by Bernard Maldonado
A user sent in a note indicating that all the MySpace Captcha codes returned from Solona were incorrect or invalid. This seemed strange to me, so the user and I did some one on one testing earlier this evening.
The results were puzzling and chilling. I’m posting this in order to let everyone know what happens specifically on MySpace.
Solona receives the image like normal. MySpace Captchas are 8 or 9 alpha numeric characters long. Not too distorted, so it is quite easy to solve. But for some reason, none of the codes work! So frustrating.
The suspected problem is that the Captcha on the form must timeout after a very short period of time – like seconds. After receiving the code, and pasting it into the MySpace form field, the user indicated that the code was invalidated by MySpace even though I am 100% sure it was correct.
After doing some quick testing, it appears that the code actually refreshes itself after 80 seconds automatically. So the form timeout isn’t short, but the lifespan of a MySpace Captcha code is only 80 seconds. I observed one code disappear and be replaced by another code. I had a stop watch running and documented time stamps and codes and noted when codes refreshed. Furthermore, I observed the Captcha code for 8 sequential minutes and noticed it change basically every 80 seconds. It may be hard to detect since the browser window does not completely redraw. The code is the only part to refresh itself.
Keep an eye out for an update to this interesting issue. So far, it appears to be the only site with this issue, and it is even worse since they do not offer an audio alternative.
Bernard Maldonado.
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