Forum Discussion

aaronsloman's avatar
aaronsloman
Fibre optic
25 days ago

Irrelevant intelligence test before allowing login

Every now and again before allowing me to log in VM requires me to waste time going through a totally irrelevant intelligence test clicking on items in pictures, e.g. cars, bicycles, level crossing, etc. which have nothing to do with who I am or whether I am virginmedia user. Why does this time-wasting totally irrelevant test exist? Is there a way to ensure that I never have to be tested in this way? I would suggest that VM should sack the person or persons who decided to install this barrier to connection via user name, password, text message, etc.

Irrelevant login intelligence test
  • cje85's avatar
    cje85
    Trouble shooter
    25 days ago

    This test known as 'ReCaptcha' is common on many websites and is just to prove that you are a human and not an automated robot trying to log in. One day I'm sure there will be a better way of doing it but for now you'll need to continue clicking the traffic lights, busses, etc.

  • aaronsloman's avatar
    aaronsloman
    Fibre optic
    25 days ago

    I still think this dreadful time-wasting mechanism should be removed and whoever decided to install it severely rebuked for wasting so much customer time by repeatedly adding additional tests after tests have been passed. I don't have enough respect for VM management to think that will happen.

    • Tudor's avatar
      Tudor
      Very Insightful Person
      25 days ago

      It’s totally necessary for a site like VM to stop web attaches from bot infested sites doing DDOS attacks. Do you really want to enter other information to identify you as not being a bot, it would be things like your date of birth, postcode, part of your VM account number, I think not.

    • Matthew_ML's avatar
      Matthew_ML
      Forum Team
      20 days ago

      Hey aaronsloman, thank you for reaching out and for feeding your feedback to us.

      I will make sure this will be passed on.

      We understand this can be frustrating but we use it as an extra layer of security. 

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    25 days ago

    We could do with the same system on this forum to prevent bots from opening so many spurious accounts.

  • asim18's avatar
    asim18
    Rising star
    24 days ago
    aaronsloman wrote:

    Why does this time-wasting totally irrelevant test exist?

    I also don't understand why anyone would want to help overseas companies identify fire hydrants.

    In my opinion, it exists because data mining AI companies would have to hire and pay individuals to perform the labour required to validate AI suppositions. This way they can get tonnes of free labour without having to pay any  minimum wage for the man hours they consume.

    I assume human validation adds value to the data sets, we help them turn artificial data in to actual data, thus such companies are recieving millions worth of free labour. Not good for UK economy in my opinion. If I was some sort of politician I would want to ban the practice of overseas AI and data mining companies from obtaining free labour from our citizens. I believe we need to create a mechanism for spam protection which helps us, not the US.