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

Richmond <dnomhcir@gmx.com> wrote:

Rich <rich@example.invalid> writes:
 

candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

Salvador Mirzo <smirzo@example.com> wrote at 13:33 this Tuesday
(GMT): > Sylvia Else <sylvia@email.invalid> writes:

>

On 21-Jan-25 5:10 am, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:

Google begins requiring JavaScript for Google Search by Thom
  Holwerda 2025-01-18 -
  https://www.osnews.com/story/141570/google-begins-requiring-javascript-for-google-search/
  " Google says it has begun requiring users to turn on
  JavaScript, the widely used programming language to make web
  pages interactive, in order to use Google Search.  In an email
  to TechCrunch, a company spokesperson claimed that the change is
  intended to "better protect" Google Search against malicious
  activity, such as bots and spam, and to improve the overall
  Google Search experience for users.

>
[...]
>

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.
>
I'm not approving the idea; just sharing what I think they might
have in mind when they say Javascript will help them fend off
robots.

 
It would also make it harder to scrape, since I /think/ web scrapers
don't run JS by default.

>
Which just means this will push web scrapers to start running JS.
>
They don't run JS (yet) because they have not needed to run JS to do
their scraping.  But if JS is required, and they want to scrape bad
enough, they will put in support for running JS.

 
Why can't web scrapers just pretend to be Lynx browsers?

They could, that is until google simply starts expecting JS to be
executed regardless of the value of the user agent header.