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Google’s new reCAPTCHA has a dark side

fastcompany.com

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Re: Google’s new reCAPTCHA has a dark side

#2

Post by shock »

> According to two security researchers who’ve studied reCaptcha, one of the ways that Google determines whether you’re a malicious user or not is whether you already have a Google cookie installed on your browser. It’s the same cookie that allows you to open new tabs in your browser and not have to re-log in to your Google account every time.

I try to never be logged into my google account as a matter of principle. Maybe I'm just fooling myself thinking this will make tracking me more difficult.

Re: Google’s new reCAPTCHA has a dark side

#3

Post by toong »

shock wrote: post #2

> According to two security researchers who’ve studied reCaptcha, one of the ways that Google determines whether you’re a malicious user or not is whether you already have a Google cookie installed on your browser. It’s the same cookie that allows you to open new tabs in your browser and not have to re-log in to your Google account every time. I try to never be logged into my google account as a matter of principle.…

You don't need to log-in, to be tagged with a cookie and subsequently be identified. Sometimes referred to as "anonymous authentication".

Re: Google’s new reCAPTCHA has a dark side

#5

Post by cbsks »

You can view your reCaptcha V3 score here: https://recaptcha-demo.appspot.com/recaptcha-v3-request-scor...

I get .7 on my iPhone, I’m guessing that my liberal use of Firefox containers and the cookie auto-delete extension on my desktop will give me a much lower score and cause me to have to jump through extra hoops at websites that implement it, just like the reCaptcha V2 does.

Edit: I also got 0.7 on Firefox with strict content blocking (which is supposed to block fingerprinters), uBlock Origin, and Cookie AutoDelete. I get 0.9 from a container which is logged into Google.

Re: Google’s new reCAPTCHA has a dark side

#6

Post by [deleted] »

cbsks wrote: post #5

You can view your reCaptcha V3 score here: https://recaptcha-demo.appspot.com/recaptcha-v3-request-scor... I get .7 on my iPhone, I’m guessing that my liberal use of Firefox containers and the cookie auto-delete extension on my desktop will give me a much lower score and cause me to have to jump through extra hoops at websites that implement it, just like the reCaptcha V2 does. Edit: I also got 0.7 on Firefox with st…

[deleted]

Re: Google’s new reCAPTCHA has a dark side

#7

Post by ixwt »

cbsks wrote: post #5

You can view your reCaptcha V3 score here: https://recaptcha-demo.appspot.com/recaptcha-v3-request-scor... I get .7 on my iPhone, I’m guessing that my liberal use of Firefox containers and the cookie auto-delete extension on my desktop will give me a much lower score and cause me to have to jump through extra hoops at websites that implement it, just like the reCaptcha V2 does. Edit: I also got 0.7 on Firefox with st…

I get a 0.7 on my computer on Firefox. If I use the same website in Chrome (which is signed into a Google account) I get a 0.9. I guess it's a [0,1] scale?

Re: Google’s new reCAPTCHA has a dark side

#8

Post by benologist »

ixwt wrote: post #7
cbsks wrote: post #5

You can view your reCaptcha V3 score here: https://recaptcha-demo.appspot.com/recaptcha-v3-request-scor... I get .7 on my iPhone, I’m guessing that my liberal use of Firefox containers and the cookie auto-delete extension on my desktop will give me a much lower score and cause me to have to jump through extra hoops at websites that implement it, just like the reCaptcha V2 does. Edit: I also got 0.7 on Firefox with st…

I get a 0.7 on my computer on Firefox. If I use the same website in Chrome (which is signed into a Google account) I get a 0.9. I guess it's a [0,1] scale?

I'm guessing their a-listers came up with something like this:

    // TODO: add impressive-looking math
    if (signedin && trackedEverywhere) {
         return 0.9
    } else {
         return 0.7
    }
I think we give Google way too much credit for their talent. This is the same company that didn't feel like finishing their website for two decades and subsequently stole $75 million from their users even when Google knew [1].

The same company that somehow still doesn't reconcile amounts owed and just keeps the money when they randomly-ban users and hide behind fake support emails, but they did feel like paying $11 million to keep that away from scrutiny [2].

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/google-emails-adtrader-lawsu...

[2] https://www.searchenginejournal.com/adsense-lawsuit/248135/

Re: Google’s new reCAPTCHA has a dark side

#9

Post by fybe »

cbsks wrote: post #5

You can view your reCaptcha V3 score here: https://recaptcha-demo.appspot.com/recaptcha-v3-request-scor... I get .7 on my iPhone, I’m guessing that my liberal use of Firefox containers and the cookie auto-delete extension on my desktop will give me a much lower score and cause me to have to jump through extra hoops at websites that implement it, just like the reCaptcha V2 does. Edit: I also got 0.7 on Firefox with st…

Interesting.

I get a 0.7 on Chrome with no account logged in and uBlock Origin installed.

Same browser, same plugin but incognito it's 0.1.

Papa google needs my data to trust me. Makes complete sense but still interesting that you can affect your score by giving in.

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