Remember those CAPTCHAs that we solved by the thousands when we first discovered crypto faucets? Well then, I would like to share a piece of news that I already knew in a way: they are data thieves. Now I have found a source to further support this thesis.
Yes, CAPTCHAs, those annoying texts that ask you to select traffic lights, crosswalks, animals, numerical accounts... may not be used only for website security. A recent study has shown that CAPTCHAs are used as data trackers and are often used to generate profit for companies like Google.
The initial idea of CAPTCHAs is to differentiate humans from robots when accessing websites or certain content within a website, but recently everything has changed, for example Google uses CAPTCHAs to feed its artificial intelligence.
When a person identifies the image of a street sign or vehicle, they are unknowingly helping to train Google's algorithm, which can then sell this technology to autonomous transport, mapping and advertising companies. In other words, in addition to confirming that you are not a robot, you are working for free for Google.
The study that analyzed the efficiency of CAPTCHAs found that many of them are no longer that secure. There are paid services that solve CAPTCHAs quickly, in addition to artificial intelligence that can bypass them with impressive accuracy. This means that CAPTCHAs may be more concerned with collecting user data than actually preventing bots from accessing websites.
To make matters worse, each time a user interacts with a CAPTCHA, information about them is collected. This includes mouse behavior, response time and even the type of device used. This information can be used to create detailed user profiles that are then sold to advertising companies.
In the end, it seems that CAPTCHAs have become just another tool for Big Tech to make money at our expense while making us waste time clicking on images that only benefit their algorithms.
