Re: Chinese downloads overloading my website

On 3/15/2024 3:41 AM, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:
 

On 3/14/2024 9:26 AM, Peter wrote:

>
   Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:
>

(Without having seen them...)  Can you create a PNG of a group
of them arranged in a matrix.  Then, a map that allows clicking
on any *part* of the composite image to provide a more detailed
"popup" to inspect?
>
I.e., each individual image is a trip back to the server to
fetch that image.  A single composite could reduce that to
one fetch with other actions conditional on whether or not
the user wants "more/finer detail"

>
All of this "graphical captcha" stuff is easy to hack if somebody is
out to trash *your* site.

>
If you are *targeted*, then all bets are off.  At the end of the
day, your adversary could put a REAL HUMAN to the task of hammering
away at it.

 You could always have a question which involved correcting the English
grammar of a sentence, but that might eliminate far more of your
visitors than you intended.

You have to define your goal with any such mechanism.
If you want to protect content, then encrypt the content;
any downloads just waste the client's bandwidth (but, yours,
as well).
If you want to protect access, then you need a mechanism
that exceeds the abilities of the "current connection"
(e.g., robot, blind scrape, human, etc.) to navigate.
Every mechanism has a cost -- a portion of which you, also, bear.
Remember, a client can always hammer away at the basic page
(ignoring the cached flag) even if he never gets past your
"mechanism(s)" intended to deter him.
[A telemarketer can keep dialing your phone number even
if you NEVER answer his calls!]
Publishing any sort of contact information (email, phone, www,
etc.) INVITES contact.