Users have certainly been forced to solve a simple puzzle, check all the squares with fire hydrants or simply check the “I am not a robot” box, sometimes just to get to a certain page. Most users have certainly become accustomed to such commands and complete them automatically, without thinking about how they work. And this, as it turns out, raises concerns about privacy violations.
How does CAPTCHA work? The system is intended to prevent bots and spam
Some time ago, the topic of the so-called CAPTCHA was an entertainment program, the host of which decided to check the knowledge of the system among the participants. Since most of them didn’t know much about it, a portion of the program was devoted to explaining how it works.
A system called CAPTCHA is used to protect access to websites against bots, spam or . We often encounter it when trying to create an account or launch certain websites for the first time. CAPTCHAs based on simple tasks, such as pointing to specific pictures or copying unclear text, actually use the correct answer as a criterion. However, these options generally appear only after checking the “I am not a robot” box, and this is what gives the system owner (the most common reCAPTCHA belongs to Google) insight into the user’s current activity.
What happens after selecting “I am not a robot”? The answer surprised the program participants
To determine whether there are any attempts to access the website, it verifies, among other things, the browsing history and even cursor movements. Additional tests generally appear only when the system cannot clearly determine whether it is a robot or a human. The explanation given by the host of the program caused slight consternation among the participants, who expressed concerns about privacy violations. They weren’t the only ones. Data protection concerns have led Cloudflare, among others, to abandon Google’s CAPTCHA system.
Source: Gazeta
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