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CAPTCHAs don't prove you're human – they prove you're American (2017)

92 points · 90 comments · theanonymousone

  1. fauigerzigerk · · focus · HN ↗
    It proves that you are familiar enough with American culture, which could be a problem for some, theoretically, I guess. I don't get upset about that just like I don't get upset about the fact that we all have to know English.

    But that's not the real issue with CAPTCHAs or with a lot of other checks that companies do.

    E.g., Apple does ID checks when you create a developer account. I would love to see the statistics, but anecdotally the overwhelming share of failed checks followed by "piss off we're not talking to you any longer" occurs with non-US IDs or types of IDs that are less common in the US.

    Access to global infrastructures is very biased, I believe, and getting more biased. It's not always the US's fault though. The world is fracturing.

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