VPN - Google - Prove I am not robot when doing search

A Former User

Hi,

I use Opera VPN. If I do a Google search sometimes it comes up with a pop-up to prove I am not a robot and I have do all the picture matching, with what is a fire hydrant or not etc... I have to do this, just to get search results....

About this page

Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. This page checks to see if it's really you sending the requests, and not a robot. Why did this happen?

IP address: 2001:67c [ rest deleted]
Time: 2020-06-11T21:17:37Z
URL: https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=trere&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Is this a bug? It has been happening for year or two. Just too lazy to ask for help on the forum.

Otherwise, I have to turn off VPN, but I loose privacy....

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer @Guest

@systematic123 Nope, it's not a bug. At least not an Opera one. It's just Google's security service doing its job.

blackbird71

blackbird71

Just a thought... when one uses Google Search directly (without VPN), the IP presented to Google's server is the one your ISP has assigned to you and is very unique with respect to the universe of IPs out there. When you use Opera's VPN to contact Google Search, the IP presented to Google's server is the one assigned to Opera's VPN server... and if a large number of other Opera users make use of Opera's VPN for Google Search, the Google server will see that Opera IP presented over and over (each time associated with a different user by the VPN, but that would be invisible to Google's server). If, as is most likely, Google's server has a protection algorithm to prevent bots and web crawlers from repeatedly accessing their search function, they will track incoming IPs and discover that the one from Opera's VPN causes many hits - and as a result, will probably assume it's a bot and toss the picture pop-up back at you to prove otherwise.

quaint-dragon

quaint-dragon @Guest

@systematic123

The various Google services are control freaks.

I had the same problem while searching until I switched to DuckDuckGo when in VPN and/or Privacy Mode.

I haven't looked back since and I still use Google Search while in normal non-VPN/Privacy mode.

A Former User @blackbird71

@blackbird71 said in VPN - Google - Prove I am not robot when doing search:

incoming IPs and discover that the one from Opera's VPN causes many hits - and as a result, will probably assume it's a bot and toss the picture pop-up back at you to prove otherwise.

I agree, I sense that is exactly, what is happening. It did n't use to happen in the past (many years ago), so I don't know if they can make it work again.

When I open Opera, I see my speed dials, but above that is a Google search box. So Opera must have a tie up with Google, so why not fix the VPN bit?

I can't use VPN with gmail etc... if I do use VPN, it makes me just do the picture pop-up and sometime send a text to my phone.

Yes, I can switch to DuckDuckGo, but their search results does n't always yield the results I want.....

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer @Guest

@systematic123 I don't think there is something to be fixed. Google is just taking care of its security.

By the way, did you already try changing the VPN region?

mattpodolak

mattpodolak @leocg

@leocg I believe there could be a few fixes for this on the Opera side. Someone mentioned earlier in this thread that google is most likely flagging the IP that Opera is routing VPN traffic through from various users. I agree with this sentiment, and I believe that the regions that get more traffic are more likely to be flagged by the google anti-bot algo. It seems like there are too few IPs being used relative to the amount of VPN traffic that is routed through the Opera server instances.

Maybe consider implementing an auto scaling policy which would spin up VPN instances when users connect, and take down unused instances when users disconnect. You might be able to some interesting network routing as well to help work around the google restrictions.