Comment on Goodbye Youtube and thanks for all the fish

drahardja@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• TheHobbyist@lemmy.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I hear you but this seems to largely ignore that we are all already paying google, a lot. It is only thanks to their unscrupulous private data harvesting that they have become the mastodon they are. This has been going on for so long and only in the recent past to we get the scale of this effort. Now they want us to pay them too, while nothing is changing on the data privacy side? Frankly, I don’t think they deserve our trust. It’s not like paying makes them get any less of our private data, so they are basically double dipping. That does not sit well with me.

  I’m all for paying for a due service, but I also have expectations of data privacy rights. Those are mostly vanishing into thin air with google…

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  • drahardja@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If you feel strongly that Google is a data-gathering evil so great that they deserve not a sliver of your money or attention, then stop using YouTube.

    Sorry, but you can’t make a moral argument for your position. What you want is to benefit from Google’s services without paying them. That’s it. That’s the whole argument. It doesn’t really matter if you like them or not, really. You’re arguing that you should get free service.

    That is not a morally sustainable argument.

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    • TheHobbyist@lemmy.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I’m arguing I’m already paying…

      Additionally, google has to right to how the website they serve me is displayed in my browser on my computer. If they send me the video stream despite me not looking at their ads, that’s on them. What happens in my browser on my machine should not be Google’s business.

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    • Honytawk@lemmy.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      As long as Google illegally tracks my online movement and scrapes my data, I can do whatever the fuck I want to them.

      They are the ones in the wrong.

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    • elbarto777@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Het, look at you so high in your horse!

      Morals are subjective anyway.

      So you can’t say “you can’t make a morsl argument.”

      Of course OP can!

      Here’s another example: before the era of music streaming, downloading pirated mp3s was the norm. The music industry is notoriously explotative of artists, so, you may build a case about how immoral it is to download a pirated mp3, while I can build a case that I’m morally obligated not to give the music industry money since very little goes to the artist. I’d rather buy their merch or go to their concerts.

      Then the music industry sued regular people for thousands of dollars per downloaded song just to make an example of them. Well fuck that. From that moment on, I swore to never buy music from the RIAA again, because what they were doing was immoral.

      I can’t escape Google’s ecosystem even if I tried my best. They’re constantly following me around even if I tell them “no, don’t do that, leave me alone.” So, fuck them. I’ll play dirty too. I’m morally obligated to do so.

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      • drahardja@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Morals are subjective anyway.

        They may be subjective, but they exist as a concept and can be discussed. Morals describe the value system from which you make decisions and build consensus. Pretending they don’t matter is nihilistic and self-serving.

        Let me frame this issue a different way: when Google doesn’t make money from showing you ads, or getting money from your subscriptions, they don’t pay the creators for your views. Are you arguing this is also OK? Will you promise to support each creator directly instead? Or are you only interested in getting entertainment for free?

        While the RIAA does continue to exploit artists, it’s now possible to support many artists directly by buying their albums online, buying merchandise, and attending their concerts. Do you do any of that, or are you simply pirating music for your consumption?

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    • mayo@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I probably will do that tbh. Youtube is like reddit to me - I’m addicted and I’d take the opportunity to quit.

      Someone breaks into your house and steals something from you. This person is also selling bananas at the supermarket. Am I morally required to pay for those bananas when I shop at that store?

      Your argument makes the most sense to me only if it’s limited to basic exchange of goods, but Google doesn’t exist in a vacuum and mega-corporations should be everyone’s your shit list.

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    • DessertStorms@kbin.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Imagine criticising the morals of the end user (a paying one, at that), but not of the multi billion dollar company holding them hostage (and exploiting their employees, and avoiding tax, and deliberately enshitifying their services out of pure greed, and so on and on and on)...

      Is boot really that flavoursome, or are you just a clueless clown doing the bidding for the evil overlords for no good reason at all?

      Either way, it's a pretty pathetic look..

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  • a1studmuffin@aussie.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I’m surprised they don’t gift YouTube Premium to Google One subscribers. The same way Amazon does with their streaming service and Prime.

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    • TheGreenGolem@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      That’s what I want. Give me a Google One tier where I can pay whatever amount and don’t see ads in any Google product.

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• witx@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  To me, the ad tracking industry is completely out of control, and I’m not going to disable my ad blocker. So I signed up for YouTube Premium.

  And you’re paying to keep it that way. You’re not paying for the added value YT Premium supposedly has, but to disable the enshitification they added on purpose for you to pay.

  The only added value premium has is being able to switch off the screen and maintain YT playing. Still I’m not paying a 14$ subscription just for that. I pay that value for much more valuable software for my every day use with real added value.

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• iforgotmyinstance@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Here’s an idea: my user activity generates marketable data for Google, so get rid of the ads or start paying me.

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• Tunawithshoes@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  They still harvesting your data. So not only do you pay for product monthly but you also pay with your data.

  This data is so important they are able to subsidize either YouTube or YouTube music.

  Legally I have no right.

  Morally I have right to pay to not be tracked. If thats the case I would pay.

  But paying a high price for one product forced to get at same time being harvesting my data?

  No thanks I will watch my YouTube free as I am already paying them with my data.

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• SleepyBear@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Pay for what you consume is a fantastic idea for a service that hasnt been free for it’s lifetime, and only really grew popular because it was free. Just like every other company, it seems YT would rather keep squeezing every last cent out of the consumer in hopes of a “record profit year!”.

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• redcalcium@lemmy.institute ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  You are consuming resources on Google’s computers. I think they have a right to ask for payment.

  You already paid for those resources, at least half of it. YouTube put caching appliances on your ISP data center, and they don’t pay for electricity and bandwidth to your ISP. YouTube cost for serving video is incredibly low, yet they keep increasing the subscription price. This is purely money grabbing by Google instead of simply covering their cost. They are already profitable before removing their lowest subscription tier.

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• Clbull@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It’s mind-blowing how people think they have a God-given right to freeload and leech off of the tech, music, film and television industries. For big tech in particular they whine and bitch about having to watch ads, having their data collected in bulk and being asked to pay for services they’ve been using for free for years. Meanwhile content creators on YouTube in particular have been hit by many unpopular advertiser friendly guidelines and taken many revenue hits because Google remain beholden to their key stakeholders which are the advertisers. Adblock users are part of the reason why so many content creators have to now resort to shilling crappy VPNs or mobile gacha games in every single one of their videos just to break even.

  Similar argument goes with the entertainment industry. “How fucking dare they stop me from stealing all these shows and movies!” “How fucking dare they move their stuff to rival streaming services!” It’s more baffling that they think a single $9.99 a month ad-free subscription is going to pay for an entire industry when production costs are skyrocketing and the industry previously enjoyed much higher pricing under the cable model.

  “This shit is getting as bad as cable” is another argument I often see thrown around by people justifying piracy because they want to freeload, as if you are being forced to subscribe to every single platform all at once. Cable hardly even gave consumers that choice to pick and choose. You had to pay dozens, if not over a hundred dollars a month to Comcast, TWC, etc for access to everything, even a lot of stuff you otherwise didn’t want to watch.

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  • flowbot@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It’s mind-blowing how people corporations think they have a God-given right to freeload and leech off of people.

    FTFY

    It’s what they do. Extract rent for user generated content - whether that be videos or advertising metrics. The disparity between the value users provide to Google and that which Google provides to users is immense.

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• MrSqueezles@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It’s totally not fair that a Bently costs so much money. Sure, I could, you know, buy a different car, but fuck Bently for their unfair pricing model, so I regularly steal them.

  I’m sure Bently would love to have me not stealing their cars and Google could not give less of a fuck about not having to lose money from you consuming content and server resources without paying. Over half of the money YouTube makes goes to creators. Consider who you’re stealing from.

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  • tabular@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    You wouldn’t download a Bently.

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    • MrSqueezles@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Holy fucking shit I had no idea that I couldn’t download a car. So if it’s really easy to take something without paying, it’s legit, but if it’s difficult and I might actually go to jail, then it’s not. Got it.

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      • tabular@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        It’s easier to take because it’s fundamentally different. If I take my neighbour’s crops they can’t eat or sell them but if I take their poem they still have it and can perform it. Laws to restrict unauthorised copying will be arbitrary instead of a simple concept like “don’t steal the thing”.

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