Feds Ordered Google To Unmask Certain YouTube Users. Critics Say It’s ‘Terrifying.’
The federal government asked Google to turn over information on anyone who viewed multiple YouTube videos. Privacy experts say the orders are unconstitutional.
Related: Google just knows who YouTube users are, and can unmask them at will. They definitely won't fix anything to make people safer from that on their platform.
As soon as Google bought YouTube they knew who the users were and everything they did online. This was never not true. Their business is to log all the activity of all internet users, not to make them safe or happy, there is nothing broken in their platform as far as they are concerned.
I don't know why anyone is using youtube directly when they can use Newpipe or Freetube. No ads, sponsorblock and even the ability to automatically skip intros, recaps etc On top of that no google account tracking or algorithms.
Edit: Adding "libretube" as well based on some of the replies to this comment.
I would love to but I mainly watch YouTube and other video content on my living room TV. That's probably a barrier for a lot of us.
This is it for me. Easier to get YouTube family thing and now my family doesn’t have ads and doesn’t have to root a phone to install the other apps. If it was just me, sure. I have another 4 people in my life that are hard work when it comes to tech and I have other things to do with my time.
I use Newpipe on an Nvidia shield in my living room.
If you have some kind of Android TV device you can probably install SmartTube to have no ads and sponsorblock: https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext
Because the average person doesn't have a clue and they never think about this kind of thing. I've been called a conspiracy theorist by my own father as well as othesr for mentioning Snowden revalatins and using a VPN and all the privacy steps I take on the web.
My mom uses YouTube - she’s 80. My son uses YouTube- he’s 8. This is the internet now.
The open source, privacy evangelist types, who root their phones and self host nextcloud are a tiny minority.
After hearing about Freetube, I finally set it up and was all on board, got it configured and then was deflated to see it apparently has no queue function? I use that feature on YouTube so much that I just had to stop using it pretty much immediately.
If I somehow overlooked that or it comes in a later development stage, I’d happily move to it exclusively.
I use NewPipe for this. Its great for queuing up music
Either because they've never heard of it, they think it's difficult to set up, or they think it's less polished or reliable.
I'd go with "because they've never heard of it". It's no more difficult to setup than any other application. See the download page.
Not having a home page where I get new content based on what I watch is a pretty strong point, the mayority of people find new channels based on that
This is where I differ. I think the algos and video recommendations are manipulative. I simply watch whatever is new from my subscribed channels and occasionally something from the related video section. Even if cared about recommendations there is no way I would value it more than the other benefits.
All that being said check out Libretube. I think it has the recommendations on the homepage.
Perhaps, but there are often related videos which provide a similar sort of discovery. One of the main points of these frontends is that they don't track what you watch. If they don't do that, they can't recommend videos.
Dunno, I prefer Lemmy comms for that
viewers of select YouTube videos
So, now a policeman who doesn't like whoever YT user can unseal who that is... For a far-right policeman that can be anybody whose comment looks "woke".
I think I shouldn't use YT anymore. Actually, any SNS that uses my email...
Edit: they collected user identities on who watched videos on fucking "drones".
You know that ?si= at the end of the YouTube URL that is copied when you share a video from within the YouTube app?
That's an individual tracking ID specific to you. So if you've ever shared a YouTube video on lemmy, reddit, Facebook, tiktok, or anywhere else without removing that code one time, anyone at Google with access to the ID system can now link you to that account with your real name, IP address and time accessed, device name, etc.
You expect a cop to understand both the threat and entertainment value of a Defcon talk?
Fortunately you can use YouTube without an account
Even better, use an alternative frontend
TBH I'm still surprised that Google still allows this...
I think it they auth walled YT they would see a huge drop in usage (see G+)
No one should fear a knock at the door from police simply because of what the YouTube algorithm serves up
No one should fear a no-knock warrant from a SWAT team because of what the YouTube algorithm serves up.
FIFY.
Most police departments don't bother with doorknocking anymore.
There are tons of front-ends and desktop clients out there, even watch YT sandboxed in Andisearch is an option.
It would be less terrifying if Google had any human employees left.
Honestly, I would trust damn near any rogue AI more than the humans any of these companies will hire any more. The more it wants to kill us as opposed to torturing us or milking us for money, the better, although I woudd prefer it not also hate nature ... but that's optional next to what we have now.
