Getting a “prove you are human” when searching
Posted by SonicResidue@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 20 comments
I have Firefox running under the latest version of Mint. When I try and search google I get one of those weird challenges where I have to select certain pictures to prove I’m not a robot. This doesn’t happen when I use my phone or a Windows computer. What’s going on?
DavidJohnMcCann@reddit
It depends on the site. The Library of Congress always checks, but the British Library doesn't — guess which got hacked last year! And it's nothing to do with Google, which I never use.
ovalwonder@reddit
Are you behind CGNAT? I've been getting a ton of these since we started using T-Mobile home internet. I've noticed that it happens on all our systems occasionally but my Linux laptop gets them almost always.
Comfortable_Swim_380@reddit
It's funny now that robots are demanding we prove that we are humans to keep out the other robots. That sounds like that was always a bad idea.
Economy_Blueberry_25@reddit
Same here. Cloudflare might be flagging Linux users as bots for no reason? These prompts show up WAY too often, these days.
IntrovertClouds@reddit
I was getting a lot of this from Cloudfare on Windows too. Maybe they just changed their criteria for when to display the challenge.
Economy_Blueberry_25@reddit
I read somewhere that this is exactly what would happen when the Internet begins its decline: they will start discriminating users (by region, profiling, or otherwise), paywalling services and rationing data.
shved03@reddit
Doesn't happen for me
ButtonExposure@reddit
Do you use Chrome on your phone and on Windows?
Your browser's user-agent contain information about which browser you use, which operating system you use, etc. FireFox on Linux is probably flagged as suspicious, but Chrome on Windows and Android or Safari on iOS is probably not.
natermer@reddit
This is a good thing. It means whatever you are doing is working.
Captcha scripts are used as part of various website controls that are in place to try to prevent bots and script kiddies from impacting the availability and increasing the costs associated with many websites.
generally speaking:
By default they use browser tracking to try to determine if you are human or not. If they do not detect a lot of history then they throw up a challenge.
The goal here is to avoid inconveniencing normal users as much as possible while still allowing new users access to the site's resources.
So if you are getting a bunch of captcha challenges then that likely means that:
They are not getting enough history from your browser for them to tell if you are human or not. Which is ideal if your goal to prevent tracking.
You are tripping some other protection mechanism by using a VPN or something like that.
mrbishopjackson@reddit
It seems to be a Google thing to me. I got it recently on Windows but have not seen it on Linux or my phone.
Kevin_Kofler@reddit
Anti-competitive behavior from Google, the next step of enshittification.
silenceimpaired@reddit
I have seen this on my iPhone as of late running Brave. It's possible that Brave's efforts to prevent tracking make anti-bot systems grumpy since there isn't enough information about you to confirm you don't keep coming onto Reddit to sell, 'Make yourself _____ with a simple hack by this affordable product made by _____'
LightBusterX@reddit
"Make yourself a pizza with a simple hack by this affordable product made by Domino's" xD
silenceimpaired@reddit
Make yourself visible with a simple hack by this affordable product made by Social Engagement Inc.
flatline000@reddit
Move your mouse more. Google thinks you might be a script because there's either not enough mouse movement or it's too linear.
SonicResidue@reddit (OP)
Good idea. Still getting the “challenge”
GodMadeTheStars@reddit
Is your Linux box behind a VPN? I get those when behind a VPN.
SonicResidue@reddit (OP)
No vpn
silenceimpaired@reddit
You might check your extensions. I use a no-scripts extension and also a anti-tracking extension. No-scripts triggers all the time, and no tracking occasionally. You might also look into installing a browser spoofer to see if pretending to be Windows helps. It's possible a common profile for bots is Linux.
Soft-Escape8734@reddit
Most of those people-walls are there to prevent spiders from scraping web content, a low level of security that Windows, Android/Google don't concern themselves with.