After a few Whois searches, I am shown an image with distorted characters. What is this?

This image is called a CAPTCHA. A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure the response is generated by a human and not a computer. We use the CAPTCHA to ensure that users are not scripting or indexing our site. It is generally triggered when one of our thresholds is breached by the user. To retrieve your Whois results, enter the correct solution to the CAPTCHA in the space provided and your will be redirected to the Whois results page.