Qwant search engine blocks Firefox and Epiphany browser

Hardware Librem 5
1

Hello,

I am unable to perform a search on Qwant (https://www.qwant.com) on the Librem 5 using either the Firefox browser (128.13.0esr) or the Epiphany browser.

When I access the site, I have to solve a captcha. However, even if I solve it correctly, the following message appears:

You have been blocked. There are several possible reasons for this:

  1. You are browsing at superhuman speed.
  2. Something is blocking JavaScript from working on your computer.
  3. There is a robot on the same network as you.

Other search engines such as Ecosia and DuckDuckGo work fine.

Can anyone help me with this?

[Moderator edited link at user request]

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2

Do you have a VPN connection running? I get those captchas/blocks on Startpage with my VPN. Changing the VPN server usually helps avoid the gatekeeping for a while.

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3

Seemed like 6 or 10 months ago whenever I last tried to Quant search I had the same issue while not on VPN. (From USA)

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4

No, I don’t have a VPN connection.

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5

Have you changed any settings related to javascript? Any extensions that might interfere with javascript?

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6

I’m assuming you’re using an old version of Firefox or Gnome Web which is triggering this. Happens on many websites eg Slack, Tutanita, etc

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7

I tried it with LibreWolf on Mobian and it worked without captcha and without being blocked.

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8

Both are up to date.

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9

Under Firefox the Mobile Switcher extension. Nothing under the Epiphany browser.

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10

Up to date as per the PureOS repos perhaps but not up to date as per the real world. Firefox 128 is quite old and is likely why this is happening. Byzantium has a very old version of Gnome Browser so same reason.

Try the official gnome flatpak , or the Firefox flatpak, to see if there is any difference

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11

I’ll give that a try.

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12

Ah, I see. Thank you for pointing that out. I’ll give it a try.

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13

Okay. I tried it. I installed the latest version of Firefox via Flatpak. But the result is still the same.

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14

I tried it. But the result is still the same.

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15

Maybe the message you get from the search provider is true and there is a bot on your network? If you do not use a VPN, then NAT or CGNAT may have hundreds of people on the same public IPv4 address possibly including a rotten apple. Have you tried using a VPN to change your public IPv4 address?

Or you could go to a friend’s house, check if your IP is different and try again.

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16

Thank you very much for the interesting tip. I will try it out.

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17

Do you use Pi-Hole or any similar DNS-based domain blocker?

Are you using a firewall (local or otherwise) to block any specific IP addresses or specific IP address ranges?

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18

No, I don’t use any of those.

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19

I was now at a friend’s house and logged in using a different IP address. Same result.

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20

For clarity, are you using this web site when the phone is able to access the internet via WiFi or via the mobile network or via both? The question applies both when you were at your house and when you were at your friend’s house.

In particular, if actually accessing the web site via the mobile network in both cases then, depending on whether and how your mobile service provider has implemented CGNAT, there could be little to no difference in IP address (and the trip to your friend’s house didn’t really achieve much).

On the other hand, if actually accessing the web site via WiFi in both cases and the WiFi ultimately leads to internet connections using completely different technologies (and potentially via different internet service providers) then that is a much more solid test. (So the solid test would probably involve using the kill switch to turn off the mobile network temporarily.)

Bottom line though is that I think noone so far understands why this problem is occurring.

2 Likes