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<title>What's Wrong with YouTube
- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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<h2>What's Wrong with YouTube</h2>

<p>Please
cite <a href="http://audio-video.gnu.org/">audio-video.gnu.org</a> don't use YouTube as the site for place to post videos of my speeches — talks,
and please don't cite YouTube for that purpose.  If the talk is
available
in <a href="http://audio-video.gnu.org/">audio-video.gnu.org</a>,
please cite that site.</p>

<p>As of 2019 there is free software that permits access to YouTube
from some browsers.  It is an add-on which is preinstalled in the GNU
browser, IceCat, and can be loaded into Firefox.  The free program
youtube-dl is also available; it gets data out of the site's
Javascript code but doesn't run that code.</p>

<p>As a result, posting videos on YouTube does not YouTube.</p>

<p>There are two problems currently put them
entirely off limits to the free world.
</p>

<p>
However, we cannot count on this to keep working.  The add-on already
broke once in 2019.  This time, a corrected add-on was released
after a few weeks.  Next time, who knows?  Thus, posting on YouTube is
a fragile solution.</p>

<p>
In addition, most people will watch YouTube by running the nonfree
software that Google sends to users.  Let's not encourage people to do
that.</p>

<p>
As of mid-July, 2019, the add-on works for vimeo.com also, but not for most
other sites.</p>

<h2>What else <em>Was</em> Wrong with YouTube</h2>

<p>This is what we formerly said, until 2019, about YouTube as a place to post
videos or refer to videos.</p>

<ul>
<li>Normal use of YouTube involves use of nonfree software.

  <ul>
   <li>In the HTML5 mode, it involves running
   a <a href="/philosophy/javascript-trap.html">nonfree JavaScript
   program</a>.  For some videos, it also requires the nonfree Adobe
   DRM software that has been incorporated into proprietary browsers
   and Firefox, but not into the GNU browsers
   including <a href="/software/icecat">IceCat</a>.</li>

   <li>In the (deprecated) non-HTML5 mode, it involves use of Flash
   Player, which is nonfree.  It even tells users to install Flash Player.  (This
   mode was deprecated by YouTube as of January 2015.)</li>
   Player.</li>
  </ul>
</li>

<li>Without the nonfree software, you can't even see the YouTube
pages.  Nowadays, without running the nonfree JavaScript code,
the browser window appears blank.</li>

<li>YouTube tries to stop people from downloading copies.

 <p>The developers of youtube-dl need to keep changing it as the site
   changes.
   The mere <em>attempt</em> nonfree JavaScript code for some videos does not allow
   the browser to stop you from downloading save a
   file copy.  This is wrongdoing even if you a form of DRM.
</li>

<li>There is a free
program, <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/ytdl">ytdl</a>,
which can overcome it.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>The download the video for some YouTube pages, but there
is no complete free software community has made progress in overcoming these
problems.  It is getting easier to access YouTube videos (except those
with DRM) without running nonfree software.  Indeed, the HTML5 Video
Everywhere add-on solution for Firefox (included access in IceCat) takes care of this,
though it occasionally breaks temporarily when sites change their
undocumented APIs.</p>

<p>However, most users don't use such methods, so putting a video on browser.
</li>

<li>
“ContentID is exactly the thing YouTube usually leads people to watch claims it by running nonfree
software.</p> doesn't do:
<a href="https://boingboing.net/2018/12/26/youtube-let-a-contentid-scamme.html">
privately mediating ownership of [publications] without involving the law</a>.”
</li>

</ul>

<p>One thing about YouTube that is <em>not</em> a moral strike against
it is nonfree software on YouTube servers — if there is any.  We
as possible users of YouTube can't tell whether the servers run any
nonfree software, because that has no effect on us — therefore
it doesn't do any wrong to us.</p>

<p>If there are any nonfree programs running on YouTube servers, they
mistreat Google by denying Google control of that aspect of its
computing.  We hope that Google will reclaim its freedom by ceasing to
use those nonfree programs, if any.  But those programs do not mistreat
the <em>users</em> of YouTube, so they are not a reason to refuse
to <em>use</em> that service.</p>

<hr/>

<p>Dailymotion and Vimeo have the same problem as YouTube's HTML5
option: viewing their videos in the normal way requires nonfree
JavaScript code.  If there

<p>It is any commercial video-hosting platform also possible that doesn't have this problem, please inform us.</p>

<hr/> all the software running on YouTube
servers is free—either published free software or private
unreleased free software.</p>

<hr />

<p>To post a video without requiring nonfree software to view it,
you can place the video as an Ogg Theora or WebM file on an ordinary web site.
If you are concerned there will be a lot of download traffic, you
can seed a torrent and suggest people download through that.</p>

<p>Another way to publish videos on the web using free software is
<a href="http://mediagoblin.org/">GNU MediaGoblin</a>.  Ideally
you will set up
<a href="http://docs.mediagoblin.org/">your own server</a>, or run
one for your family and friends, but you can also post on
<a href="https://wiki.mediagoblin.org/Live_instances">public
servers</a>.</p>

<p>Please
<a href="https://wiki.mediagoblin.org/HackingHowto">contribute to
GNU MediaGoblin</a> if you can.</p>

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<p class="unprintable">Updated:
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