# "I am not a robot" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-robot/793442 "2017-08-12T14:18:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-robot/793442/1 "2017-08-12T14:18:44Z")
How are those recapcha thingies where you simply click on a box labeled “I am not a robot” supposed to weed out robots, anyway? I could see that the old style, with wonky fonts and broken letters and so on presented a challenge in pattern recognition, but one click on a box?? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-robot/793442/2 "2017-08-12T14:29:03Z")
It’s actually checking things like your IP, various cookies that are set on your computer, and your browsing history. Bots don’t browse and click random things on the internet or accumulate a pattern of cookies from their browsing. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-robot/793442/3 "2017-08-12T14:35:37Z")
I believe that it actually analyzes the mouse movement as you click, and has other tests ready to show if it can’t identify that movement as unpredictable enough to be human. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-robot/793442/4 "2017-08-12T15:12:10Z")
And it only gives the “I am not a robot” checkbox to people it’s confident enough about (who have probably also, incidentally, also done many conventional captchas). Some folks still get the conventional crazy-font ones. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-robot/793442/5 "2017-08-12T15:54:49Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > I believe that it actually analyzes the mouse movement as you click, and has other tests ready to show if it can’t identify that movement as unpredictable enough to be human. That was my understanding as well. I suspect they also look at reaction time - a robot may click it immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-robot/793442/6 "2017-08-12T16:03:59Z")
The other day, I clicked that box as I was logging into my PS4 app. A pop up box then appeared asking me to click on all the pictures that have a street sign in them. I thought that was strange. Its never asked me to do that before. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-robot/793442/7 "2017-08-12T16:28:00Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > The other day, I clicked that box as I was logging into my PS4 app. A pop up box then appeared asking me to click on all the pictures that have a street sign in them. > > I thought that was strange. Its never asked me to do that before. That is what it does when it is unsure. This photo identification is a harder problem for computers. Also, no one has found any mouse hooks, and they wouldn’t work on tablets, anyways. It does seem to have to do with history and such, as said above Google is of course protective of the actual algorithm. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-robot/793442/8 "2017-08-12T16:54:07Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > How are those recapcha thingies where you simply click on a box labeled “I am not a robot” supposed to weed out robots, anyway? Robots can’t lie. Duh! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-not-a-robot/793442/9 "2017-08-12T16:58:40Z")
Huh. Very interesting! “And it only gives the “I am not a robot” checkbox to people it’s confident enough about (who have probably also, incidentally, also done many conventional captchas).” Nice to know I’m presumed human. 😃 > [@dropzone](#): > > Robots can’t lie. Duh! 😉 LOL!