Today I filed a formal complaint against #YouTube with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner for their illegal deployment of #adblock detection technologies.
Under Article 5(3) of 2002/58/EC YouTube are legally obligated to obtain consent before storing or accessing information already stored on an end user's terminal equipment unless it is strictly necessary for the provisions of the requested service.
In 2016 the EU Commission confirmed in writing that adblock detection requires consent.
That’s valid. Honest question, do you think that the content creators that you enjoy would be able to exist as profitable businesses in their own right without a platform like YT to get them started? I guess my point is that if not YT, it would be some one else, and they might start out with roots the same way YT did, but eventually as they grow wouldn’t they end up in the exact same position? I guess the way I see it is that this enshitification happening everywhere is two tiered, for one, it’s plain corporate greed driven by the pressure of needing to grow forever, and for that part of it, I’ll keep blocking ads, or if it’s a platform level thing like Reddit, I’ll take my ball and find somewhere else to play, like here! But I do think that another factor is the sheer economy of getting so popular and being crushed under your own weight, like the Tyranny of the Rocket. It’s inevitable unless the fundamental way the majority of people use the internet changes, and that ship probably sailed decades ago.
do you think that the content creators that you enjoy would be able to exist as profitable businesses
I’m probably showing my age, but there was a time in human history, where people created things not because it was or could be a profitable business, but because they were inspired to share their vision, or humor, or art with the world. In the years before 2008, and in this mythical time on the internet, we did and were and created simply “for the lulz”. If anything, I think that focusing on the idea that your job on the internet is to “generate content” is a toxic leak from neoliberalism/ VC culture. Its the commoditization of the self.
No one joined SA’s or Farks photoshop contests because it made them money. We did it because it allowed us to be funny, to one another, for one another. We pitched in together to cover the server costs and that was that. In fact, that’s how Reddit stayed alive. We pitched in together to cover server costs so that we could do things for ourselves (memes, nudes, music, whatever…). I learned to code making crappy flash games for new grounds not because it was profitable, but because it was fun, and cool to be a part of a community who loved to make thing and then give them away.
The enshitification of all things is a symptom of a broader issue, which is the commoditization of the process of self actualization, which happens through lived experience. The human desire to build, to create, to make art, to talk, chat and communicate; its part of a process where we find out who we are.
There are plenty of things in life that are worth doing that aren’t profitable. The ideal that we should allow a neo-liberal doctrine to determine how we find out about ourselves via our creative expression, for me, is worth resisting.
The only thing I can ask of you is that you make something, anything, simply for the sake of making it. You don’t have to take credit for it. No one even has to know it was ever made. It doesn’t even have to be good. But the act of making, makes you more human, and through that, you improve the rest of us.
I think it’s awesome that some people would create awesome things just for the love of creation and of sharing it with other people. However, I think we all know that the vast majority of current creators would not create if they couldn’t make money from it anymore. Do we really want that world?
That’s all a bit separate from the YouTube ads conversation, more about money in entertainment more broadly.
I don’t disagree with what you are saying, but its really not my problem and I don’t feel obliged to help them make money.
Its not my problem if their service is costly and not profitable. They don’t have to do it. I have no moral obligation to them being profitable.
That’s valid. Honest question, do you think that the content creators that you enjoy would be able to exist as profitable businesses in their own right without a platform like YT to get them started? I guess my point is that if not YT, it would be some one else, and they might start out with roots the same way YT did, but eventually as they grow wouldn’t they end up in the exact same position? I guess the way I see it is that this enshitification happening everywhere is two tiered, for one, it’s plain corporate greed driven by the pressure of needing to grow forever, and for that part of it, I’ll keep blocking ads, or if it’s a platform level thing like Reddit, I’ll take my ball and find somewhere else to play, like here! But I do think that another factor is the sheer economy of getting so popular and being crushed under your own weight, like the Tyranny of the Rocket. It’s inevitable unless the fundamental way the majority of people use the internet changes, and that ship probably sailed decades ago.
I’m probably showing my age, but there was a time in human history, where people created things not because it was or could be a profitable business, but because they were inspired to share their vision, or humor, or art with the world. In the years before 2008, and in this mythical time on the internet, we did and were and created simply “for the lulz”. If anything, I think that focusing on the idea that your job on the internet is to “generate content” is a toxic leak from neoliberalism/ VC culture. Its the commoditization of the self.
No one joined SA’s or Farks photoshop contests because it made them money. We did it because it allowed us to be funny, to one another, for one another. We pitched in together to cover the server costs and that was that. In fact, that’s how Reddit stayed alive. We pitched in together to cover server costs so that we could do things for ourselves (memes, nudes, music, whatever…). I learned to code making crappy flash games for new grounds not because it was profitable, but because it was fun, and cool to be a part of a community who loved to make thing and then give them away.
The enshitification of all things is a symptom of a broader issue, which is the commoditization of the process of self actualization, which happens through lived experience. The human desire to build, to create, to make art, to talk, chat and communicate; its part of a process where we find out who we are.
There are plenty of things in life that are worth doing that aren’t profitable. The ideal that we should allow a neo-liberal doctrine to determine how we find out about ourselves via our creative expression, for me, is worth resisting.
deleted by creator
Well thanks.
The only thing I can ask of you is that you make something, anything, simply for the sake of making it. You don’t have to take credit for it. No one even has to know it was ever made. It doesn’t even have to be good. But the act of making, makes you more human, and through that, you improve the rest of us.
I think it’s awesome that some people would create awesome things just for the love of creation and of sharing it with other people. However, I think we all know that the vast majority of current creators would not create if they couldn’t make money from it anymore. Do we really want that world?
That’s all a bit separate from the YouTube ads conversation, more about money in entertainment more broadly.