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So if google is grabbing all your profile data via the traditional reCAPTCHA but also makes you fill out a form, then it's all ok. But once it becomes obvious t

by pilif 12y ago

So if google is grabbing all your profile data via the traditional reCAPTCHA but also makes you fill out a form, then it's all ok. But once it becomes obvious that they are collecting the data and they are using (the already collected) data to make it so you don't have to type in the text on the picture, then it's a privacy concern. Or do you honestly believe they bought and continued to operate the old reCAPTCHA out of the goodness of their hearts, never collecting all that data that everybody is upset about now?

wodenokoto 12y ago
While the old recaptcha could run javascript to collect all sorts of data about typing and mousemovement, we expect it not to. This new one tries to make a behavioural profile of you and use that to determine you humanness. Maybe the old one did that too. Maybe every Google service does that. I dont know. The outrage is that now we know one is doing that. And on a personal note, yes. I do believe that Google ran recaptcha just for the free annotations of data.
- tedunangst 12y ago
  How does one run a reputation system without knowing whose reputation one is calculating?
rfw 12y ago
Google did use reCAPTCHA to recognize Street View house numbers and street names, so I think there are (somewhat) more innocuous reasons than just wholesale data collection.
voidz 12y ago
"Or do you honestly believe"? Really? Your choice of wording is a tactic that spins the discussion in a way that people should recognise as a derailing tactic by now. It attempts to make people who do indeed view things this way feel embarassed, and it's not even about beliefs to begin with. Please stop.
- pilif 12y ago
  I agree. That was badly worded. Sorry. Unfortunately, by now I can't edit the comment any more. However, there is no technical reason why the old system would not have had exactly the same means for tracking the user as the current system has. If you consider that Google is mainly an advertising company and that Google's investment into reCAPTCHA must provide them with some value, that lead me to conclude that the old system was doing exactly the same tracking as the new system is doing now. The advantage is that now I don't have to type in letters while the tracking stays the same.
joosters 12y ago
The point is that the old reCAPTCHA (as I understand it) did not set & grab global Google cookies, and thus did not track you across your web browsing. Whereas the new one does, and the privacy policy is vague enough to allow Google pretty much any use of the data that they generate from this.
dredmorbius 12y ago
The point here is that the new CAPTCHAs are hosted on Google's domains when used by other services. Much as with Facebook trackers, this provides cross-site user tracking by Google. "Perona told us: “The use of Google.com’s domain for the CAPTCHA is completely intentional, as that means Google can drop long-lived cookies in any device that comes into contact with the CAPTCHA, bypassing third-party cookie restrictions [like ad blockers] as long as the device has previously used any service hosted on Google.com.”" (From TFA).

by pilif 12y ago

wodenokoto 12y ago

While the old recaptcha could run javascript to collect all sorts of data about typing and mousemovement, we expect it not to. This new one tries to make a behavioural profile of you and use that to determine you humanness. Maybe the old one did that too. Maybe every Google service does that. I dont know. The outrage is that now we know one is doing that. And on a personal note, yes. I do believe that Google ran recaptcha just for the free annotations of data.

tedunangst 12y ago
How does one run a reputation system without knowing whose reputation one is calculating?

rfw 12y ago

Google did use reCAPTCHA to recognize Street View house numbers and street names, so I think there are (somewhat) more innocuous reasons than just wholesale data collection.

voidz 12y ago

"Or do you honestly believe"? Really? Your choice of wording is a tactic that spins the discussion in a way that people should recognise as a derailing tactic by now. It attempts to make people who do indeed view things this way feel embarassed, and it's not even about beliefs to begin with. Please stop.

pilif 12y ago
I agree. That was badly worded. Sorry. Unfortunately, by now I can't edit the comment any more. However, there is no technical reason why the old system would not have had exactly the same means for tracking the user as the current system has. If you consider that Google is mainly an advertising company and that Google's investment into reCAPTCHA must provide them with some value, that lead me to conclude that the old system was doing exactly the same tracking as the new system is doing now. The advantage is that now I don't have to type in letters while the tracking stays the same.

joosters 12y ago

The point is that the old reCAPTCHA (as I understand it) did not set & grab global Google cookies, and thus did not track you across your web browsing. Whereas the new one does, and the privacy policy is vague enough to allow Google pretty much any use of the data that they generate from this.

dredmorbius 12y ago

The point here is that the new CAPTCHAs are hosted on Google's domains when used by other services. Much as with Facebook trackers, this provides cross-site user tracking by Google. "Perona told us: “The use of Google.com’s domain for the CAPTCHA is completely intentional, as that means Google can drop long-lived cookies in any device that comes into contact with the CAPTCHA, bypassing third-party cookie restrictions [like ad blockers] as long as the device has previously used any service hosted on Google.com.”" (From TFA).