cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47972724
i encountered this for the first time today while attempting to read something on archive.today.
i confirmed that decoding the qrcode using a computer and following the URL it contains is insufficient; the error it gave directed me here which is what the linked screenshot is of.
the old type of captcha remains available too, for now:
OK dumb question but I don't have a smartphone, so: You're browsing the web on your phone and this pops up. It says "Use your phone's camera app to scan this QR code". So obviously a phone's camera can't scan its own screen. And if you switch to the camera app the QR code is no longer on the screen anyway. So how does your phone's camera app read the QR code? Does it have a button to click and give you 5 seconds to go to the screen that's showing the code or what?
