Microsoft seeks patent for CAPTCHA-based ads
InternetNews | at | by Mike
Microsoft is seeking to patent a method for using a popular human-verification technology on the Web to deliver advertising to a captive audience.
However, Microsoft may run into some resistance along the way, as it's not the first time someone has thought about the ideas it's trying to patent.
Many Web sites and online services use what are called CAPTCHAs -- short for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. They require a user to prove that he or she is not an online "bot" by interpreting distorted text and numbers in a display box and typing those characters into a text input box.