People are just realising what clicking ‘I am not a robot’ really does — and they’re shocked

Virgin Radio

20 Oct 2022, 11:24

People shocked what clicking 'I am not a robot' does

Credit: VectorStock

Any idea what a thoughtless click on ‘I am not a robot’ does in Internet land? Us neither. Some websites pose the random question or will instruct you to click on picture squares to identify objects, like traffic lights or similar — but what does it actually do?

Is it to protect our security? How about to fend off the evil bots? Not quite. People are only just clocking what it does and they’re not happy.

A clip from a 2020 episode of QI, hosted by Sandi Toksvig, resurfaced after Australian radio presenters Fitzy and Wippa posted the clip on TikTok. Racking up 3.1 million views, the QI host shared the information with guests Alan Davies, David Mitchell, Maisie Adams and Holly Walsh — and people are not impressed.

Sandi explained: “So ticking the box is not the point. It’s how you behaved before you ticked the box that is analysed.

What clicking 'I am not a robot' does

Credit: TikTok

“So, to be honest, I can’t tell you all the details because they keep it secret because they don’t want people trying to cheat the test, but broadly speaking, you tick the box and it prompts the website to check your browsing history.

“So let us say, for example, before you tick the box you watched a couple of cat videos and you liked a tweet about Greta Thunberg, you checked your Gmail account before you got down to work – all of that makes them think that you must be a human.

“And checking the box can even spur it to analyse the way in which you moved your mouse across screen. It’s slightly spooky, I think.

Credit: BBC

“Essentially, when you are clicking ‘I am not a robot’ box, you are instructing the site to have a look at your data and decide for itself. If the machine is not sure, that’s when it directs you to click on lightroom pictures of fire hydrants that aren’t there.”

The Aussie radio station’s post caption asked: “Did you know this?”

One alarmed TikToker commented: “WHAT?????”

Another asked: “Is this for real?”

Someone else said: “The first I hear this. Done a quick research, unfortunately appears true.”

“So a robot is checking if I’m a robot?” queried one person.

“Feels like invasion of privacy tbh,” said another.

“All your online data is collected!?!? Who would’ve thought,” stated one user.

Others were simply in disbelief, with one saying: “What’s her source?? (I don’t want to believe this).”

One said: “Wait…. What? Is this legitimate?”

People are just realising what clicking ‘I am not a robot’ really does — and they’re shocked | Virgin Radio UK

People are just realising what clicking ‘I am not a robot’ really does — and they’re shocked