CAPTCHA cookies are often embedded in CAPTCHA services to help websites verify whether a visitor is a human or a bot, preventing spam and bot attacks.
However, it’s important to understand how CAPTCHA cookies can also be used to monitor user interactions for purposes other than security, such as marketing, analytics, and social media. When CAPTCHA providers rely on cookies for tracking, they can collect data about users – even across websites that don’t belong to the CAPTCHA provider.
Traditionally, cookies have been a core component of the Internet, designed to store small pieces of data on a user’s device. These cookies ensure that essential functions, such as remembering session states or holding items in a shopping cart, work smoothly. At the same time, cookies are often used for other, non-essential purposes, such as marketing or analytics.
Cookies can also track user behavior, especially when used by large companies such as Google, which may operate multiple services under the same domain and across different sub-domains. This allows for extensive tracking across sites that users may not even be aware of.
In this article, we’ll compare the use of CAPTCHA cookies by different CAPTCHA providers and discuss their impact on user privacy and cybersecurity. Understanding how CAPTCHA cookies work can help site owners and users alike make informed decisions to reduce unwanted tracking.
How CAPTCHA Cookies Work
Most CAPTCHA providers use HTTP cookies or web cookies for their service. These CAPTCHA cookies are a piece of data, that a server sends to a user’s web browser. Cookies are sent back to the server with each request after being received and stored on the browser. HTTP cookies typically store information about the user’s activity and are used to manage session state between different browsing sessions.
CAPTCHA cookies can be divided into first-party and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are set by the domain a user is browsing. Third-party cookies are set by a domain that is different from the one that the user is currently visiting. The latter are often used for advertising and tracking purposes.
CAPTCHA cookies or HTTP cookies have many of purposes. The most important ones are:
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State and session management: Some CAPTCHA providers use HTTP cookies to store information about a visitor’s session. This includes not only login sessions, but also search filters or scrolling position on a long page. Even if the user closes the browser or visits other pages, this information is not lost. It remains in the CAPTCHA cookie stored on the hard drive.
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Personalization: HTTP cookies can be used to store a user’s preferences, such as their preferred language, font size, and color choices. This information is critical to personalizing the user’s experience on the site.
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User tracking: CAPTCHA cookies make it possible to track a user’s behavior on a website, such as which pages they visit, how long they stay on a page, and which links they click. This data can be analyzed to improve the overall user experience by customizing the content or layout of pages. Cookies are also useful for collecting analytics data. For example, Google reCAPTCHA collects data and provides site usage statistics through a set of cookies.
There are different types of CAPTCHA cookies for different purposes:
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Session cookies: Session cookies are temporary and are stored in the browser’s memory. They expire when the user closes the web browser.
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Persistent cookies: Persistent CAPTCHA cookies are the most critical cookies. They persist after the web browser is closed and are stored on the hard drive.
It is important to note that there are security and privacy risks associated with the use of CAPTCHA cookies. Cookies can store sensitive personal information about each user and may cause a security risk. In addition, CAPTCHA cookies are often used to track and collect data about user behavior, which is a privacy concern.
Privacy laws, such as the EU’s e-Privacy Directive, also cover the use of cookies. It requires users to give informed consent before the website can use cookies. This does not apply to so-called essential cookies, which are absolutely necessary for the functioning of the website or the CAPTCHA. The GDPR and other international privacy laws consider cookie identifiers to be personal data and provides its own rules for the use of cookies in the EU. Personal data collected through cookies also falls under the scope of the GDPR.
CAPTCHA Cookie Usage Compared
Now we will look at three popular CAPTCHA providers: reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha and Friendly Captcha. Both reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha still use critical HTTP cookies with persistent storage. reCAPTCHA may track the data for marketing purposes with cross-site tracking. hCaptcha goes for CAPTCHA cookies and cross-site tracking, too. In contrast, Friendly Captcha does not use HTTP cookies or persistent browser storage at all.
Each CAPTCHA solution comes with unique features and privacy implications, which we will explore in the following subsections.
How reCAPTCHA Uses CAPTCHA Cookies
reCAPTCHA is the most common CAPTCHA service which is powered by Google. The reCAPTCHA widget is loaded from the google.com or gstatic.com domain, which is shared across many Google services. It therefore has access to all the Google cookies that were previously set by reCAPTCHA or other Google services.
A key feature of Invisible reCAPTCHA is its cookie-based risk analysis system, which assesses the likelihood of a user being a bot or human. However, this raises privacy concerns, especially under stringent data protection laws like GDPR or CCPA, which require explicit prior user consent.
reCAPTCHA itself sets a _grecaptcha cookie which is used to provide its risk analysis for the invisible CAPTCHA functionality. But it can use the existing Google cookies or third-party cookies to track users in addition to _grecaptcha. By embedding reCAPTCHA from the google.com domain, website owners are potentially expanding the tracking network of Google.
Additionally, reCAPTCHA uses CAPTCHA cookies to track browsing history, allowing websites to customize content for individual visitors based on their interactions. The missing transparency of data collection and storage by Google reCAPTCHA is often questioned.
Users may not know what data Google collects through reCAPTCHA cookies, where it is stored, or how it is processed. This hinders informed cookie consent for reCAPTCHA and potentially leads to legal issues, especially regarding reCAPTCHA’s GDPR compliance.
In addition, the fact that scripts are dynamically loaded and embedded by Google’s reCAPTCHA service is questionable from a privacy perspective. Personal information may be transferred to Google’s servers with each request.
There are better CAPTCHA solutions without user tracking today. If you want to implement a cookie-less CAPTCHA on your website quickly and easily, start with Friendly Captcha’s free 30-day plan.
How hCaptcha Uses CAPTCHA Cookies
hCaptcha is a CAPTCHA service based in the United States focused on image recognition tasks and machine learning. The hCaptcha widget is loaded from the hcaptcha.com domain. hCaptcha uses CAPTCHA cookies to provide its service and functionality like its passive mode.
One of these cookies stores a unique identifier for each user, which potentially allows hCaptcha to track users across websites that are using hCaptcha. While hCaptcha’s cookies tend to be less critical, the data protection implications of using them must still be taken into account.
hCaptcha focuses on image recognition tasks, providing various additional security services, including passive security and humanity verification. It uses unique identifiers to track interactions.
hCaptcha’s use of CAPTCHA cookies raises privacy concerns. In its own privacy policy, hCaptcha states the following purposes for using hCaptcha cookies: for interest-based or targeted advertising, to integrate third-party social media sites, to store login session information, and to recognize new or previous users.
Without the user’s prior consent, these cookies present a challenge for compliance with strict data protection laws such as the GDPR and CCPA.
Another critical aspect is the embedding and dynamic loading of scripts from hCaptcha servers. Each user’s browser requests and executes the script locally, transferring personal information to the hCaptcha servers and creating potential security risks, such as script modification by attackers.
In addition, old-school image recognition tasks present serious accessibility issues. These accessibility issues can be worked around by storing an additional hCaptcha accessibility cookie. To do this, restricted users must log in to an accessibility page and refresh that login periodically.
There are hCaptcha alternatives on the security market that combine privacy and accessibility. Try Friendly Captcha 30 days for free.
How Friendly Captcha Works Without Cookies
Friendly Captcha operates without setting any critical HTTP cookies and without storing data in persistent browser storage. This prevents potential data tracking and privacy issues. The focus on user privacy makes it attractive for websites seeking an alternative to reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha without the need for cookie consent.
The Friendly Captcha widget is either loaded from an Open Source CDN such as jsdelivr.com or can be installed directly using a package manager like NPM and served from your own servers. The widget communicates with the “friendlycaptcha.com” domain to get a puzzle.
By not having any HTTP CAPTCHA cookies set and not using persistent browser storage, Friendly Captcha is the best choice for users and businesses concerned with data security. Friendly Captcha does not use HTTP cookies. This minimizes the risk of data tracking or collection, aligning with privacy requirements, and providing a secure, privacy-friendly solution.
Furthermore, you save the hassle of using a cookie opt-in, because Friendly Captcha works completely without HTTP cookies nor persistent browser storage. Friendly Captcha offers a robust solution that respects your user’s data while ensuring security. Its cookie-free approach and compliance with stringent data protection laws makes it a standout modern CAPTCHA system.
| Feature | reCAPTCHA | hCaptcha | Friendly Captcha |
|---|---|---|---|
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Cookie Usage |
Uses HTTP cookies, including persistent cookies |
Uses HTTP cookies, including unique identifies |
No HTTP cookies |
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Cross-site tracking |
Yes, across Google’s network with cookies |
Yes, across hCaptcha-enabled sites with cookie |
No cross-site tracking |
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Persistent browser storage |
Yes, uses persistent browser storage |
Yes, uses persistent browser storage |
No persistent browser storage |
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Need for cookie opt-in banner |
Yes, due to use of tracking and persistent cookies |
Yes, as cookies are used for statistics |
No, as it does not use HTTP cookies or persistent browser storage |
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Privacy compliance (GDPR, CCPA…) |
Low compliance due to extensive data tracking |
Moderate compliance due to moderate tracking |
Full compliance, no unnecessary data collection |
Conclusion on CAPTCHA Cookies
Traditional CAPTCHA providers such as Google reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha often use CAPTCHA cookies to store user interactions across multiple websites for various purposes. This extensive data collection and CAPTCHA cookie usage can make compliance with privacy laws, such as GDPR and CCPA, challenging.
In contrast, Friendly Captcha has never made use of unnecessary HTTP cookies nor persistent browser storage. Friendly Captcha prioritizes data protection, making it the best choice for privacy-conscious website owners.
Friendly Captcha proves that secure bot protection works without HTTP cookies and persistent browser storage. Website owners can now increase security without compromising user privacy by choosing Friendly Captcha.
Sign up for a free Friendly Captcha test account and experience the privacy compliant CAPTCHA without HTTP CAPTCHA cookies.
FAQ
CAPTCHA cookies can store user activity across sessions and websites, often without the user’s knowledge. This may include user behavior, preferences, or even browsing history, raising concerns about transparency and privacy compliance.
CAPTCHAs typically use session cookies (temporary) and persistent cookies (stored on the device). Persistent cookies are more concerning for privacy as they enable tracking across multiple browsing sessions.
Not always. While some CAPTCHA services rely on cookies for statistics, modern solutions like Friendly Captcha use cookie-free methods, such as proof-of-work, to ensure security without compromising privacy.
Users can block third-party cookies and CAPTCHA cookies through browser settings or by using privacy-focused browser extensions. However, this may affect the functionality of certain CAPTCHA services, such as Google reCAPTCHA.
