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

92 points · 90 comments · theanonymousone

  1. kybernetikos · · focus · HN ↗
    Other common issues - crosswalks and fire hydrants are common questions too, and crosswalks are not called that in most of the world and fire hydrants look pretty different depending on country.
    1. throwaway63467 · · focus · HN ↗
      Doesn’t recaptcha have localization? Not sure now that I think about it maybe not
      1. thephyber · · focus · HN ↗
        Yes, the reCAPTCHA widget is localized[1], but that doesn't automatically mean every term is localized properly.

        But the underlying point of the article stands. This is similar to the mythical statement that some park ranger once stated "it's very hard to design a trash can that no bears can use, but that every human can."

        reCAPTCHA, like CloudFlare, benefits the wider population of the internet to the extent that everybody can use them, but there are edge cases where some outlier users get locked out of necessary internet infrastructure because they can't grok the ask, can't correctly identify the options, or because their computer / IP is being abused by bots so they are in the splash damage range of the bot checkers.

        [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;google&#x2F;recaptcha&#x2F;issues&#x2F;68" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;google&#x2F;recaptcha&#x2F;issues&#x2F;68

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