HB 29-01: I Am A Robot Act (Passed)

[Dr. MB]

AN ACT
To get rid of annoyances

Be it enacted by the Congress of the Republic of Atlasia assembled

Section 1. Title

This legislation may be cited as the I Am A Robot Act.

Section 2. Definition

1. A "CAPTCHA", or a Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, shall be defined as any barrier to completing an Internet action requiring users to distinguish themselves as human.

Section 3. Substance
1. Any website with servers based in Atlasia is prohibited from implementing or hosting CAPTCHAs with the following characteristics:
-Requires users to click photographs of certain objects before proceeding
-Requires users to solve complex tasks
-Requires users to read distorted words and type in the answer
2. Any website using this feature is ordered to stop immediately.
3. The hosts of said servers still using such CAPTCHAs as of January 1, 2022, may be fined up to $5,000.
4. Simple CAPTCHAs (check-box clicks) shall not be affected by this law.

Designation: HB 29-01
Sponsor: MB

[KaiserDave]

No?

[Joseph Cao]

I think some sponsor advocacy would be very much appreciated because I can't make head or tail of this bill's motivations at the moment.

[Dr. MB]

CAPTCHAs have come a long way and I don't think the direction they're heading is a good one. I'm talking the ones like this:



They make you solve dumb, often confusing tasks. Often the bus will be in certain parts of the corner or almost invisible and they make you redo it if you don't get it. The internet is all about speed and efficiency but these things impede your ability to do that. It's an annoyance that nobody likes and I'd rather we get rid of them once and for all.

[Sirius_]

I don't see why it should be within the federal government's authority to ban the usage of captchas. As long as they aren't stealing personal information or borderline malware like the Sony rootkit from a while back, it isn't our job to restrict the digital security measures of private entities.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

The sponsor makes a convincing argument…

[Dr. MB]

Anyone got anything else or should we proceed to a final vote?

[Joseph Cao]

If I may object and ask a question – has anyone ever actually failed to solve one of these guys over and over? What are the repercussions of being labeled a robot? If it bars you from accessing the page or doing tasks completely then it seems to me that there would be an incentive on the part of web owners to create easier CAPTCHAs that don't cause a massive drop in website traffic.

[Dr. MB]

If I may object and ask a question – has anyone ever actually failed to solve one of these guys over and over? What are the repercussions of being labeled a robot? If it bars you from accessing the page or doing tasks completely then it seems to me that there would be an incentive on the part of web owners to create easier CAPTCHAs that don't cause a massive drop in website traffic.

I'm able to solve them every time but the point is it's a huge inconvenience. If I have to do say, 20 tasks on a page that could easily be done in a few seconds just by checking a box but instead I have to solve a tough Captcha each time that might take 30 seconds, that's a big decrease in both speed and productivity. A lot of websites seem to have that design now.

[Sirius_]

Tbh I would get the old distorted text ones wrong more than I do the picture ones.

[Joseph Cao]

I agree with Ninja – these pictures seem to me, from personal experience, to be better at fulfilling their purpose than text-based CAPTCHAs. Though as the bill would ban both forms and eliminate them completely I suppose this is a moot point.

I may need to read up a little on point-and-click CAPTCHAs as they do seem to operate fundamentally differently from the pictures and the distorted text.

[Sirius_]

Upon research, the truth about photo captchas is that it isn't actually determined by whether you get it correct - you don't have to worry. It is entirely based on whether or not your movements and selections look like what a bot would do. Point and click operates similarly.

[Joseph Cao]

Well, surely if picture-based CAPTCHAs are as massively inconvenient as the sponsor indicates, they would eventually complete the transition to simpler point-and-click checkbox CAPTCHAs then?

I do think that picture-based CAPTCHAs remain more secure than checkboxes since it would be quite a bit harder to train an AI to click on photos based on visual recognition than to check a box.

[KaiserDave]

This bill is not necessary.

[Dr. MB]

Motion for a final vote. 24 hours to object.

[Dr. MB]

A final vote has begun. Representatives have 72 hours to vote aye, nay, or abstain.

[Dr. MB]

Aye

[Sirius_]

Nay

[Continential]

Aye.

[lfromnj]

Nay

[Joseph Cao]

Nay.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Abstain

[Talleyrand]

AYE

[Sirius_]

Is the majority really going to ram through this bill that overextends government authority into web design and will only result in poorer web security?

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Changing my vote to Nay just in case there's a tie