Nice app! I use newpipe sometimes but I didn't have anything good for desktop.
I wish there was a BSD version though..
FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
191–200 of 259 posts
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you might not be understanding the context of the argument. Google has tons of information on you - way more than it needs, and yet it still doesn’t get recommendations as good as we expect (as you rightly point out). So the issue is that it has tons of extra data than they need because it * doesn’t make their recommendation any better.* Gathering data for the sake of gathering data in todays world of informa…
> Google has tons of information on you Do you have any good sources about this? what do we know for sure Google know and track about us? I work for Google now, but speak for myself here. In my time here (not much, less than a year still) I've seen a huge focus on privacy and not storing user data. Then again, I don't work on ads. However, even before working at Google I was surprised that given my liberal sharing of…
> Do you have any good sources about this? what do we know for sure Google know and track about us?
The list of Google handing tons of user data to governments or 3rd parties goes on and on. Clearly there is a lot for them to be handing over. Don't understand the surprise or confusion over what Google does.
...Access to Sci-Hub Founder’s Google Account Data (https://torrentfreak.com/fbi-gains-access-to-sci-hub-founder...).
Google handed over user data to the Hong Kong government (https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/google-handed-ove...).
Google Hands Over User Data For 94%... (https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/06/27/google...).
Google Bypasses Privacy, Puts Users’ Data on the Map (https://analyticsindiamag.com/google-bypasses-privacy-puts-u...).
Google’s ‘deceptive’ account sign-up process... (https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/29/google-account-gdpr-compla...).
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Google has tons of information on you Do you have any good sources about this? what do we know for sure Google know and track about us? I work for Google now, but speak for myself here. In my time here (not much, less than a year still) I've seen a huge focus on privacy and not storing user data. Then again, I don't work on ads. However, even before working at Google I was surprised that given my liberal sharing of…
> Do you have any good sources about this? For example, documents in Google court cases: https://twitter.com/jason_kint/status/1592380225064960002 and https://twitter.com/jason_kint/status/1592551401875734528 and https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/26/21403202/google-engineers... and possibly others
The interesting thing about the Verge article, which comes across as being part of a pattern, is the deception and obfuscation around data collection.
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 assignmen…
> When you choose not to use Youtube, you are choosing to not be a part of a large part of society YouTube isn't a large part of society. People use it to watch silly/educational videos far more than as a social platform.
> YouTube isn't a large part of society.
based on watch time and the number of people using it, i'd argue it is a large part of society.
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#195I am looking for a Youtube Client or an API that takes me back to that time where you had an opportunity to go to the crazy side of Youtube. No, I am not looking for gore or conspiracy stuff - But you get the point. You start looking at a video from vSauce and then some videos later you are seeing how zebras communicate and what we can learn from it (just an example) Closest I have seen is an extension that adds an r…
There was a website which would only display videos with close to zero views. It is endlessly fascinating what stuff tou get to see there. Stuff that you wouldn't be able to find on youtube if you actively searched for using their search bar. Found it: http://astronaut.io/
I wish it was available via https.
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's a difference between people being able to make money based on them doing a good job, which is Adam Smith-style selfishness, and me wanting a Porsche, so taking one from someone, which is not.
There are not two 'kinds' of selfishness. You describe a difference in behaviours, but not in the underlying selfish motive. I remain unconvinced of the propriety of picking and choosing whether to extol or demean the same human condition depending on the ideology one is trying to prop-up.
The legal system is judged based on behaviour, not the underlying motivations.
Stealing a porche is illegal, regardless of the underlying motivation. Making a good product to sell is not illegal, even if the motivation is selfish.
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#197I 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
> and creates an ecosystem allowing creators to earn a living.
Yes, round of applause for google please, for being the inventors of sustainability in the business of art. Without all their benevolent stewardship we would all be starving for food and shelter.
You realize you're buying right into their communication strategy? This is just another instance of the age old "do dirty stuff and extract boats of money; pick a handful of lucky people; make them kings; show it off for everyone to see; now you're a good guy". Yes, i'm sure they "give away" tons, perhaps hundreds of millions or even more. The fact is that the majority of what people experience is unpredictability, dependency, unchecked and arbitrary strikes unless you're constantly running after what they consider is click-bait enough to be worth. In fact what most people experience is no money at all (or pennies) but for sure the occasional strike because you were too critical of something or because your sense of humor or parody is not to the taste of some IP lawyer. Yes "it's not google", "they just respect the law". Point is they (and their lookalikes) practically monopolized something as basic as video hosting and marginalized any non-giant alternative and are more than happy to hand over the keys to shutdown channels to anybody well-connected who is wearing a suit.
> If you have a problem with YouTube's tracking, simply don't use it
Yes, why don't people live without a smartphone, without a car, without eating industrial food, without fossil fuel? Why do these people keep funding these pesky crooked pharma companies and buying drugs? Right, maybe they don't have a choice, they don't have enough money (because you always pay, in a way or another, to get out of these things, that's what monopoly means, in practice). Sure youtube might be on the "easier to do without" part of the spectrum, but (1) this is not true for everybody (what if you want to watch some internet TV?) and (2) arguing on this is just moving the goalpost since there are services like these which you need to do everyday things. More and more people cannot work without zoom, slack, github, gmail. Yes this is stupid, but i did not choose it. Should i quit my job? Perhaps. Will it make any difference in the big picture? Not at all.
Personally my opinion is that they just privatized de-facto public infrastructure. Which is to say they managed to raise a private tax which is almost mandatory to pay in practice. Which is pure and simple extortion. It may sound radical, but there's really nothing qualitatively different. They just managed to turn this particular form into something seemingly normal.
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#198People here talking about how they don't want YouTube to make a profile of their preferences, and here I am, wishing YouTube had a better profile of my preferences. Lately, there is almost no new videos in my recommendation feed. It's mostly either the things I've already watched or new videos from the channels I'm already subscribed to. It really feels like I've exhausted the internet at some point. This can't possi…
Lets assume for a second that I can, through the construction of some black magic 3rd party tool, recommend you the perfect videos to watch without any tracking of your profile what so ever (not really possible but lets just assume that it is for just a moment). Would you ever pay a 3rd party for that service? If your answer is: I wouldn't so it should be Youtube that provides it for free rather than a 3rd party, then you get what we have now. A standardized garbage product that works in the best interest of Youtube rather than its users. The product isnt dysfunctional due to lack of data, it is in fact perfectly functional for what Youtube is trying to make it do. They are optimizing for watch time and all their research indicate that this is the best way to maximize for that.
If you aren't willing to signal to the market that this is a problem that you would be willing to pay real $ to solve, then it will never get solved. If there was any actual demand for proper search and recommendation engines, plenty of us around here would have created 3rd party tools to solve for just that. But the reality is, in spite of how dogshit Youtube's recommendation engine is, people are just not willing to pay for a solution.
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#199My biggest gripe with Youtube right now is how they've left channel subscription just as a long list. I have hundreds of subscriptions, and they are clearly around a few of my interests...
I make new YouTube accounts (not Google) for myself for the groups of my interests as they don't overlap much.
The fact that this is the solution is shameful.
Re: FreeTube – A Private YouTube Client
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can opt out of ad personalization: https://myadcenter.google.com/ But I get it, why pay for the content or the service when you can just take it for free?
If I could pay creators directly and anonymously with only money and not my data and viewing habits and agreeing to let random third parties try to manipulate me, I would. For now the only creators I can support with privacy are on LBRY.
"If the grocery store allowed me to pay via gold bullion, I would pay rather than shoplift."
I'm sympathetic to "I would pay for this if I could" argumentation when it comes to digital goods. But at some point the conditions you're setting become so unreasonable that nobody can reasonably fulfill them, and it becomes clear you're only doing it to get free stuff and stiff the creators.
You don't want to see ads? YT already gives you that option. You don't want YT data to be used for ad targeting? YT already gives you that option. But you additionally want to pay in gold bullion and only to the farmer rather than the grocery store that actually provided you the service. It's not very reasonable, is it?