Google makes $1 billion from practically useless work: captcha codes.
How many hours have you spent online solving CAPTCHA tests? Yes, the challenge that seeks an answer to determine whether the user is a human or a bot. Does it have a real impact on network security? A study from the University of California, Irvine, suggests otherwise, highlighting that this tool is not really effective at blocking bot traffic. If that's not enough, they cause privacy issues, waste people's time, and, most importantly for Google, generate data worth nearly $1 billion.
Google acquired reCAPTCHA in 2009, and the study focused on the two most common forms of this technology. First, the behavioral one that relies on checking the "I'm not a robot" box; and second, the image-based one, often from Google Street View, that asks us to identify all traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. Both are extremely useful for the American company, as they generate advertising segmentations and data that can be applied to artificial intelligence models.
How much time have we spent solving CAPTCHAs? Researchers analyzed all cases solved between 2010 and 2013, and the results were astonishing. In total, all internet users spent 819 million hours on this task, which, compared to the average human lifespan of 79 years, equates to 1,182.7 years spent solving CAPTCHA codes.
All of this has generated millions of dollars in profits for Google and wasted users' time due to the real impact it has on internet security.