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On top of all this, being logged in is not enough. I just checked right now. You have to verify yourself using either a credit card, or submitting an image of a

On top of all this, being logged in is not enough. I just checked right now. You have to verify yourself using either a credit card, or submitting an image of a valid ID, such as your driver's license or passport (I have neither, FWIW). NO THANKS. I cannot tell you just how much I hate this kind of bullshit. This is becoming increasingly common. Call me old and grumpy, but I would much prefer to go back 10-20 years. The web was a symbol of freedom, decentralization, and so forth. Now we have major websites that you can count on one hand that makes up the Internet. Along with their fucking shitty, severely restricting or limiting systems. On the other hand, they might be successful in reducing my Internet consumption. :)

ikt 5y ago
> Call me old and grumpy, but I would much prefer to go back 10-20 years. The web was a symbol of freedom, decentralization, and so forth. Strange that no one has brought up hosting a peertube instance
saurik 5y ago
FWIW, I feel like this--age verification for age restricted videos--is probably caused by either a regulation that already happened or a regulation that was threatened and which Google felt safer to define the boundaries of for themselves (not that I think that often leads to sane outcomes).
- Mindwipe 5y ago
  It is, it's a requirement of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive in the EU, and in particular the UK and Irish regulators implementations of it. Especially the Irish one, since YouTube EMEA is based in Ireland and effectively make the regulatory decisions for the entire EU under the AVMS. I feel like we all desperately took our eye off the ball when that was passed.
- johnisgood 5y ago
  You are right. They are too big, and are at the crosshair of the Government. They must obey. I am pretty much against both in these cases, to be honest.
jjbinx007 5y ago
Twitter won't let you browse more than a handful of tweets before blocking the service demanding you login. I was trying to read an article about gpt-3 and the author had decided to embed tweets with pictures of text on, so not only could I not read the text without right-clicking the image to view on its own then zooming and panning but after a while Twitter would just prevent me from reading any further without logging in. Twitter won't let you create an account without a phone number and, like most services that want to harvest your data like a Dementor from Harry Potter, they want to push you towards an app. Tiktok is pretty hostile towards desktop users too. I refuse to install it on my mobile and why should I anyway? And then there's the many iot devices that don't give you an interface at all if you don't have a phone. Ridiculous.
- nxtbl 5y ago
  https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twittercom_enforcingloginpopup/hv99m7j/ https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twitte... For now, this removes the login pop-ups. For mobile use, there's Fritter.
  - ajot 5y ago
    There is also Nitter as a frontend. I love it!
  - tentacleuno 5y ago
    There's also [0] and [1], which are more mobile-friendly but present less information. [0]: https://i.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twittercom_enforcingloginpopup/hv99m7j/ https://i.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twitterc... [1]: https://reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twittercom_enforcingloginpopup/hv99m7j/.compact https://reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twittercom... (.compact does the exact same thing)
- MayeulC 5y ago
  https://drewdevault.com/2021/09/23/Nitter-and-other-internet-reclamation-projects.html https://drewdevault.com/2021/09/23/Nitter-and-other-internet... Use nitter, libreddit, invidious, bibliogram (is that one dead?) and others. It's a shame that these big companies seem to suck at making usable websites. They probably chase "conversion" to new accounts at all costs. And that probably works (A/B tested).
kgonza 5y ago
These seem to be requirements in certain jurisdictions and not universal. I have never been asked to verify myself for YouTube, or for my phone number, and yet I am an admin for four channels. Maybe it's because Google already has those for my other accounts (Playstore, Gmail, and Pay).
naikrovek 5y ago
COPPA is responsible for this, not Google. Google are just following the law after being fined for not following it. call your elected representatives and complain if you're in the US.
- johnisgood 5y ago
  I am not in the US. These comments are good. I do believe most of the bullshit is regulation-related, coming from the Government.
account42 5y ago
> Now we have major websites that you can count on one hand that makes up the Internet. No they don't make up the Internet. We have a couble big sites backed by megacorporations that have taken over the majority mindshare, but there are still plenty of smaller sites left. Don't give in and pretend that Google et al have won. Find traditional forums for your interests and participate in them. Start one if needed. Subscribe to individual blogs via RSS. Consider hosting your own. Want to share your creations? Create a website for them instead of just putting them on the most convenient social media platform. The independent web is not lost until we all agree that it is.

ikt 5y ago

> Call me old and grumpy, but I would much prefer to go back 10-20 years. The web was a symbol of freedom, decentralization, and so forth. Strange that no one has brought up hosting a peertube instance

saurik 5y ago

FWIW, I feel like this--age verification for age restricted videos--is probably caused by either a regulation that already happened or a regulation that was threatened and which Google felt safer to define the boundaries of for themselves (not that I think that often leads to sane outcomes).

Mindwipe 5y ago
It is, it's a requirement of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive in the EU, and in particular the UK and Irish regulators implementations of it. Especially the Irish one, since YouTube EMEA is based in Ireland and effectively make the regulatory decisions for the entire EU under the AVMS. I feel like we all desperately took our eye off the ball when that was passed.
johnisgood 5y ago
You are right. They are too big, and are at the crosshair of the Government. They must obey. I am pretty much against both in these cases, to be honest.

jjbinx007 5y ago

Twitter won't let you browse more than a handful of tweets before blocking the service demanding you login. I was trying to read an article about gpt-3 and the author had decided to embed tweets with pictures of text on, so not only could I not read the text without right-clicking the image to view on its own then zooming and panning but after a while Twitter would just prevent me from reading any further without logging in. Twitter won't let you create an account without a phone number and, like most services that want to harvest your data like a Dementor from Harry Potter, they want to push you towards an app. Tiktok is pretty hostile towards desktop users too. I refuse to install it on my mobile and why should I anyway? And then there's the many iot devices that don't give you an interface at all if you don't have a phone. Ridiculous.

nxtbl 5y ago
https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twittercom_enforcingloginpopup/hv99m7j/ https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twitte... For now, this removes the login pop-ups. For mobile use, there's Fritter.
- ajot 5y ago
  There is also Nitter as a frontend. I love it!
- tentacleuno 5y ago
  There's also [0] and [1], which are more mobile-friendly but present less information. [0]: https://i.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twittercom_enforcingloginpopup/hv99m7j/ https://i.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twitterc... [1]: https://reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twittercom_enforcingloginpopup/hv99m7j/.compact https://reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/sew1rn/twittercom... (.compact does the exact same thing)
MayeulC 5y ago
https://drewdevault.com/2021/09/23/Nitter-and-other-internet-reclamation-projects.html https://drewdevault.com/2021/09/23/Nitter-and-other-internet... Use nitter, libreddit, invidious, bibliogram (is that one dead?) and others. It's a shame that these big companies seem to suck at making usable websites. They probably chase "conversion" to new accounts at all costs. And that probably works (A/B tested).

kgonza 5y ago

These seem to be requirements in certain jurisdictions and not universal. I have never been asked to verify myself for YouTube, or for my phone number, and yet I am an admin for four channels. Maybe it's because Google already has those for my other accounts (Playstore, Gmail, and Pay).

naikrovek 5y ago

COPPA is responsible for this, not Google. Google are just following the law after being fined for not following it. call your elected representatives and complain if you're in the US.

johnisgood 5y ago
I am not in the US. These comments are good. I do believe most of the bullshit is regulation-related, coming from the Government.

account42 5y ago

> Now we have major websites that you can count on one hand that makes up the Internet. No they don't make up the Internet. We have a couble big sites backed by megacorporations that have taken over the majority mindshare, but there are still plenty of smaller sites left. Don't give in and pretend that Google et al have won. Find traditional forums for your interests and participate in them. Start one if needed. Subscribe to individual blogs via RSS. Consider hosting your own. Want to share your creations? Create a website for them instead of just putting them on the most convenient social media platform. The independent web is not lost until we all agree that it is.