He mentions about JavaScript libraries and reCaptcha, "As I have set up uMatrix in my browser, this cost me some extra time to finish registration." So basically, prepare to be annoyed.

Considering reCaptcha has some tasks that look suspiciously like "help train who-knows-whose neural net to identify the bombing targets in this satellite image," it could also be an ethical choice for some people.

I've seen almost entirely just what appear to be building addresses. What kind of images have others seen that they thought were potential bombing targets?

Just stuff I've seen on Twitter, so it could all be fake, but things like military helicopters and convoys of humvee-style trucks.

I think people are okay with some token amount of work to check that they're not a bot, but Google is changing that into a token amount of work to help train their systems.

I don't agree with it, but I understand it, especially if you have bad feelings about google.

I think people have forgotten that recaptcha was originally designed to help Google transcribe books for their digital library, which is arguably a public good. Now they're training their self-driving cars with it, which really just benefits them.

> help Google transcribe books for their digital library, which is arguably a public good

If they were doing it for a public library or releasing the text as public domain, that would be a public good. As it stands, it's just doing free work for an advertising company.

Google Books is not public: https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/what-ever-happen...

Yeah it didn't work out because publishers fought it tooth and nail in copyright court. But that was the original intention.

Wasn't that before Google bought it and it was owned by a University?

Many people who follow the ideals of free software also value their privacy.

A service requiring you to interact with Google software in order to use it, is pretty much a surefire way to find out that you and the service provider are not on the same page about the value of your privacy or at the very least that the service provider does not understand the privacy implications, which doesn't help your privacy.

There's the odd chance that the service provider has actually researched about the specific Google software that they're using and that it's somehow actually not privacy-invading, or that the service provider has a contract with Google to protect your privacy, but chances for both of those are really low.

As other commenters have also pointed out, this is from a moral/privacy(/security) standpoint.

Google reCaptcha's are also incredibly annoying compared to standard captchas, which would be a good reason for people to want to stay away from it.