Rosario Monachino
People have been left gobsmacked after finding out what ticking ‘I am not a robot’ actually does.
Everyone is familiar with the little tick box that pops up when you are surfing the internet.
It is sometimes accompanied by a series of photos where you have to select all the ‘traffic lights’, ‘stop signs’ or ‘fire hydrants’.
Everyone does them without hesitation, but it turns out that it is actually a bit more complicated.
TV host Sandi Toksvig explained this to Alan Davies, David Mitchell, Maisie Adams and Holly Walsh in an episode of QI.
Watch Sandi Toksvig explain what ‘I am not a robot’ actually does below…
Toksvig said: “So ticking the box is not the point. It’s how you behaved before you ticked the box that is analysed.
“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.
Related Article: Gen Z Think That The Thumbs Up Emoji Is Rude And ‘Passive Aggressive’
“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.”
This explanation has resurfaced because of a TikTok video by Australian radio presenters Fitzy and Wippa, where they discussed it during their show.
@fitzyandwippa Did you know this? ??? #fitzyandwippa ♬ original sound – Fitzy & Wippa
The video has garnered over 311,000 likes and has left internet users gobsmacked, and worried about their internet history.
“That feels illegal,” commented one person.
A second user asked: “So a robot is checking if I’m a robot.”
Someone else said: “The first I hear this. Done quick research, unfortunately, appears true.”
“Surely that’s against my rights as a person,” a fourth user commented.
Another person asked: “Is this for real?”
Related Article: Doctor Explains What The Random Chest Pains You Get Are
However, some people did dispute this claim and explain that it doesn’t just mean that.
One person explained: “Has nothing to do with history, but it checks mouse movement from the original state to box [goal] and compares it to a bot (straighter line than humans).”
Another added: “It doesn’t work that way. They collect data through cookies no matter whether you ticked or not.”
A third person said: “Nope. Not true. It can not see your search history. What it will do is analyze your mouse movement and behaviour on the website.”
Watch our Video of the Day below…
Do you have a story for us? If so, email us at [email protected]. All contact will be treated in confidence.
