Re: [LINK] Google begins requiring JavaScript for Google Search

On 2025-01-21, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> wrote:
Sylvia Else <sylvia@email.invalid> writes:

 >>> How is this going to '"better protect" Google Search against
 >>> malicious activity, such as bots and spam'?

 >> I believe the idea is that if the robot doesn't speak Javascript,
 >> it's an easy denial by the web server.  And making bots speak
 >> Javascript is one step up.  And with Javascript they can likely
 >> monitor things like mouse movement to detect whether the user
 >> is a human or a robot.

 > Which of course is one of Google's main businesses, with their
 > Captchas that don't always need to show a puzzle in order to
 > validate users as humans.  So if anyone _thinks_ they can achieve
 > that, you'd expect it to be Google.

And they don't even need it to be perfect: a robot that
implements the relevant browser APIs, while possible, /will/
be costlier to run and maintain, thus reducing the profits of
the robot operators, in turn disincentivizing them.

Even if that doesn't solve the problem altogether, it will
still likely result in less load for their servers.

Not that it invalidates any other reasons they might want to
require Javascript / APIs regardless, mind you.