Today's NY Times "Technology" section ran an article that highlights how an internet security measure like captchas (a mechanism that forces the user to input a string of words to prevent the proliferation of spam) matters little when spammers outsource labor to willing workers in developing countries. Vikas Bajaj writes
Sitting in front of a computer screen for hours on end deciphering convoluted characters and typing them into a box is monotonous work. And the pay is not great when compared to more traditional data-entry jobs.
Still, it appears to be attractive enough to lure young people in developing countries where even 50 cents an hour is considered a decent wage. Unskilled male farm workers earn about $2 a day in many parts of India.
Ariful Islam Shaon, a 20-year-old college student in Bangladesh, said he has a team of 30 other students who work for him filling in captchas. (The term is a loose acronym for “completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart.”)