Wow: Overview of the control flow (already known): The Youtube API provides you with n - your video access token If their new changes apply to your cl

Wow: Overview of the control flow (already known): The Youtube API provides you with n - your video access token If their new changes apply to your client (they do for "web") then it is expected your client will modify n based on internal logic. This logic is inside player...base.js n is modified by a cryptic function Modified n is sent back to server as proof that we're an official client. If you send n unmodified, the server will eventually throttle you. So they can always change the function to keep you on your toes, hence you need to be able to run semi-arbitrary JS in order to keep using the API. Waste of human brainpower but I guess that energy is better spent imagining a world where Google isn't in charge instead of kvetching about what they're doing with their influence.