Google is replacing the CAPTCHA with a simple checkbox

For years, Internet services tried to block spammers and bots by making Web users read a distorted series of characters and asking them to type back what they saw. Humans are a lot better at interpreting what machines see as gobbledygook -- or so the theory went. But in April, research from Google showed that computers are just as good at defeating these security systems, known as CAPTCHAs, as real people. So now Google is rolling out the next generation of this technology, which to most casual observers doesn't resemble a CAPTCHA at all. Users will now be presented with a checkbox that they can click with their mouse or, if they're on a mobile device, tap with a finger. Powering the new "No-CAPTCHA," as Google calls it, is a powerful back-end algorithm.