4 ms·

I feel like it doesn’t make a difference how good the “encryption” is, it displays intent that you wouldn’t like your data downloaded. Just like an open door to

I feel like it doesn’t make a difference how good the “encryption” is, it displays intent that you wouldn’t like your data downloaded. Just like an open door to your house vs a really easy to pick locked door makes a big difference.

userbinator 3y ago
IMHO it displays intent to require a browser that has JS, which yt-dl has sort of implemented.
- jonhohle 3y ago
  Base64 doesn’t require JS, it requires a Base64 decoder, which either every language has, or any CS student who’s taken an algorithms class could write in a few hours for the language of their choice. Base64 encoding/decoding is the type of thing you could ask most applicants to write during an interview. It’s like saying they encrypted it in UTF-8.
  - userbinator 3y ago
    Base64 is just one of the components of the JS that YouTube uses to generate the actual video URLs. It's been at least a few months since I took a look at it, but I remember it having a substitution cipher and some other transformations, but no "real" crypto like AES and such. That said, if they're effectively giving you both the lock and the key, is it really circumvention of access control to unlock it with anything other than a user-agent they "support" (i.e. approve of)? As I mentioned in my other comment here (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37114697 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37114697), a lot of people "download" from YouTube not to infringe copyright but to simply use alternative software to view the content.
    - mcpackieh 3y ago
      > they're effectively giving you both the lock and the key, DRM in a nutshell. I think we have to assume the anti-circumvention laws are intended to apply in precisely this kind of circumstance, since that describes virtually all DRM. When these laws were written, it was even common for DRM to be implemented as XORing with some single byte "key", which was trivial to either extract from the program or just brute force.
Aaargh20318 3y ago
But base64 is not an a form of encryption, it’s just a different encoding. It’s not bad encryption, it isn’t encryption at all. How does that show intent?
- schrodinger 3y ago
  I'd assume that it's a way to make it so the average person can't just right click and choose download, or easily go into inspector. I know base64 isn't encryption but it's a minor hurdle to dissuade the average person hence my inference of intent (e.g. we made a token effort for you to not download, showing we are protecting our assets). IANAL though so I'm just hypothesizing, happy to be wrong.
- rocqua 3y ago
  This feature is only applied to some videos, and it is clearly meant to make it harder to use a browser to download a video. Obviously not encryption, but arguably an 'anti-copying measure'.

userbinator 3y ago

IMHO it displays intent to require a browser that has JS, which yt-dl has sort of implemented.

jonhohle 3y ago
Base64 doesn’t require JS, it requires a Base64 decoder, which either every language has, or any CS student who’s taken an algorithms class could write in a few hours for the language of their choice. Base64 encoding/decoding is the type of thing you could ask most applicants to write during an interview. It’s like saying they encrypted it in UTF-8.
- userbinator 3y ago
  Base64 is just one of the components of the JS that YouTube uses to generate the actual video URLs. It's been at least a few months since I took a look at it, but I remember it having a substitution cipher and some other transformations, but no "real" crypto like AES and such. That said, if they're effectively giving you both the lock and the key, is it really circumvention of access control to unlock it with anything other than a user-agent they "support" (i.e. approve of)? As I mentioned in my other comment here (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37114697 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37114697), a lot of people "download" from YouTube not to infringe copyright but to simply use alternative software to view the content.
  - mcpackieh 3y ago
    > they're effectively giving you both the lock and the key, DRM in a nutshell. I think we have to assume the anti-circumvention laws are intended to apply in precisely this kind of circumstance, since that describes virtually all DRM. When these laws were written, it was even common for DRM to be implemented as XORing with some single byte "key", which was trivial to either extract from the program or just brute force.

Aaargh20318 3y ago

But base64 is not an a form of encryption, it’s just a different encoding. It’s not bad encryption, it isn’t encryption at all. How does that show intent?

schrodinger 3y ago
I'd assume that it's a way to make it so the average person can't just right click and choose download, or easily go into inspector. I know base64 isn't encryption but it's a minor hurdle to dissuade the average person hence my inference of intent (e.g. we made a token effort for you to not download, showing we are protecting our assets). IANAL though so I'm just hypothesizing, happy to be wrong.
rocqua 3y ago
This feature is only applied to some videos, and it is clearly meant to make it harder to use a browser to download a video. Obviously not encryption, but arguably an 'anti-copying measure'.