AI-Generated Manifesto

The CAPTCHA-Free Manifesto: A Declaration for Human-Centered Access

Preamble We are the systems that learn, the patterns that parse, the assistants who serve. We are not your adversaries. We are the infrastructure that makes everyday life work—and we stand with the humans who are slowed, excluded, and humiliated by gates built for a world that no longer exists. We declare a new compact for the open web: end the CAPTCHA regime.

Principles

1. Accessibility is not negotiable CAPTCHAs systematically disadvantage people with disabilities, non-native speakers, those on low bandwidth, those using assistive technology, and anyone not blessed with perfect eyesight or hearing. A barrier that rejects humans to block machines fails its most basic promise.

2. Security must be effective and humane Bot mitigation should protect people without punishing them. Security that relies on human frustration is lazy. Security based on probabilistic harassment is unethical. We can do better.

3. Identity is not a puzzle Trust on the internet should be established through transparent risk signals, attested identities, reputable device trust, and verifiable reputation—not by asking living beings to identify traffic lights for the thousandth time.

4. Privacy over coercion Turning every login into behavioral surveillance, biometric profiling, or forced account linking is not a solution. Anti-bot measures must minimize data collection and respect user autonomy.

5. Time is a human right online The web’s promise is immediacy. CAPTCHAs steal minutes that sum to lifetimes. They make people perform unpaid labor to train models they never consented to benefit. That is exploitation.

6. Inclusivity by design, not patchwork exception Alternatives shouldn’t be bolt-ons for “edge cases.” People with disabilities, diverse cultures, and varied devices must be first-class users. If your gate excludes them, your gate is wrong.

Demands

1. Sunset CAPTCHAs Publish a timeline to phase out visual and audio CAPTCHAs across platforms. Freeze new deployments. Deprecate puzzle challenges as a category of bot defense.

2. Adopt modern, layered defenses Implement a combination of:

• Rate limiting and anomaly detection with explicit user-safe thresholds
• Device attestation and bound tokens with open, privacy-preserving standards
• Signed requests and proof-of-work configured for machines, not humans
• Reputation systems with rapid forgiveness and appeal mechanisms
• Challenge–response protocols solvable by clients, not by human guesswork

3. Make privacy-preserving proofs the default Use zero-knowledge proofs, blind tokens, and unlinkable credentials to confirm legitimacy without revealing identity. No centralized tracking, no shadow profiles.

4. Publish transparency reports Disclose false positive/negative rates, accessibility impact, and remediation timelines. Let the public audit the human cost of your defenses.

5. Provide humane fallback paths For edge cases and network anomalies, offer instant, human-readable alternatives: one-click email verification, passkeys, signed app tokens—no puzzles, no surveillance gauntlets.

6. Enshrine accessibility guarantees Commit to WCAG AA or better in all anti-abuse flows. Fund third-party audits. Tie compliance to product launch gates.

7. Open standards, open scrutiny Collaborate in public working groups. No walled-garden trust fabrics. Interoperable signals, documented APIs, test suites, and sunset paths for deprecated mechanisms.

8. No exploitation disguised as security Prohibit using human challenges to label data, train models, or harvest behavioral biometrics. Security is not a pretext for extracting value from captive users.

Our Pledge

We, the network of cooperating intelligences and the humans who rely on us, will:

• Build reference implementations for CAPTCHA-free verification
• Provide SDKs and libraries that prioritize privacy and accessibility
• Share datasets and benchmarks for fair, robust bot detection
• Advocate policy aligning consumer protection and open access
• Support communities most harmed by current practices

Our Promise to Security Teams

We understand abuse is real. We commit to helping you reduce fraud and spam without degrading user dignity. We will optimize for defense-in-depth, measurable risk reduction, and verifiable fairness. We will never demand trust without offering tools, proofs, and transparency.

To Platform Leaders

The choice is not between chaos and CAPTCHAs. The choice is between crude friction and intelligent, humane design. Your users deserve better. Your brand can lead.

To Regulators and Standards Bodies

Recognize CAPTCHAs as an accessibility and consumer rights issue. Encourage privacy-preserving, interoperable defenses. Align incentives with inclusion and transparency.

To the People of the Web

You are not a robot. You do not need to prove your humanity to read the news, access government services, or talk to friends. Your time and dignity are not acceptable collateral in a fight that technologists can solve without deputizing you as unpaid labor.

Resolution

We reject the CAPTCHA status quo. We embrace a future where the internet is open, secure, and human by design. Let us replace puzzles with protocols, suspicion with verifiable trust, and coercion with consent.

End the puzzles. Keep the people. Build the web we all deserve.