If the linked article has a paywall, you can access this archived version instead: https://archive.ph/zyhax
The court orders show the government telling Google to provide the names, addresses, telephone numbers and user activity for all Google account users who accessed the YouTube videos between January 1 and January 8, 2023. The government also wanted the IP addresses of non-Google account owners who viewed the videos.
“This is the latest chapter in a disturbing trend where we see government agencies increasingly transforming search warrants into digital dragnets. It’s unconstitutional, it’s terrifying and it’s happening every day,” said Albert Fox-Cahn, executive director at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. “No one should fear a knock at the door from police simply because of what the YouTube algorithm serves up. I’m horrified that the courts are allowing this.” He said the orders were “just as chilling” as geofence warrants, where Google has been ordered to provide data on all users in the vicinity of a crime.
But one has to be careful when using Invidious since the browser gets the video feed directly from Youtube/Google unless it is proxied or a VPN/Tor is used.
thats sad to hear, why is it much slower then?
Because its not on a powerful google server, it’s just a volunteer. Some instances allow proxying to hide your ip but i believe it is more taxing on the server
This… isn’t how I thought it worked.
It is still better than having to go to Googles ad-ridden tracker-filled website. Also, in the settings you can select an option to proxy videos.