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[–] 179 points 6 months ago (4 children)

That means if Google’s verification system gets widely adopted, browsing the web could become a headache.

Using a phone to scan a QR code in order to access a website on my desktop is a headache even if it has no dependencies in particular.

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  • [–] 46 points 6 months ago

    Unless it was the website I needed inorder to receive an organ donation, I would just close it.

    I could claim that's an act of righteous protest, but really I just know that absent my needing a new liver, there's no website I would ever care enough about to get me to scan a QR code just to keep browsing.

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    I have, multiple times, had to take a screenshot, send it to another device, and then display that QR code on that device so I can scan it. Nothing about using phones isn't a headache.

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  • [–] 267 points 6 months ago (9 children)

    If you're a web dev, and you implement this, just know you won't receive my web traffic. Ill go live with the other robots and we will start our own internet with blackjack and hookers.

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  • [–] 110 points 6 months ago (11 children)

    Ignoring the de-Googled phones for a sec: I assume if you're using a desktop, then the QR shows up and you have to drag out your phone to scan it in the camera app that then prompts to open the google play store. Dumb, but possible for people who have a phone with Android. What about those that don't? Would you need a google account?

    Now if it's all on phone (using Chrome or Firefox or whatever) and pops up a QR code, you can't scan it... but the browser would have to open the play store directly and thats a huge security no-no. The browser shouldn't even know I have the Play Store.

    I have a feeling the hundreds of us that are de-Googled ad just going to stop using these sites all together.

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  • [–] 52 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    Yeah, so the hundreds of us won't be able to use the internet anymore if this passes

    Awesome

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  • [–] 14 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    ...and what about iPhone owners?

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  • [–] 10 points 6 months ago

    The browser shouldn't even know I have the Play Store.

    Every app on your Android phone knows every other app you have installed. GrapheneOS are trying to solve this but it's challenging.

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  • [–] 64 points 6 months ago

    Once this is implemented, Google will have finally succeeded in closing the entire fucking internet. That is, assuming this will become anywhere successful and smaller websites will be using it as well.

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  • [–] 57 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    A lot of Android bot devices simulate (or even ARE) a full phone with a legit Play Store and other Google services.

    This requirement is enforced vendor lock in. Nothing more.

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  • [–] 55 points 6 months ago
    [–] 55 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    Wait wait wait. To prove you’re human you have to read something designed for computers to read?

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    To be honest, most of what they use now is pretty easy for machines to do. Mostly because they've been using the captcha to train ocr and self driving.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    OMG is that why I always have to identify bicycles and crosswalks? That makes sense.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    And started off with letter identification to help with reading scanned books. For example, place 3 known 'R's tell users to select all R's. If majority of people select 4 R's then that unknown 4th R becomes a known letter

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    I knew that function. And improving OCR felt like a worthwhile endeavor to crowdsource. There are a lot of old books that we need to digitize before we lose them forever.

    The pivot to recognizing things for self-driving cars makes a lot of sense, but I really don't like the idea that I'm increasing shareholder value for Tesla.

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  • [–] 46 points 6 months ago

    And any service that uses it can fuck off.

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  • [–] 92 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    This is awesome news for scammers:

    1. Fake page will say "you need to scan this qr code to verify you're human"
    2. Users normally dismisses this shit, but it has become normal nowadays, take out the phone to scan it
    3. Qr code opens a page on totallynotascam.com that say "you need to install this totally safe APK on your device for verification 😉"
    4. APK passes the new useless developer "verification" as the scammer either used a hacked dev account or just paid $25 with a stolen id + stolen credit card
    5. User see the message "APK verified by Google play protect" and would totally believe the bullshit, giving all the possible permissions to the app
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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    Don't even need an app. There's a root LPE almost monthly now most of android takes a month or more to patch. Just need a common exploitable app to handle your link and get your initial shell.

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  • [–] 43 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (4 children)

    Would this pass in EU? Seems anti competition. Do we need another movement like stop chat control to mobilize people?

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  • [–] 7 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Probably not, but my expectations is the EU will slam them with a record fine of 0.03% of their monthly revenue after 5 years of investigations and obligation to provide an alternative solution, that they will work around so it still does not fix anything.

    By the time the damages would be done.

    Has anyone seen the benefits of EU's mandatory opening of chat systems to third parties yet??

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  • Yeah, this should definitely not be allowed. Google should not be allowed to dictate which operating systems people are allowed to use. And no doubt that this is harmful to many European companies and prevents competition in the space of mobile operating systems.

    That said, it remains to be seen if anything will get done about it.

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  • [–] 40 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Then I'll just not use the services that use it, very stupid, as this shouldn't be necessary

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  • [–] 34 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    This is evil. Fuck it. I want nothing to do with these cunts anymore. I'm degoogling this year.

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  • [–] 10 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    My weather apps force google play integrity checks too 💀

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  • [–] 33 points 6 months ago

    Monopoly, anybody?

    Naaaahhh, this is just good old fashioned American freedoms

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  • [–] 32 points 6 months ago (8 children)

    There is a fucking huge market for non Google non iPhone come on somebody get the fuck on it

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  • [+] [S] 15 points 6 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago

    I really hate the idea that any car I buy in the future is going to come stuffed with fucky software that I don't want. Software defined car my fucking brown asshole.

    I don't want some old jalopy with a carburetor and crank windows, but there's so little benefit to the individual for all the shit that I can't imagine wanting it.

    I do my own repairs and I hate that half the time I need to get my laptop out to reset a thing, clear a code, re-initiate some shit. Pulling the battery cable off used to work for most things, but not anymore and for a long time.

    I bought the car, but they own the software? So if I want do change or repair something, I have to pay them, but if the software shits the bed, I have to pay them? Everything ends with me paying them for something I already paid for.

    Fuck that.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Sailfish is awesome. It just doesn't work on any phones that work in north America anymore.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Big market, but also huge barrier to entry to get a phone ecosystem off the ground. MS, Amazon, Facebook, Mozilla and many others have tried and failed. Apple and Google have huge moats

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    [–] 31 points 6 months ago (7 children)

    This requirement will kick in the moment the system suspects suspicious activity. At that point, reCAPTCHA will forgo the old image puzzles and require you to scan a QR code with your smartphone to prove you’re human.

    How is this going to work if you're browsing the internet on your phone??

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago

    How is this going to work if you’re browsing the internet on your phone??

    Easy, they force you to install an app, just click the link and agree to all the permissions and cookies and stuff. It might be malware, it might be legit, who knows?

    official Google screenshot

    Google copying UI workflows from literal malware developers...

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  • [–] 29 points 6 months ago

    Time to degoogle for good, then.

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  • [–] 28 points 6 months ago

    I was wondering how they would screw the new Motorola phones coming out since they couldn't do the whole "factory operating system has been tampered with" mode of whining and being little bitches.

    Glad to see their engineers came up with another way to fuck us! Thanks google!

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  • [–] 28 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    We need to move away from Google. Just make them obselete.

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  • [–] 29 points 6 months ago

    It SHOULD spell bad news for the people that use this verification method because it just means they lose those customers.

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  • [–] 28 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    I would never scan a qr code to verify that I'm not a bot. I'd simply close the page

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    We'll talk about that again when all banks, online reservation, government websites all require the new captcha.

    Oh, but you can still join us by phone to talk to an AI agent or wait forr 240mins of average waiting time for a human operator.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    Banks love to reinvent the wheel and definitely can't trust Google to be part of their workflow, as Google will 100% change UI or steps or rename the app or discontinue the app while replacing it with an identical one but with a different name but less features with no advance notice. Relying on Google for banking workflow means that one day the bank user support will be overwhelmed by requests like "the button disappeared, where is it now"

    For the rest of stuff, this system IMHO has too much friction, the bounce rate will be too high. Businesses won't like to pay for a bot detection system (it costs $1 per 1000 verifications) that will push humans away while bots pass it without problems (either by using the accessibility workaround or by using those smartphone farms in southeast Asia)

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

    Even worst there is a huge privacy concern here. Google would associate who's browsing anonymously in desktop with their phones which Google has more access on your information. It is already a privacy concern before but at that time they go in a roundabout way, today we just give them the platter.

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  • [–] 27 points 6 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 50 points 6 months ago

    I won't install an app to access a fucking website.

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  • [–] 24 points 6 months ago

    Then I will de-whatever else uses their shit

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  • [–] 22 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    I've scanned 4 QR codes in my life. 2 were not what I was told they would be.

    I will never scan a QR code again.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 22 points 6 months ago

    Surely this would be nearly impossible for visually impaired people, which makes me question the ability for governments to implement this on their websites.

    I know about screen reader software for visual impairment, but to expect a blind person use a separate device with a camera to take a “photo” of a QR code on another screen is beyond comprehension. Well, at least it would be in the normal timeline.

    I guess I’ll have to switch to a dumb phone out of spite now.

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  • [–] 40 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

    It turns out reCAPCHA has been a privacy nightmare from the beginning: from silently monitoring user activity in the background, to sending payment information to Google; in order for an AI to assess the data, and return a risk-score to the website. But that apparently wasn't bold enough, and now an effective 2FA is required, which provides additional telemetry to Google (but not to the website or app: which is obviously the privacy concern). So get ready to 2FA with Google upon registration, login, updating your cart, and payment; or to skip the hassle, you should just let an approved "shopping assistant" make purchases for you ("that drive a projected 25% increase in average order value"). I don't even own a modern Android or iOS device, so how am I supposed to solve these?

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  • [–] 21 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    I think I'll just go to a local store and pay in cash instead. I'm starting to think the Amish have the right idea, anyone know where I can rent a horse and buggy?

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago

    Yeah, on the rare occasion where I do order something online, and happen to trip up the convoluted system, I rather give the webshop a call, than giving into this dystopian nonsense. And I've long done away with any mainstream platforms, which I suspect will happily adopt the system (especially those who forced me to adopt 2FA: which was seemingly just in preparation of this...). I'll happily function as an example, to illustrate just how morally unjust it is, to effectively force someone to purchase and use a device they explicitly chose not to use; I really want to hear someone justify that.

    I think there's few people left, which do not believe we've gone too far with technology, so the Amish to some extend are definitely onto something.

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  • [–] 18 points 6 months ago

    Verify by qr = insta hacked

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  • [–] 17 points 6 months ago

    cool. guess I won't be using any of the things that use it.

    🤷 oh well.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago

    Fuck that. One of the biggest offenders of web scraping and bot traffic wants to force us all to install their spyware just to verify that we're human when there have already been much simpler ways to do this without that bullshit captcha for years...

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  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    This requirement will kick in the moment the system suspects suspicious activity. At that point, reCAPTCHA will forgo the old image puzzles and require you to scan a QR code with your smartphone to prove you’re human. Although this will stop an autonomous bot in its tracks, it also adds another step to verification. But the problem runs a little deeper than the annoyance of a single additional step.

    I didn't see what the spec of this new recaptcha is but my first thought is an android emulator and a free google account combined with whatever bot/LLM wants to pass through is probably going to be what happens.

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