submitted 20 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
 

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 bitching about it, I did something and made Smarttube work without a google account. If that floats your boat, have at it

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[–] 36 points 20 hours ago (24 children)

I was just thinking about using a picture or a video found online. Nice to know it works.

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  • [–] [S] 49 points 20 hours ago* (23 children)

    I imagine it works "for now". I can see this becoming "verified govt id only" soon enough. There's precedent for that IIRC

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  • [–] 33 points 20 hours ago (21 children)

    When that happens, it’s going to be a great day to de-google permanently.

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  • [–] [S] 8 points 19 hours ago* (7 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 1 point 18 hours ago (2 children)

    Oh wow. That’s annoying. Could also be a regional thing though.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 17 hours ago (1 child)

    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/

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  • [–] 6 points 19 hours ago (9 children)

    youtube is the only thing I still have of theirs, maybe that is 1 too many.

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  • [–] 8 points 18 hours ago (8 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 6 points 18 hours ago (4 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (3 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 4 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

    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

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  • [–] 4 points 16 hours ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 minutes ago

    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.

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  • [–] 4 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 5 points 16 hours ago (1 child)

    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.

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