Mozilla researchers have proposed PACT, a new system for verifying web visitors are real people—not bots—without demanding personal information or giving device makers control over the web. The problem: sites increasingly block privacy-conscious users with registration walls and CAPTCHAs, mistaking them for automated attackers. Existing proposals like Private Access Tokens hand that gatekeeping power to hardware manufacturers. PACT takes a different approach. It uses cryptographic anonymous credentials that prove a user has access to something scarce—a paid subscription, a verified phone number, or an email address—without revealing which one or tracking them across websites. Sites get the rate limiting signal they need to stop bots; users get privacy and less friction. The system is still in design phase, but Mozilla says it offers a path to keep the web open instead of turning it into walled gardens.

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