressed.  But Google has become a leader in the field of web-based access
to, and communication of, information.  As a result, their use of captcha
means that users who are blind or visually impaired are denied access to one
of the most widely-used services available. And as a leader, what Google
implements is more likely to be implemented by others. That is why I feel it
is critical for Google to understand that the use of captcha without an
alternative means of access is not only wrong -- or to use Google's term,
"evil," but it is in direct violation of their corporate mission "to
organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and
useful."

Prior to the implementation of captcha on Blogger, I had written Google
about this issue, and I know a few others have as well.  Apparently we were
not heard -- or if we were heard, the needs of the few users who are blind
were outweighed by the needs of the many users who are affected by the very
real problem of spam.  That is why I'm asking for your help.  Google needs
to hear from all of us.  And not just individual consumers, family members,
and service providers, but the companies for which we work, and the
organizations to which we belong.  If we can take a large enough stand to
get noticed, perhaps we can put a stop to this latest, growing barrier to
access.

Ways to contact Google:
1. Send feedback to blogger support:
http://www.blogger.com/problem.g?skiplogin=yes
2. Send feedback to Google Accounts support (signing up for an account
requires passing the captcha test): mailto:[log in to unmask]
3. Send feedback to Google labs about My Search History, the latest (and
highly-publicized) Google tool that requires a Google Account:
mailto:[log in to unmask]
4. Write, call, fax Google Headquarters:
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA  94043
phone: 650-623-4000
fax: 650-618-1499

Thank you for your time.
--Joanie