3 ms·

Regulation isn't the answer. Competition is the answer. So the question comes down to, is competition with YouTube possible? Or is Google a monopoly?

chongli 8y ago
How does competition deal with the network effects inherent to this type of service? I as a user don't want to watch my videos on a dozen different websites. I'll use the site with the videos that are most important to me and ignore the rest.
- ConceptJunkie 8y ago
  Yes, this is a good point. Then I guess YouTube is a common carrier and needs to be treated the way the FCC treats broadcast TV and cable.
- kragen 8y ago
  Whenever you use YouTube, you're already watching videos on dozens of different websites. YouTube is made up of thousands of servers, if not hundreds of thousands, spread all over the world. You just use a user interface that hides the difference from you. Similarly, whenever you use BitTorrent, the different pieces of your file come from dozens or hundreds of different machines, operated by different people, none of whom have the ability to take the file down.
  - chongli 8y ago
    Yes, so this is ultimately a UI problem. What we need is not a monolithic website to compete with YouTube, what we need is a decentralized, federated 'video site' protocol. Really, what we need is the web back. That is, the web as I remember it in the 90s, before Google came along, when groups of people who shared similar interests would link to each other and form webrings. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webring
  - mirimir 8y ago
    BitChute is a front end for P2P torrents. And then there's Hola and other streaming frontends for torrents.
    - em3rgent0rdr 8y ago
      There's also PeerTube, which is a p2p YouTube clone using WebTorrents for distributing video, and which also utilizes the ActivityPub W3 recommendation for distributed federated social networking. [1] [1] https://activitypub.rocks/ https://activitypub.rocks/

chongli 8y ago

How does competition deal with the network effects inherent to this type of service? I as a user don't want to watch my videos on a dozen different websites. I'll use the site with the videos that are most important to me and ignore the rest.

ConceptJunkie 8y ago
Yes, this is a good point. Then I guess YouTube is a common carrier and needs to be treated the way the FCC treats broadcast TV and cable.
kragen 8y ago
Whenever you use YouTube, you're already watching videos on dozens of different websites. YouTube is made up of thousands of servers, if not hundreds of thousands, spread all over the world. You just use a user interface that hides the difference from you. Similarly, whenever you use BitTorrent, the different pieces of your file come from dozens or hundreds of different machines, operated by different people, none of whom have the ability to take the file down.
- chongli 8y ago
  Yes, so this is ultimately a UI problem. What we need is not a monolithic website to compete with YouTube, what we need is a decentralized, federated 'video site' protocol. Really, what we need is the web back. That is, the web as I remember it in the 90s, before Google came along, when groups of people who shared similar interests would link to each other and form webrings. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webring
- mirimir 8y ago
  BitChute is a front end for P2P torrents. And then there's Hola and other streaming frontends for torrents.
  - em3rgent0rdr 8y ago
    There's also PeerTube, which is a p2p YouTube clone using WebTorrents for distributing video, and which also utilizes the ActivityPub W3 recommendation for distributed federated social networking. [1] [1] https://activitypub.rocks/ https://activitypub.rocks/