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As a user I do care, because I waste so much time on Cloudflare's "prove you are human" blocking-page (why do I have to prove it over and over again?), and freq
by marticode 1y ago
As a user I do care, because I waste so much time on Cloudflare's "prove you are human" blocking-page (why do I have to prove it over and over again?), and frequently run on websites blocking me entirely based on some bad IP-blacklist used along with Cloudflare.
- woooooo 1y agoI just realized, why don't they have some "definitely human" third party cookie that caches your humanness for 24h or so? I'm sure there's a reason, I've heard third party cookies were less respected now, but can someone chime in on why this doesn't work and save a ton of compute?
- acureau 1y agoBecause people will solve the challenge once, and then use the cookie in automation tools. It already happens with shorter expiration cookies.
- woooooo 1y agoThanks, I'm now shaking my head at my naivete :)
- lotsofpulp 1y agoI assume that will be for Apple (and eventually Alphabet) to implement via digital IDs linked to real world IDs. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/apple-introduces-digital-id-a-new-way-to-create-and-present-an-id-in-apple-wallet/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/apple-introduces-digi...
- philipwhiuk 1y agoDon't worry, Sam Altman is selling the protection too -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_(blockchain) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_(blockchain)
- basilikum 1y agohttps://developers.cloudflare.com/waf/tools/privacy-pass/ https://developers.cloudflare.com/waf/tools/privacy-pass/
- arbol 1y agoAre you really posting this today?
- octoberfranklin 1y agoYes, there are several, and the good one (linked below) lets you use the "humanness" token across different websites without them being able to use it as a tracking signal / supercookie. It's very clever. https://github.com/ietf-wg-privacypass/base-drafts https://github.com/ietf-wg-privacypass/base-drafts https://privacypass.github.io/ https://privacypass.github.io/
- jakub_g 1y agoI hate it as much (and the challenge time seems to be getting longer, 10s lately for me, what the hell?) But we can all say thank you to all the AI crawlers who hammer websites with impossible traffic.
- edm0nd 1y agoCongrats, you now know what it's like to be a daily Tor user trying to hit normie sites from exit node IPs xD
- replwoacause 1y agoWhy would anyone be a daily Tor user and trying to hit clear-net sites on top of that? This sounds like a bizarre usecase.
- pinko 1y agoPrivacy through uniformity, operational security by routine, herd immunity for privacy, traffic normalization, "anonymity set expansion", "nothing to hide" paradox, etc. I.e., if you use Tor for "normie sites", then the fact that someone can be seen using Tor is no longer a reliable proxy for detecting them trying to see/do something confidential and it becomes harder to identify & target journalists, etc. just because they're using Tor.
- replwoacause 1y agoHuh never thought about that. I wonder how many people do that? Seems like a public service.
- milderworkacc 1y agoIt certainly feels like one at times!
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- dooglius 1y agoIn addition to the reasons in sibling comment, this also acts as a filter for low-quality ad-based sites; same reason I close just about any website that gives me a popup about a ToS agreement.
- 1y ago
- tempest_ 1y agoUnfortunately the internet sucks in 2025. If you have a site with valuable content the LLM crawlers hound you to no end. CF is basically a protection racket at this point for many sites. It doesnt even stop the more determined ones but it keeps some away.
- j2kun 1y agoAnd yet half the HN front page every day is promoting LLM stuff. "The internet sucks", yes, but we're doing it to ourselves.
- kadushka 1y agoWould you rather not have LLMs?
- inferiorhuman 1y agoYes
- j2kun 1y agoIMO LLMs have been a net negative on society, including my life. But I'm merely pointing out the stark contrast on this website, and that fact that we can choose to live differently.
- kadushka 1y agoAre you anti-AI in general, or are you unhappy about the current LLMs?
- j2kun 1y agoI am not anti-AI, nor unhappy about how any current LLM works. I'm unhappy about how AI is used and abused to collective detriment. LLM scraper spam leading to increased centralization and wider impacting failures is just one example.
- crazygringo 1y agoBut that's not a problem caused by Cloudflare. That's a problem caused by bots and spammers and DDoSers, that Cloudflare is trying to alleviate. And you generally don't have to prove it over and over again unless there's a high-risk signal associated with you, like you're using a VPN or have cookies disabled, etc. Which are great for protecting your privacy, but then obviously privacy means you do have to keep demonstrating you're not a bot.
- BarryMilo 1y agoYou might say the problem CloudFlare is causing is lesser than the ones it's solving, but you can't say they're not causing a new, separate problem. That they're trying counts for brownie points, it's not an excuse to be satisfied with something that still bothers a lot of people. Do better, CloudFlare.
- crazygringo 1y agoDo better, how? If you have any ideas on how to protect against bad actors in a way that is just as effective but easier for users, please share it. Because as far as I can tell, this isn't a question of effort. It's a question of fundamental technological limitations.
- foresto 1y ago"We have decided to endlessly punish you for using what few tools you have to avoid being exploited online, because it makes our multi-billion dollar business easier. Sucks to be you."
- crazygringo 1y agoSmall non-profits and personal blogs encounter the same problem. It has nothing to do with being a multi-billion dollar corp. If you have a better technological solution, we'd all love to know it. Because right now, site owners are using the best tools available. Criticizing when there's no other solution isn't very useful, is it?