Laura Kalbag

11 December 2020 15:29 UTC

Gov.uk’s “get a coronavirus test” page using Google’s reCAPTCHA asking for the site visitor to identify “crosswalks“.

Really? REALLY? From a tweet by Kelly Rose

Wow. I’m going to do a little thread on the many levels of awful here.

  1. Accessibility: The government site for requesting coronavirus tests is using a third-party service (Google reCAPTCHA) to shut out bots. reCAPTCHA is notoriously hard to use for people using screenreaders.
  2. Accessibility: A US service (Google reCAPTCHA) to shut out bots is asking visitors to the UK government website to identify “crosswalks”. (Most people visiting this site are likely more familiar with British English vs American English. “Crosswalks” is not used by Brits.)
  3. Privacy: A US-based third-party service (Google reCAPTCHA) is being embedded on the UK government’s website, sharing all sorts of its citizens’ information with Google.
  4. Privacy: A US-based third-party service (Google reCAPTCHA) is being embedded on the UK government’s website where people are requesting coronavirus tests. Sharing (incredibly personal) information about citizens who suspect they may have coronavirus with Google.

It’s just so irresponsible. And frustrating. The number of people who didn’t care about citizens’ rights for this to happen…

Before my usual lazy bleating reply guys jump in here:

switching.software has some decent recommendations for alternatives to reCAPTCHA.