Technology

59569 readers

3431 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

954

Google was ordered to identify people who watched certain YouTube videos. Privacy experts say the orders are unconstitutional. (www.forbes.com)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

123 comments fedilink hide all child comments

If the linked article has a paywall, you can access this archived version instead: https://archive.ph/zyhax

The court orders show the government telling Google to provide the names, addresses, telephone numbers and user activity for all Google account users who accessed the YouTube videos between January 1 and January 8, 2023. The government also wanted the IP addresses of non-Google account owners who viewed the videos.

“This is the latest chapter in a disturbing trend where we see government agencies increasingly transforming search warrants into digital dragnets. It’s unconstitutional, it’s terrifying and it’s happening every day,” said Albert Fox-Cahn, executive director at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. “No one should fear a knock at the door from police simply because of what the YouTube algorithm serves up. I’m horrified that the courts are allowing this.” He said the orders were “just as chilling” as geofence warrants, where Google has been ordered to provide data on all users in the vicinity of a crime.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I have an addon that just replaces all Youtube thumbnails with a random frame from the video.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/clickbait-remover-for-youtube/

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/clickbait-remover-for-you/omoinegiohhgbikclijaniebjpkeopip?pli=1

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I've seen that before but the trouble with that add-on is it just replaces it with a random frame not necessarily one that's helpful or good. At least the stupid faces actually show you what the video is about.

[–] Tick_Dracy@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago

The DeArrow extension works with both ways:

If the community submits a thumbnail (you can vote on them) and a better video headline, that will be the default one. I always try to submit the most relevant thumbnail, even if it might be a spoiler one (it’s up to you if you are interested in the context or not).
In the absence of community submitted content, a random thumbnail will be used (still better than the stupid faces).