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> If companies would respect the spirit behind GDPR and not store data that is not needed to fulfill a user's requests and protect the data that they must have

by loeg 3y ago

> If companies would respect the spirit behind GDPR and not store data that is not needed to fulfill a user's requests and protect the data that they must have in a way that makes dragnet searches impossible, this would not be a problem. Saving user watch history is useful for users. Sure, make it optional, but I find it really useful that youtube shows me if I've already watched a video, and that I can find recently seen videos in my watch history.

boppo1 3y ago
There should really be levels of history. I don't want youtube keeping every video I've ever watched on file, so I have history off. However, now, if I leave a video and come back to it the next day, my place in the video is lost. Lemme specify the length of time to keep history pls.
- kvmet 3y ago
  Why does allowing them to store your watch history mean that they MUST also share it with 3rd parties? Why isn't "I want _you_ to know but I don't want you to use it against me." an option?
  - ddingus 3y ago
    Because dollars. Being able to sell histories means being able to sell supposedly more effective ADS. Also shows ads were viewed and by whom. Precision of any kind in demographics is worth a lot of money.
    - CatWChainsaw 3y ago
      As far as I can tell this is just the truth, so I'm curious who downvoted and why. Guilty consciences?
      - loeg 3y ago
        It conflates data collection with selling data. Google, Meta, etc do not sell their users' data (for purely commercial reasons).
        CatWChainsaw 3y ago
        I always understood "selling data" to be shorthand for the whole metrics-for-ads transaction, seems obviously that "selling" the data itself would be a one-time sale but being able to offer "updated insights" every time someone runs a new ad campaign is repeat business.
        loeg 3y ago
        I think it's important to distinguish adtech companies from data brokers like LexisNexis who actually sell your data to 3rd parties. Lots of people read inaccurate statements like "Meta sells your data" and interpret that literally.
        CatWChainsaw 3y ago
        Suppose that's fair.
        genewitch 3y ago
        the ol' "hashed minutae" and "in aggregate" chestnut. Meta at one point allowed you to target ads to a specific person (nevermind the cambridge analytica stuff.) Google is in the business of selling time, eyeballs, and mindshare to advertisers. Google and meta (et al) receive money in exchange for the info of their user base. That they're playing 3 card monte (shell game?) with the data to "hide PII" - which has been mathematically proven to be impossible (currently, perhaps forever) seems a hair not worth splitting, considering their market caps. Put simply, if there wasn't a financial reason to do the data collection google would simply not do it. You don't get rich shareholders by writing a lot of checks to seagate.
        ddingus 3y ago
- zzo38computer 3y ago
  Can you store the history locally, perhaps if you use one of the other programs for accessing YouTube rather than directly? They shouldn't need to keep your history; you can use your own programs to do so.
  - rand0mx1 3y ago
    Try Freetube app to store history locally.
nonethewiser 3y ago
That doesn’t require them to know who you are.
dpkirchner 3y ago
I'd prefer to have that sort of thing stored locally, perhaps synced between all of my browsers/computers (directly, without storing the history unencrypted on servers).
- jart 3y ago
  Even if Chrome did that, it wouldn't stop Edge from importing Chrome data and uploading it to Microsoft without asking permission.
alisonatwork 3y ago
Any client software can do this for the users who want it. There is no need for the service provider to track user watch history on the server by default.
- transcriptase 3y ago
  I’m sure it might be useful if your primary business is something like, oh let’s say, delivering advertisements based on users preferences and behaviour.
  - hobs 3y ago
    At the end of the day the recommendation algo is why tiktok grew so fast and is so sticky, users want the companies to remember stuff, just not to use that memory against them (ya right)
- judge2020 3y ago
  This also powers their recommendation algorithm. Arguably the only reason 99.99% of people use YouTube.

by loeg 3y ago

boppo1 3y ago

There should really be levels of history. I don't want youtube keeping every video I've ever watched on file, so I have history off. However, now, if I leave a video and come back to it the next day, my place in the video is lost. Lemme specify the length of time to keep history pls.

kvmet 3y ago
Why does allowing them to store your watch history mean that they MUST also share it with 3rd parties? Why isn't "I want _you_ to know but I don't want you to use it against me." an option?
- ddingus 3y ago
  Because dollars. Being able to sell histories means being able to sell supposedly more effective ADS. Also shows ads were viewed and by whom. Precision of any kind in demographics is worth a lot of money.
  - CatWChainsaw 3y ago
    As far as I can tell this is just the truth, so I'm curious who downvoted and why. Guilty consciences?
    - loeg 3y ago
      It conflates data collection with selling data. Google, Meta, etc do not sell their users' data (for purely commercial reasons).
      - CatWChainsaw 3y ago
        I always understood "selling data" to be shorthand for the whole metrics-for-ads transaction, seems obviously that "selling" the data itself would be a one-time sale but being able to offer "updated insights" every time someone runs a new ad campaign is repeat business.
        loeg 3y ago
        I think it's important to distinguish adtech companies from data brokers like LexisNexis who actually sell your data to 3rd parties. Lots of people read inaccurate statements like "Meta sells your data" and interpret that literally.
        CatWChainsaw 3y ago
        Suppose that's fair.
      - genewitch 3y ago
        the ol' "hashed minutae" and "in aggregate" chestnut. Meta at one point allowed you to target ads to a specific person (nevermind the cambridge analytica stuff.) Google is in the business of selling time, eyeballs, and mindshare to advertisers. Google and meta (et al) receive money in exchange for the info of their user base. That they're playing 3 card monte (shell game?) with the data to "hide PII" - which has been mathematically proven to be impossible (currently, perhaps forever) seems a hair not worth splitting, considering their market caps. Put simply, if there wasn't a financial reason to do the data collection google would simply not do it. You don't get rich shareholders by writing a lot of checks to seagate.
      - ddingus 3y ago
zzo38computer 3y ago
Can you store the history locally, perhaps if you use one of the other programs for accessing YouTube rather than directly? They shouldn't need to keep your history; you can use your own programs to do so.
- rand0mx1 3y ago
  Try Freetube app to store history locally.

nonethewiser 3y ago

That doesn’t require them to know who you are.

dpkirchner 3y ago

I'd prefer to have that sort of thing stored locally, perhaps synced between all of my browsers/computers (directly, without storing the history unencrypted on servers).

jart 3y ago
Even if Chrome did that, it wouldn't stop Edge from importing Chrome data and uploading it to Microsoft without asking permission.

alisonatwork 3y ago

Any client software can do this for the users who want it. There is no need for the service provider to track user watch history on the server by default.

transcriptase 3y ago
I’m sure it might be useful if your primary business is something like, oh let’s say, delivering advertisements based on users preferences and behaviour.
- hobs 3y ago
  At the end of the day the recommendation algo is why tiktok grew so fast and is so sticky, users want the companies to remember stuff, just not to use that memory against them (ya right)
judge2020 3y ago
This also powers their recommendation algorithm. Arguably the only reason 99.99% of people use YouTube.