This is a quick bit: I recently had to add a reCAPTCHA key to a website. However, the keys provided did not work directly and I saw the Invalid key type error.
ERROR for site owner: Invalid key type
In my case, this could be fixed by reissuing the key, switching from a version 3 key to a version 2 key.
Some considerations
A Large-Scale Real-World User Study of reCAPTCHAv2
A 2023 UC Irvine study titled “Dazed and Confused: A Large-Scale Real-World User Study of reCAPTCHAv2” revealed startling findings about Google’s reCAPTCHA system, suggesting it has become more of a data harvesting tool than an effective security measure. The research, which analyzed 3,600 users over 13 months, found that CAPTCHAs not only fail to prevent bot traffic effectively (with bots often outperforming humans), but have also collectively wasted an estimated 819 million hours of human time—equivalent to 1,182 lifetimes—while generating up to $888 billion in value for Google through tracking cookies and valuable AI training data. The study concluded that reCAPTCHA has essentially become “a tracking cookie farm for profit masquerading as a security service,” raising serious questions about the widespread use of this purported security tool.
- Studies show that CAPTCHA tests are ineffective against modern AI bots.
- Google uses reCAPTCHA v2 and v3 primarily for data collection.
- AI programs solve image puzzles with nearly 100% success rates.
- reCAPTCHA v3, with the “I’m not a robot” checkbox, is easily bypassed by bots.
- Users with VPNs or anonymized data are blocked more frequently than bots.
- The value of the data collected through CAPTCHAs is estimated at $888 billion.
- The study recommends eliminating reCAPTCHA v2 and similar systems.