I've been having some weird issues over the last few days with not being able to search for things in YouTube when I'm logged in via SmartTube account.
So I decided to try accessing it directly. Well guess what? It looks like YouTube now requires age verification in AU.
Sorry Google... I'm not uploading my passport, drivers licence or govt id to watch your shit. I am however now very incentivized to use Tube archivist and Jellyfin, plus cron job to scrape your shit with gleeful abandon.
EDIT: Rather than removed about it, I did something and made Smarttube work without a google account. If that floats your boat, have at it. It supports direct import of your saved playlists via Google Takeout ZIP file, subscriptions etc without needing a youtube account.
Also, remember the excellent TubeArchivist exists if you want even more control.
I imagine it works "for now". I can see this becoming "verified govt id only" soon enough. There's precedent for that IIRC
When that happens, it’s going to be a great day to de-google permanently.
There no time like the present
Best time was 15 years ago, second best time is now.
There is no time but the present 😉
Well, you must have got in before the new faceID scan. Trying now redirects you to a QR code, which only works on phone. Which then very politely asks to use your selfie cam / won't accept camera roll.
Use your selfie camera to take a photo of a computer screen in highest quality you can. 4k recommended.
No, stop giving the system legitimacy. Reject it and leave their platform if it is required.
Don't even log into YouTube.
If I remove YouTube I might as well remove the internet as a whole, YouTube is most of what I'm online for and that isn't changing.
I guess you could use a desktop and a virtual webcam if you switch the user-agent.
is it a thing that makes the camera show a picture or video instead of whats actaully on the camera?
OBS should do the trick
Oh wow. That’s annoying. Could also be a regional thing though.
Possible...though it could just as easily be a test case. AU and UK first...not sure what happened to US
https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/
I guess they’ll start with the countries that require age verification. It’s gotta be extra hassle for them as well, so they won’t do it unless it’s absolutely required by the local government.
youtube is the only thing I still have of theirs, maybe that is 1 too many.
Recently, I’ve been experimenting with alternate video sites such as Odysee, PeerTube, and Nebula. I think I might manage without YT. There’s plenty enough to watch elsewhere. Haven’t made the switch yet, but I feel well prepared.
I have looked at other video sites in the past and never found one that ticks the boxes, things change though, and there really does need to be other options.
The public TV normally has a homepage with news, documentaries, series and movies on demand for free (at least in the EU, use VPN or proxie if country restricted content) eg.RTVE in Spain or ARD/ZDF in Germany, same in Pluto TV which is free also a lot of free content in Rakuten TV. For music there is Bandcamp, https://www.internet-radio.com/, Pixabay (yes, it has also music, above free downloadable (all CC license) or also the FMA. Odysee also is growing a lot in last years with content creators which have emigrated from YT. Search content in your search engine, not in YT.
Certainly if you are looking for cat videos, clickbait shorts or AI slope, then there are really no alternatives to YT.
odysee looks just like youtube now, and not in a good way, I will have to look further into it again though
Only somewhat in the UI, Odysee is OpenSource and monetization for creators work in a different way, no ads, decentralized servers and the LBRY blockchain.
Yeah, I know what you mean. This stack of sites doesn’t cover everything I use YT for. Regardless, I think they can tick enough boxes to form a viable option for me. It’s not perfect, but it’s usually good enough.
Probably something for me to look into again soon, maybe
These days it seems like we are chasing our tails with all of this anti privacy bullshit, it is stupidly time consuming, and everything has to be treated as temporary anyway, just waiting for it also to become bullshit.
Happy, happy, joy, joy
As long as you’re relying on a massive platform to kindly allow you to do your thing, it’s going to be an endless game of cat and mouse. Any solution you can come up with is destined to break soon. Once you step outside that setting, you’ll get a lot more privacy, but you’ll have to sacrifice the video selection.
Think of it like trying to use chrome in s privacy respecting way. It’s a fools errand, since the whole point of chrome is to suck all of your data and relay it to Google. Switching to Firefox would solve those problems very easily.
firefox also crossed lines, were called out for it and backpeddled somewhat, they can easily update to trash again any time they choose. I'm not sure to what level the forks are exempt from any changes.
Point being, for the most part when it comes to tech, we have limited options.
I already use linux, and lineageos without any google apps, I also use a vpn, expecting at any time at least one of those will also become non-viable, but not knowing what they will be replaced with, if anything.
It’s a constantly evolving landscape, and you have to keep an eye on things. Privacy doesn’t come for free.
Privacy should be a given, most people can't vote for shit though.
I'm using pipepipe on my phone, it's okay for what it does, I would rather be signed in to like and comment, but I'm not doing ID crap for that.
Enjoy it while it lasts. I have a feeling that YT is going to take the FB approach of slamming a login wall to your face at some point.
I subscribe to very few channels these days anyway, but it does come in handy from time to time to look things up. Yet to find a decent replacement for yt.
Luckily we don't need YouTube to survive on this planet. Or most Web sites even. If they force real id to use certain Web sites, I will just not use those sites. Easy.