This long-form series of special reports, investigations, and shorter format feature updates goes deep with the privacy violations and overreach of modern consumer electronics, including Smart TVs and other devices. We'll explore LG's WebOS, LG Smart TV vulnerabilities and exploits, first-party ACR (automated content recognition) behaviors, and other concerns. Alongside that, we'll dive deeper into ALPRs and Flock cameras as we fight their rollout in at least one small town. We're also digging deep into the data exchange practices between large AI companies, looking into how data sucked into data centers can be exploited for training and profit.

https://www.youtube.com/live/w5KnFmKjFTA

The irony of reporting on this from the largest consumer spying platform in existence, while collecting money from it...

It's where eyeballs live, otherwise you only reach small amount of tech nerds.

Ah, so that's the context on that video. I ignored it due to the clickbait title and thumbnail. I've been ignoring a lot of his videos lately.

This is not "participating in society", this is participating in, contributing to, and directly benefitting from the very thing they're complaining about.

That's why you make it available elsewhere for "tech nerds" who don't want to be a part of the problem.

I wouldn't mind if they also mirrored their videos on Nebula.

You would if you looked at Nebula's privacy policy.

Fully agreed. At least give an alternative source. But that would not play well with the goal of any of these YT "influencer" videos - cashing in.

Walk the walk.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don't see really anything of concerns that stands out

Did you even look?

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contributing to, and directly benefitting from the very thing they’re complaining about.

You do understand what "participation" means, right? You understand that the original comic is specifically talking about contributing to and benefitting from the very thing they're complaining about, right?

I agree with your other point that GN should offer more alternatives to watch their videos, but this one is creating a distinction without a difference.

The original comic is referring to cars and iPhones (or smartphones more broadly). Basically, things you absolutely need to "participate in society" for most people. YouTube is very much not one of those things.

So you've moved the goalposts from "that's not just participation, it's [things that participation entails]" to "well this doesn't apply unless you need it to exist"*. GN needs a major platform like YouTube to actually reach an audience.

* By the way, the comic is illustrating a man with a car that's seemingly from the 1920s or 30s, so there goes that tenuous argument.

I haven't moved anything, and you know I haven't. I'm not going to continue engaging in bad faith discussions.

I have multiple young-ish (30s) friends that don't own a phone (not just smartphone; any phone), and basically all people I know above 80 years don't own one either.

You can absolutely live a perfectly fine and good life without a smartphone. You're just drawing the line where it's convenient for you.

Or let's put it in more familiar words...

[Owning a smartphone] is not “participating in society”, this is participating in, contributing to, and directly benefitting from the very thing they’re complaining about.

They did buy a blu-ray copying setup and sell some of their long-form content as USBs, DVDs, and Blu-rays. So I guess that's something.

I hate his thumbnails and his team really needs to better themselves on that.

That said, the effort and quality of his investigations are something else.

TheTechnician27 has volunteered to improve our lives. When’s the peertube instance comrade?

You heard of this? https://dearrow.ajay.app/
I am not affiliated. You just reminded me, I share the same hate.

Should he start his own video platform that nobody knows and nobody uses?

Was gonna say, I haven't seen YouTube thumbnails in years. It just grabs a frame from the video, the way it used to work.

Sure. Or he could choose from any of the dozen existing ones?

This is unfortunately the state of modern YouTubing. Clickbait or fail.

Which one has nearly as many users as YouTube, and is not overrun by right wing nuts, crypto scammers or people banned from YouTube?

I know plenty of people without cars or smartphones that still participate in society. This is a terrible argument.

Well now you're moving the goal posts

It's not a terrible argument for people who have adequate reading comprehension.

html comes with a / tag. pretty simple to use

You can absolutely live a perfectly fine and good life without a smartphone

Your personal anecdotes aside, myself and many others literally cannot . Modern society expects you to own one, including organizations like banks, healthcare, and, possibly most importantly, employers. It's literally mandatory to participate in much of society.

Similarly, my local city has nothing representing public transportation or safe routes for walking or cycling. In addition, in areas where many of the jobs are, housing is obscenely-priced, and completely unaffordable for "normal" people, so living close to work isn't an option either.

No job is going to require you to watch YouTube news.

It may be initially inconvenient, but you can choose a bank that offers 2FA/TAN beyond the smartphone app.

Not sure what healthcare apps you mean. There's lots of categories, so won't comment without clarification.

Same for employers tbh. Would love an example. (Besides: work apps can't be forced on your private phone in most places.)

I live in "modern society" and do own a smartphone, but I'm aware that it's a convenience, not a necessity.

I’m aware that it’s a convenience, not a necessity.

For you. For many people it is not. You're projecting your personal experiences onto the rest of the world.

That video was pointless. It was just an ad and asking for donations for their upcoming series.

Well, LG tvs recording what you say and transcribing it into a log does not seem pointess at all