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CAPTCHAs are over (in ticketing)

(behind.pretix.eu)
204 points pabs3 | 1 comments | 25 May 25 00:37 UTC | HN request time: 0.327s | source
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sanity ◴[25 May 25 02:24 UTC] No.44085081[source]▶
A few months back I built a cryptographic alternative to CAPTCHAs called Ghost Keys[1] that uses a small donation as proof-of-humanity. For donating you get an anonymous keypair that works across services without repeated CAPTCHAs. The economic friction doesn't scale for bot operators, and donations fund our non-profit[2].

[1] https://freenet.org/ghostkey/

[2] https://freenet.org/

replies(2): >>44085273 #>>44091433 #
DoctorOW ◴[25 May 25 03:19 UTC] No.44085273[source]▶
> The economic friction doesn't scale for bot operators

Does the number of keys need to scale? If $1 buys a key for life, and signing can be easily automated why would it stop bots?

replies(1): >>44085338 #
1. sanity ◴[25 May 25 03:40 UTC] No.44085338[source]▶
Keys embed approximate timestamps, so services can set age limits. The system was designed for Freenet integration where reputation can be attached to keys - repeat abuse would degrade a key's public reputation over time.