People do pay taxes in the US? I paid almost nothing in Texas, thats why it looked like a shithole. No budget for anything. In Europe I love to pay taxes, because I see where it's going to
It's kind of a pain that you still have to file US taxes in this case. You may well end up paying zero in the US, but it's up to you to provide the necessary paperwork to show that your overseas income tax was high enough to cancel out the US income tax.
Other common issues - crosswalks and fire hydrants are common questions too, and crosswalks are not called that in most of the world and fire hydrants look pretty different depending on country.
This is perhaps a declining problem, as young people in so many countries are growing up as proficient US English speakers due to heavy social media consumption, to the point that US English CAPTCHA challenges would just feel normal. I suspect there are more young people around their world now for whom "crosswalk" is more natural than "zebra" -- in my country, the latter is already a shibboleth that one is an oldie who learned UK English, now regarded here as an antiquated standard after teaching switched to US English.
Also a declining problem because any recent LLM can solve them all for you. FWIW though I don’t know anyone in the UK who uses the term crosswalk, though I think most would probably understand it in context.
I've noticed that "Santa" is really starting to displace "Father Christmas" in British English. When I was a kid if you said "Santa" you'd have been scolded for using the American name, but listening to kids now I hear them say "Santa" all the time. I blame TV.
"Crosswalk" sounds extremely American to me and I've never heard anyone say it in Britain, but maybe I'm just getting old.
There are more people than only young, intelligent people who want to use the world wide web.
As mentioned somewhere else in the comments here: This is just one aspect where US American culture is being favored and forced on other people and their culture.
Yes, I know how fire hydrants look like in the USA. But this is not the point. It is about respecting other people's abilities and cultures.
Maybe it's translated, but it's definitely not localised. Captchas are nonsense in the UK, and a lot of Europe browses in English even if not their first language.
and crosswalks are not called that in most of the world
As an Australian, I'd never call them that, but I know what the American word means.
In fact, the average Australian has a pretty good understanding of Americanisms, even if they've never been to the US, due to lifelong consumption of US TV shows, films, and other cultural exports.
To be fair liberal and conservative is still used in it's actual sense whenever I hear it here in central Europe. US politics is barely a topic, even less something people actually care about.
The word "conservative" is currently being applied to the Republican party, who are reforming the US as hard and fast as they can manage, without careful consideration. A "move fast and break things" approach is about as un-conservative as one can be.
Is 'identify all the similar cars?' a valid capcha though? Surely knowing that something is a taxi is the important part of the test, and a good capcha would through in a branded car that isn't a taxi, which non-Americans are far more likely to fail.
Remember that the goal here is to test that a request isn't coming from a computer, and 'identify all the similar things in these images' is really easy for a computer.
Even as someone who lived a long time in the US, I've failed a bunch of these on unclear definitions.
When you say "stoplights", is that just the lights themselves, or also the poles that support them? Is a tile that contains 1/3 of a bike wheel "bicycle" or "not bicycle"? Is a coach also considered a bus?
I think I'm failing the captcha by not being sufficiently pedantic. It genuinely never occurred to me that a coach might not be considered a bus by the algorithm (where "algorithm" is presumably "distilled responses of many thousands of other humans")
I actually found I had more success with reCAPTCHA when I made myself think less about what the answer was.
I also learned this trick that a lot of the questions have a standard number of answers – e.g. there are always three buses, or fire hydrants, or whatever – so once I've picked three, I'm done. (There often is a fourth ambiguous case, which it accepts but doesn't require.)
At this point I assume the captcha puzzle isn’t the actual check, just a distraction while they fingerprint your browser and behaviour to try to identify if you are more likely a human or not. Just my thoughts, I have absolutely no proof that’s the case, but I don’t believe labeling traffic light is still valuable, we are way, way past that
The big sell on reCAPTCHA v3 was that it did all the fingerprinting beforehand. Only when fingerprinting failed to prove your humanity, you'd get shown a puzzle.
I've tried intentionally answering the prompts wrong and correctness is definitely a factor here (although low bot scores seem to permit you more mistakes). That doesn't mean fingerprinting is not happening while you're solving the puzzles, but it's more than just a distraction.
Correction: they only prove exposure to American media/culture... I could solve captcha and understand most of it from having seen a dozen or so American shows and movies over my teenage years... Even before I ever travelled to America.
It proves that you are familiar enough with American culture, which could be a problem for some, theoretically, I guess. I don't get upset about that just like I don't get upset about the fact that we all have to know English.
But that's not the real issue with CAPTCHAs or with a lot of other checks that companies do.
E.g., Apple does ID checks when you create a developer account. I would love to see the statistics, but anecdotally the overwhelming share of failed checks followed by "piss off we're not talking to you any longer" occurs with non-US IDs or types of IDs that are less common in the US.
Access to global infrastructures is very biased, I believe, and getting more biased. It's not always the US's fault though. The world is fracturing.
where do i collect my passport?
Ready to pay US taxes from anywhere in the world?
People do pay taxes in the US? I paid almost nothing in Texas, thats why it looked like a shithole. No budget for anything. In Europe I love to pay taxes, because I see where it's going to
Fixed that for you.
In Spain you pay taxes through the nose and there's nothing to show for it. Motorways look like they are you are in Congo.
I don't know what part of Spain you live in - Galicia is chock full of beautifully-maintained autovias.
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It's kind of a pain that you still have to file US taxes in this case. You may well end up paying zero in the US, but it's up to you to provide the necessary paperwork to show that your overseas income tax was high enough to cancel out the US income tax.
No idea why you got downvoted. This is one of the most absurd and controlling thing the US does from the Perspektive of a non US person.
Other common issues - crosswalks and fire hydrants are common questions too, and crosswalks are not called that in most of the world and fire hydrants look pretty different depending on country.
This is perhaps a declining problem, as young people in so many countries are growing up as proficient US English speakers due to heavy social media consumption, to the point that US English CAPTCHA challenges would just feel normal. I suspect there are more young people around their world now for whom "crosswalk" is more natural than "zebra" -- in my country, the latter is already a shibboleth that one is an oldie who learned UK English, now regarded here as an antiquated standard after teaching switched to US English.
Also a declining problem because any recent LLM can solve them all for you. FWIW though I don’t know anyone in the UK who uses the term crosswalk, though I think most would probably understand it in context.
I've noticed that "Santa" is really starting to displace "Father Christmas" in British English. When I was a kid if you said "Santa" you'd have been scolded for using the American name, but listening to kids now I hear them say "Santa" all the time. I blame TV.
"Crosswalk" sounds extremely American to me and I've never heard anyone say it in Britain, but maybe I'm just getting old.
Maybe we should ask Americans what a Belisha beacon is.
I'm British and I never knew that those yellow-ball-on-black-and-white-pole-by-pedestrian-crossing things had a name. TIL
"Please identify a [PELICAN/PUFFIN/toucan] crossing."
I'd love that. Good luck.
Don't forget pegasus crossings. The one specifically for horse riders.
There are more people than only young, intelligent people who want to use the world wide web.
As mentioned somewhere else in the comments here: This is just one aspect where US American culture is being favored and forced on other people and their culture.
Yes, I know how fire hydrants look like in the USA. But this is not the point. It is about respecting other people's abilities and cultures.
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In the UK the captcha uses crosswalk, which isn’t the common name here.
Maybe it's translated, but it's definitely not localised. Captchas are nonsense in the UK, and a lot of Europe browses in English even if not their first language.
Fire hydrants don't exist, they're just part of that cool media-pushed picture of some mythological place where things are ... weird and different.
As an Australian, I'd never call them that, but I know what the American word means.
In fact, the average Australian has a pretty good understanding of Americanisms, even if they've never been to the US, due to lifelong consumption of US TV shows, films, and other cultural exports.
Like pretty much anyone in the world, actually.
Doesn’t recaptcha have localization? Not sure now that I think about it maybe not
It's just forcing US culture on everyone in the world. Also see Meta deleting IG posts and banning people based on US politics / morals.
Americans have changed/reversed a lot of political definitions including conservative/liberal.
To be fair liberal and conservative is still used in it's actual sense whenever I hear it here in central Europe. US politics is barely a topic, even less something people actually care about.
How has conservative changed?
In the original sense, a "conservative" was someone who avoided change and only made it after careful consideration. Chesterton's fence is a commonly given example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Chesterton%27s_fence
The word "conservative" is currently being applied to the Republican party, who are reforming the US as hard and fast as they can manage, without careful consideration. A "move fast and break things" approach is about as un-conservative as one can be.
Oh come on!
The internet by default assumes you are a US citizen..
I think captchas are on very near to the bottom on the list of things that tries (knowingly or unknowingly) does this...
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Not really in some countries taxis are specific vehicle types and clearly branded. American ones are ordinary cars with slight modifications.
And in that case the CAPTCHA would still work, as the vehicles are of the same type and have clear branding.
Is 'identify all the similar cars?' a valid capcha though? Surely knowing that something is a taxi is the important part of the test, and a good capcha would through in a branded car that isn't a taxi, which non-Americans are far more likely to fail.
Remember that the goal here is to test that a request isn't coming from a computer, and 'identify all the similar things in these images' is really easy for a computer.
"slight modifications" it's entirely
In most places taxis can be identified as: having a specific color/color pattern and/or a ceiling fixture
It is by design because you want taxis to stand out from other vehicles
The fact that it can be deduced in some cases by some people is missing the point that a test of humanity shouldn't be country specific at all.
Which is also not true for some countries...
Some sites take this to a ridiculous extreme. Just try Haathi trust and it asks for a proof at EVERY refresh.
Even as someone who lived a long time in the US, I've failed a bunch of these on unclear definitions.
When you say "stoplights", is that just the lights themselves, or also the poles that support them? Is a tile that contains 1/3 of a bike wheel "bicycle" or "not bicycle"? Is a coach also considered a bus?
Being pedantic about the captcha is the less-human thing to do here.
I think I'm failing the captcha by not being sufficiently pedantic. It genuinely never occurred to me that a coach might not be considered a bus by the algorithm (where "algorithm" is presumably "distilled responses of many thousands of other humans")
Ha! I guess I'm less human than expected, and finally I understand why I've failed sooooo many CAPTCHAs over the years :)
Thanks, I really never knew!
This comment doesn't help the pedant
I actually found I had more success with reCAPTCHA when I made myself think less about what the answer was.
I also learned this trick that a lot of the questions have a standard number of answers – e.g. there are always three buses, or fire hydrants, or whatever – so once I've picked three, I'm done. (There often is a fourth ambiguous case, which it accepts but doesn't require.)
I think you are supposed to click on all tiles that contain any part of said object (and pole is part of the stoplight object).
They certainly could've been more clear about what they want.
Interesting I very often get captchas to find motorcycles, crosswalks, and red lights that are definitely not from the US.
(2017)
Yes. Making meaning often requires context. The study of this is often referred to as pragmatics.
At this point I assume the captcha puzzle isn’t the actual check, just a distraction while they fingerprint your browser and behaviour to try to identify if you are more likely a human or not. Just my thoughts, I have absolutely no proof that’s the case, but I don’t believe labeling traffic light is still valuable, we are way, way past that
Some definitely fail you if you answer too quickly.
The big sell on reCAPTCHA v3 was that it did all the fingerprinting beforehand. Only when fingerprinting failed to prove your humanity, you'd get shown a puzzle.
I've tried intentionally answering the prompts wrong and correctness is definitely a factor here (although low bot scores seem to permit you more mistakes). That doesn't mean fingerprinting is not happening while you're solving the puzzles, but it's more than just a distraction.
Correction: they only prove exposure to American media/culture... I could solve captcha and understand most of it from having seen a dozen or so American shows and movies over my teenage years... Even before I ever travelled to America.
Those do appear to be San Francisco taxis and I agree with the overall sentiment, but the US is not the only country with yellow taxis.
Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Australia, and many European countries all have (not exclusively, but they do have) yellow taxis.
Maybe "Prove you're not English" is really their intention.
It proves that you are familiar enough with American culture, which could be a problem for some, theoretically, I guess. I don't get upset about that just like I don't get upset about the fact that we all have to know English.
But that's not the real issue with CAPTCHAs or with a lot of other checks that companies do.
E.g., Apple does ID checks when you create a developer account. I would love to see the statistics, but anecdotally the overwhelming share of failed checks followed by "piss off we're not talking to you any longer" occurs with non-US IDs or types of IDs that are less common in the US.
Access to global infrastructures is very biased, I believe, and getting more biased. It's not always the US's fault though. The world is fracturing.
I'm fairly certain you'll be asked to throw one in instead of getting any change.