After reading about the bots that are programmed to mimic humans, I instantly thought of how some websites require you to verify that you are indeed human. The author mentions this in the article as well, but it is quite annoying when I have to concentrate on selecting just the right square with the storefront in order to match all of the correct squares to verify my human status. Most times I’m racing against the clock to get the best seats on Ticketmaster, and of course, I click on the wrong box!
The mention of “click farms” was also intriguing because this has recently become a thing of interest in pop culture. A rapper by the name of J. Cole mentions this in the lyrics of a song that he was featured in. I would post a snippet of the song, but a few of the other lyrics may offense to some. His lyrics question the validity of some of the most popular rappers of today and their streams. He raps, “How many faking they streams? (A lot) Getting they plays from machines (A lot)”. A popular comedian has also mentioned this new phenomenon and has made an Instagram post that shows the actual machines as they were hooked up to iPods, or iPhones as they constantly streamed. Even those that aren’t into conspiracy theories seeing click farms in action should be alarming and are cause for questioning the authenticity of everything on the internet or at the very least things that involve the use of a computer to function.