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This really sucks. Why is it so important to know someone's legal name, anyway? If their content is problematic, delete it. If it's not, let them use a pseud

This really sucks. Why is it so important to know someone's legal name, anyway? If their content is problematic, delete it. If it's not, let them use a pseudonym. What is the appetite for self-hosting streams? I've worked at a variety of ISP gigs and really don't think the bandwidth cost is that crazy of a blocker. But would any streamers ever WANT to self-host something? I feel like people would love to throw off the shackles of YouTube and Twitch, but are probably less enthused about not having their channel advertised to the platform's users. Things like maintaining your own Stripe account also sucks. (My angle is charging for software to do this, not making another hosted service. Just don't think there is actually a market. Complaining on Reddit when the bureaucracy of Twitch/YouTube stymies you seems to be 100% effective. But will it always be?)

plagiarist 2y ago
For paying out money it is likely a legal requirement, it sounds like it is advertising revenue this person is cut off from. Google's methods are idiotic here, especially since they seem perfectly willing to share other proof of identity.
WillPostForFood 2y ago
This really sucks. Why is it so important to know someone's legal name, anyway? They have to know his legal name, because they are paying him. His core issue is around monetization, caused by the personal info screw up. The "Know Your Customer" laws are a nightmare and are the root of a lot of this kind of horrible bureaucracy.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  Do know your customer laws apply to Alphabet? I thought that was for banks. I assume Alphabet needs the info for tax purposes though due to needing to report payments and issue 1099s.
  - lmz 2y ago
    Well you wouldn't want Youtube to pay e.g. terrorists (or other sanctioned entities) for their videos, so wouldn't it make sense for them to try and get a name then run a sanctions check on the name?
  - lmm 2y ago
    Any sufficiently large company ends up being pretty much everything. Google is almost certainly a money transmission service (among other things) given that Google Pay exists, and they probably run YouTube payouts through the same legal infrastructure.
  - makeitdouble 2y ago
    The PSP doing the transaction will require Google to guarantee the transaction is not fraudulent and they can legally justify who is paid for what. Anonymousity of the end recipient can't work in the traditional money transfer model
- inetknght 2y ago
  It sounds like they don't actually know their customer though... ;)
pjc50 2y ago
> I feel like people would love to throw off the shackles of YouTube and Twitch, but are probably less enthused about not having their channel advertised to the platform's users. Things like maintaining your own Stripe account also sucks. I get the impression that's basically it. You've got to go where the audience is. Even Hololive who are big enough to have their own platform haven't attempted to do this. Bureaucracy aside, youtube is also pretty reliable at global scale.
dathinab 2y ago
because if their content isn't just problematic but criminal "just" deleting it isn't enough if you "just delete" it and don't allow any effective way for suing the people which uploaded it then it's just a matter of time until you will get sued and held responsible for it
dathinab 2y ago
> What is the appetite for self-hosting streams? Problems are: - discoverability is non existing, e.g. being somtimes on the frontpage of twitch does make a difference in how much you earn (through highly varying depending on how niche your content is), similar raids or even the neglected "viewers which watch this stream also watch" corner do help. - Platform switching cost, a lot of users don't want to use other platforms then what they are already using. Most streamers have discovered that switching platforms will not carry over most users. - Cross Platform cost, toady a ton of people want things in a app. - payment systems, paying on twitch for a sub is one thing, but one some random website .. eh. Same but worst for bits, supper chats. With YT/Twitch people have their payment system potentially already setup. So it's just one click. On your website they don't and and might not want to. - net neutrality not being a thing everywhere cost, i.e. you don't have to pay for bandwidth only once, but many times, including in places you don't even know you have to with consequences being subtle like some viewers streams always struggling etc. Which effectively will cost you viewers and with that money. - live cross encoding cost, is also easy to underestimate - software maintenance cost, especially if you aren't a system admin/software engineer this is huge - reliability cost, if your stream is down to often it will make people leave

plagiarist 2y ago

For paying out money it is likely a legal requirement, it sounds like it is advertising revenue this person is cut off from. Google's methods are idiotic here, especially since they seem perfectly willing to share other proof of identity.

WillPostForFood 2y ago

This really sucks. Why is it so important to know someone's legal name, anyway? They have to know his legal name, because they are paying him. His core issue is around monetization, caused by the personal info screw up. The "Know Your Customer" laws are a nightmare and are the root of a lot of this kind of horrible bureaucracy.

lotsofpulp 2y ago
Do know your customer laws apply to Alphabet? I thought that was for banks. I assume Alphabet needs the info for tax purposes though due to needing to report payments and issue 1099s.
- lmz 2y ago
  Well you wouldn't want Youtube to pay e.g. terrorists (or other sanctioned entities) for their videos, so wouldn't it make sense for them to try and get a name then run a sanctions check on the name?
- lmm 2y ago
  Any sufficiently large company ends up being pretty much everything. Google is almost certainly a money transmission service (among other things) given that Google Pay exists, and they probably run YouTube payouts through the same legal infrastructure.
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  The PSP doing the transaction will require Google to guarantee the transaction is not fraudulent and they can legally justify who is paid for what. Anonymousity of the end recipient can't work in the traditional money transfer model
inetknght 2y ago
It sounds like they don't actually know their customer though... ;)

pjc50 2y ago

> I feel like people would love to throw off the shackles of YouTube and Twitch, but are probably less enthused about not having their channel advertised to the platform's users. Things like maintaining your own Stripe account also sucks. I get the impression that's basically it. You've got to go where the audience is. Even Hololive who are big enough to have their own platform haven't attempted to do this. Bureaucracy aside, youtube is also pretty reliable at global scale.

dathinab 2y ago

because if their content isn't just problematic but criminal "just" deleting it isn't enough if you "just delete" it and don't allow any effective way for suing the people which uploaded it then it's just a matter of time until you will get sued and held responsible for it

dathinab 2y ago

> What is the appetite for self-hosting streams? Problems are: - discoverability is non existing, e.g. being somtimes on the frontpage of twitch does make a difference in how much you earn (through highly varying depending on how niche your content is), similar raids or even the neglected "viewers which watch this stream also watch" corner do help. - Platform switching cost, a lot of users don't want to use other platforms then what they are already using. Most streamers have discovered that switching platforms will not carry over most users. - Cross Platform cost, toady a ton of people want things in a app. - payment systems, paying on twitch for a sub is one thing, but one some random website .. eh. Same but worst for bits, supper chats. With YT/Twitch people have their payment system potentially already setup. So it's just one click. On your website they don't and and might not want to. - net neutrality not being a thing everywhere cost, i.e. you don't have to pay for bandwidth only once, but many times, including in places you don't even know you have to with consequences being subtle like some viewers streams always struggling etc. Which effectively will cost you viewers and with that money. - live cross encoding cost, is also easy to underestimate - software maintenance cost, especially if you aren't a system admin/software engineer this is huge - reliability cost, if your stream is down to often it will make people leave