I don't mind Youtube making a profile of me and recommending similar things. But then again I use youtube to watch channels I'm subscribed to and maybe once a week I watch the recommended stuff.
FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
21–30 of 259 posts
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#22It's easier and better to just make a new YouTube account or use incognito mode. The only benefit I see from FreeTube is no ads. This can be replicated by just using an adblocker. Having watch history and other data tied to an account is more convenient since you can access it anywhere and YouTube can recommend videos for you to watch which is a killer feature that FreeTube lacks.
Nope. No ads as in no sponsor ads either. You cant replicate that with an adblocker. Also it prevents youtube from making a profile out of what you consume.
> No ads as in no sponsor ads either. You cant replicate that with an adblocker.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sponsorblock/
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sponsorblock-for-y...
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#23It says Private right in the name, but on launch it immediately phones home to GitHub and some VPSes.
Private from youtube as in you do not need a Google account
YouTube.com doesn't require an account either. What exactly is this buying us that you don't get from just opening the site in incognito mode?
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#24I'm using a private [1] Invidious [2] instance on all platforms to gain access to Youtube content without feeding the beast more than needed. The advantage of something like Invidious is that it allows you to access subscriptions anywhere you can access the 'net instead of just on those platforms where you installed something like Freetube or Newpipe or any of the other alternative clients.
[1] private for now since my instance ended up being very popular in Japan for some reason, this being rather odd given that I live in Sweden. I'll keep it private for a few months and open it up again to see whether traffic remains within reasonable bounds.
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#25I think as developers we have to be careful that we don't overstep logical boundaries. Youtube provides a free service that hosts immense volumes of video and creates an ecosystem allowing creators to earn a living. It's selfish to use the services of YouTube while removing their main source of revenue. If you have a problem with YouTube's tracking, simply don't use it
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#26Now we just need an Android version of this!
Its called Newpipe
I love NewPipe and use it heavily on my phone and Shield TV.
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#27I think as developers we have to be careful that we don't overstep logical boundaries. Youtube provides a free service that hosts immense volumes of video and creates an ecosystem allowing creators to earn a living. It's selfish to use the services of YouTube while removing their main source of revenue. If you have a problem with YouTube's tracking, simply don't use it
This is how I feel about all the bold circumvention of paywalls. It’s a legally fuzzy area in some cases, but to me at least, it is basically people saying, “here, let me help you steal!”
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#28I would encourage anybody interested in this sort of thing to search for yt-dlp, which is a fork and continuation of the YouTube-dl project. CLI tool to download and mirror YouTube videos and audio to local disk.
You can even stream twitch.
For example, I've used:
$ yt-dlp -o - | vlc -
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#29I don't mind Youtube making a profile of me and recommending similar things. But then again I use youtube to watch channels I'm subscribed to and maybe once a week I watch the recommended stuff.
i just find the youtube login process terrible. my browser doesn’t persist cookies, so i have to re-login every day. not problematic for most sites that use a single login form (like HN) and play nice with a password manager.
but for Youtube its:
1. go to login page.
2. enter username, hit enter.
3. enter password, hit enter.
4. at the 2FA page hunt for the “other method” option and click it.
5. select “authenticate with Google Authenticator” (i.e. OTP).
6. enter TOTP code, hit enter
7. select either “use this method in the future” or “no” — they don’t take effect because no cookies.
sure, it’s self-inflicted on behalf of me not persisting cookies. but a 7 step login process? get real.
3rd party clients like this solve that. in theory i could also whitelist youtube cookies to be specifically persisted, but figuring out how to do that would be a lot more troublesome than just using a 3rd party client.
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#30I think as developers we have to be careful that we don't overstep logical boundaries. Youtube provides a free service that hosts immense volumes of video and creates an ecosystem allowing creators to earn a living. It's selfish to use the services of YouTube while removing their main source of revenue. If you have a problem with YouTube's tracking, simply don't use it
The problem here is "network effect" leverage on society.
When you choose not to use Youtube, you are choosing to not be a part of a large part of society. This is isolating. Whether that isolation matters to the individual in question is highly variable.
You might be able to easily forego it. But a kid - ostensibly uninformed, not able to reason well enough and "not able to consent" - who's teacher sets an assignment to write about a youtube video has an overwhelming influence to "simply do it".
Should large parts of society including institutions know better and do better? Sure. But in practice they don't.