diff --git a/direct/src/http/recaptcha.py b/direct/src/http/recaptcha.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..4a31bdd0f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/direct/src/http/recaptcha.py
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+# copied from recaptcha-client-1.0.5
+# http://pypi.python.org/pypi/recaptcha-client
+# http://recaptcha.net/resources.html
+
+import urllib2, urllib
+
+API_SSL_SERVER="https://api-secure.recaptcha.net"
+API_SERVER="http://api.recaptcha.net"
+VERIFY_SERVER="api-verify.recaptcha.net"
+
+class RecaptchaResponse(object):
+    def __init__(self, is_valid, error_code=None):
+        self.is_valid = is_valid
+        self.error_code = error_code
+
+def displayhtml (public_key,
+                 use_ssl = False,
+                 error = None):
+    """Gets the HTML to display for reCAPTCHA
+
+    public_key -- The public api key
+    use_ssl -- Should the request be sent over ssl?
+    error -- An error message to display (from RecaptchaResponse.error_code)"""
+
+    error_param = ''
+    if error:
+        error_param = '&error=%s' % error
+
+    if use_ssl:
+        server = API_SSL_SERVER
+    else:
+        server = API_SERVER
+
+    # DCR: added comment to force ElementTree to emit </script> tag closer
+    return """<script type="text/javascript" src="%(ApiServer)s/challenge?k=%(PublicKey)s%(ErrorParam)s"><!-- --></script>
+
+<noscript>
+  <iframe src="%(ApiServer)s/noscript?k=%(PublicKey)s%(ErrorParam)s" height="300" width="500" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
+  <textarea name="recaptcha_challenge_field" rows="3" cols="40"></textarea>
+  <input type='hidden' name='recaptcha_response_field' value='manual_challenge' />
+</noscript>
+""" % {
+        'ApiServer' : server,
+        'PublicKey' : public_key,
+        'ErrorParam' : error_param,
+        }
+
+
+def submit (recaptcha_challenge_field,
+            recaptcha_response_field,
+            private_key,
+            remoteip):
+    """
+    Submits a reCAPTCHA request for verification. Returns RecaptchaResponse
+    for the request
+
+    recaptcha_challenge_field -- The value of recaptcha_challenge_field from the form
+    recaptcha_response_field -- The value of recaptcha_response_field from the form
+    private_key -- your reCAPTCHA private key
+    remoteip -- the user's ip address
+    """
+
+    if not (recaptcha_response_field and recaptcha_challenge_field and
+            len (recaptcha_response_field) and len (recaptcha_challenge_field)):
+        return RecaptchaResponse (is_valid = False, error_code = 'incorrect-captcha-sol')
+    
+
+    def encode_if_necessary(s):
+        if isinstance(s, unicode):
+            return s.encode('utf-8')
+        return s
+
+    params = urllib.urlencode ({
+            'privatekey': encode_if_necessary(private_key),
+            'remoteip' :  encode_if_necessary(remoteip),
+            'challenge':  encode_if_necessary(recaptcha_challenge_field),
+            'response' :  encode_if_necessary(recaptcha_response_field),
+            })
+
+    request = urllib2.Request (
+        url = "http://%s/verify" % VERIFY_SERVER,
+        data = params,
+        headers = {
+            "Content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
+            "User-agent": "reCAPTCHA Python"
+            }
+        )
+    
+    httpresp = urllib2.urlopen (request)
+
+    return_values = httpresp.read ().splitlines ();
+    httpresp.close();
+
+    return_code = return_values [0]
+
+    if (return_code == "true"):
+        return RecaptchaResponse (is_valid=True)
+    else:
+        return RecaptchaResponse (is_valid=False, error_code = return_values [1])