Ask HN: Google Requires Captchas Just to Search?

by djhaskin987 on 9/6/2022, 1:32 PM with 3 comments

Google just asked me to solve a captcha for something I searched for. Like it thought I was a robot for searching "appveyor {build}". (I"m searching for info on appveyor handlebars and what I can put in them.) "Google has detected suspicious network activity from this address" or some such.

I didn't just have to click "I'm not a robot", either, though I don't block cookies. I had to full on pick which pictures weren't pictures of stairs.

Does this happen frequently for some folks? Any way to avoid it? I'm just fascinated that it happened.

  • by dotty- on 9/6/2022, 1:38 PM

    I see it very often when using VPNs, both including needing to select pictures and it just letting me through immediately. I find it happens less when you are actually logged into a Google account. It doesn't completely prevent them, but Google will "trust" you more.

  • by DerekBickerton on 9/6/2022, 3:24 PM

    Try Kagi[0] or Neeva[1] instead

    [0] https://kagi.com/

    [1] https://neeva.com/

  • by kypro on 9/6/2022, 3:28 PM

    Always when I'm using a VPN. It doesn't matter how many times I solve their puzzles it literally won't let me through half the time - I guess they've figured anonymous users are a waste of server resources.

    When not working I'm forced to use a mix of duckduckgo, Bing and Yandex as I refuse to disable my VPN for Google.