submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 hour 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. 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.

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[–] 6 points 1 day ago (11 children)

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

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  • [–] 8 points 1 day ago (10 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 1 day ago (6 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 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (5 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 1 day ago (4 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 1 day ago (3 children)

    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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  • [–] 2 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

    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 1 day 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 1 day 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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