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they have a patent on giving out unbeatable challenges when the computer thinks it's dealing with a 'malicious agent'.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US9407661B2/en

So if you're running the wrong combination of addons/VPNs/browser you're denied access to half the web because Big G says so? And now they're aggressively pushing sysadmins to install silent data harvesting scripts on every page of their sites? WTF more will it take to get people interested in breaking up these monopolies?

Not denied access, they just keep serving up challenges to you until you give up, WAY worse than saying "You appear to be a bot, sorry".

I hear Google is a fun place to work and that they pay well.

Until software developers care -- nothing will happen.

Were Carnegie Steel or Bell fun places to work? Probably, they had cash spilling out their ears.

Monopolies need to be broken up because they threaten the free market and consequently our way of life - not because employees revolt.

From what I've seen (and most of it's anecdotal) things do appear to be changing. There are already people who won't go anywhere near Facebook now for personal ethical reasons, and even concerns that it might hurt future career prospects.

That's Juniper, not Google.

Juniper patented saying "No" to a client.

oh, sorry about that, it's conveniently grayed out in the corner :)

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