Google gesture based reCAPTCHA evolution uses webcam hand tracking to stop AI bots while addressing biometric privacy concerns
Google is experimenting with a new form of online human verification where you have to make gestures in front of your webcam before access is granted. In Google official tech notes explaining the new reCAPTCHA Google states that this new system is an evolution of the old image grid and puzzle solving reCAPTCHA as "today's leading artificial intelligence bottests have become experts at defeating those kinds of challenge response measures."
The verification process starts when a user give permission for the system to access their device camera. The system then enters into a mini calibration phase, where the software analyzes the hand's video feed mapping out 21 points in the process, the system tracks those points in order to match the gesture being asked. Google specifies that no audio is recorded during the tracking process.
However, these new modes of verification do not come without their critics from privacy advocates who claim that the system is, in fact, a way of capturing one's personal biometric information. Google has responded to these disagreements by claiming that the video is not identified with the user. The company explains that users information is not shared with third parties and that the camera data is "immediately discarded from our systems."
The gesture based reCAPTCHA is still in testing stage. Google has assured that the new technology will be introduced without disabling the existing verification checks. The classic accessibility features will still be present so as to allow physically challenged people to access websites without the need of camera based inputs.
