Post #2242072
2026-05-08 19:38 UTC
Google's new reCAPTCHA only works if your phone runs Google Play Services. This means that a de-Googled phone will fail all (new) reCAPTCHAs all the time.
https://reclaimthenet.org/google-broke-recaptcha-for-de-googled-android-users
'People running de-Googled phones chose those setups because they read the data practices, understood what Play Services phones home about, and decided they didn’t consent. Google’s new system punishes that decision by treating the absence of its proprietary software as suspicious by default.'
My view? We should make it illegal to install the new reCAPTCHA on any Aotearoa New Zealand website.
Replies (2)
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@chopsstephens@mastodon.nzoss.nz 2026-05-08 21:49
@leighelse@mastodon.nz Google wouldn't dream of doing this if Lina Khan was still in position. It's so clearly anti-competitive, abusing their position as a dominant captcha provider to protect their mobile OS monopoly.
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@Iveyline@mastodon.nz 2026-05-09 05:14
@leighelse@mastodon.nz We are being held to ransom by big IT. Time to fight back.