reCAPTCHA challenges and the production of the ideal web user

The CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) is found throughout many websites. By challenging users read a line of scrambled letters, identify crosswalks in an image, or some complete another task that difficult for computer do, but comparatively trivial human user, verifies the user actual human, not software meant interact maliciously with website. This mundane easily overlooked interface element important site where corporate interests priorities act upon people who encounter it. CAPTCHAs operate under assumptions difference can be detected it should enforced. Because all humans are able solve CAPTCHA, additionally enforces boundary between users. In this article, I analyze discourses Google’s reCAPTCHA argue common multi-faceted production labor extracted every time they reCAPTCHA. products threefold: (1) spam reduction, (2) artificial intelligence machine learning training data (3) ideal normative web user. last product often has wide-reaching implications. Users reCAPTCHAs producers simultaneously produced as by only qualify ‘authentic’ those perform productive labor. operates invisible digital labor, article works toward making such more visible so become aware work being asked perform, what ends.