Anti-Spam Technology Frustrates Some Visually Impaired Users

An increasingly popular technique for preventing e-mail abuse is frustrating some visually impaired Net users, setting the stage for a conflict between spam busters and advocates for the disabled. Many companies have recently begun requiring users to pass a verification test in order to access their services -- typically by typing into a Web form a few characters that appear on the form in a guise that prevents a computer or software robot from recognizing and copying them.