You might have noticed that even on Firefox (depending on your lists) YouTube may detect uBlock Origin on Firefox now
There’s already a workaround (found, again, here), but I figured I would use this opportunity to tell people that projects like Piped and Invidious exist, which both allow you to watch YouTube without loading their ads, with improved Privacy and (in the case of Piped) even Geoblocking-Circumvention and SponsorBlock out of the box.
They’re both great tools, and using something like LibRedirect you can even automatically go to Piped or Invidious when clicking/opening a YouTube link (and more).
Both don’t load ads, but unless changed in the settings Individous may still make connections to Google/YouTube to load the video(s) themselves.
Bit of a shameless plug for these projects, but I figured this is a really good time to show these projects as I often see people asking what they are in threads on here
You must log in or register to comment.
I’d like to add to the sentiment of this post by saying that if you ever used any of those amazing websites, I’m sure the developers will highly appreciate it if those with the means could consider contributing to their projects.
We all know how greedy and shameless YouTube can be, and yet those developers give us incredible products for free. And if you ever saw the entitled requests of some users on their projects’ pages whenever YouTube implements some changes, and they have to rush to fix their code, I’m sure you would appreciate them even more. I’ve personally seen quite a few projects being abandoned because of the sometimes thankless job of being a developer, and I would hate it for any of these to suffer a similar fate.
So if you can and are willing, feel free to join me in contributing to:
I was about to say add uBlock Origin to that list but apparently they don’t accept donations per the bottom of their homepage.
I will not accept donations or sponsorships of any kind.
That’s some fuck you energy right there.
Lmao serious ‘fuck you’ energy.
Out of curiosity I went to the project’s page and saw more info on why they don’t take donations:
Free. Open-source. For users by users. No donations sought. If you ever want to contribute something, think about the people working hard to maintain the filter lists you are using, which are available to use by all for free.
Not uncommon, the project I am maintainer of doesn’t accept donations either
What a King.
Its crazy all my piped servers stopped working which sucks, if anyone is willing to share a server that works or a self hosted one they could let me in. Hit me up
Late reply, but piped.adminforge.de is my server of choice, with piped.smnz.de and piped.lunar.icu as alternatives
lunar.cu was one of those that went down at the time. I am now using freetube since it keeps my subscriptions locally I can switch instances without having to worry about transfering anything when my instance goes down
The irony of these smalltime maintainers asking for donations when their own software is purpose made to hurt the income of smalltime creators. Particularly if they include Sponsorblock.
I am using Ublock and sponsor block,so far no adverts but it is always good to have more tools,just in case.Thank you for the links :)
My HTPC has accounts in chrome on there for each member of the family. All are configured the same with ublock origin but only one is getting the popups.
Unless people mass-migrate away from Chrome-based browsers (basically everything expect Firefox) Google will at one point enable their Web Environment Integrity thing, force all other browsers to enable it too because otherwise a lot of websites will stop working in them, and no alternative frontend will have access to the video streams anymore.
Web environment integrity is a non-starter because it offers avenues for bad actors to enforce “integrity” that forces malware to be loaded as well as legitimate page elements. However, that doesn’t mean Google won’t keep trying to stop ad blockers, alternative interfaces etc in the future.
Perhaps, but eventually there will probably ba a certificate authority alternative to Google. But I agree, we need regulation to determine to ensure that programs calling themselves web browsers will have to adhere to standards, and not be based on features that make certain websites work only on their browser. I think the backlash reaction to implementing “integrity” as a standard was really healthy. But there is still a lot of action to take on the regulatory front.
eventually there will probably ba a certificate authority alternative to Google
Which won’t matter (for access from third-party apps), because to be accepted by websites they need to prove their trustworthiness, so you can’t just use a different one to circumvent it.
It can be very similar to the TLS scheme we use today, where certificates are signed by regulated CA’s. The only difference is that currently there is no regulation to ensure that Google will build chrimium to trust other authorities for browser integrity other than itself. That is definitely a major concern. Fortunately, I don’t think that it is long term viable. First, Microsoft, Mozilla and Apple would be extremely unhappy with this scheme. That’s right off the bat. So there will definitely be resistance on that front because eventually it would do something like break youtube compatibility with Firefox.
Now, I do think that it is plausible that these organizations could come to a agreement that is still ultimately bad for web browsers. There fore, this should be considered by government regulators as something to pay attention to. I’m not too pessimistic about them doing this. There us political will to preserve the open internet, especially in the EU. It looks like the US is also set to re-adopt net neutrality rules. So, im just not as pessimistic about it.
The only issue is that in the short-term, alot of these services that are free are going to degrade. This is what we are seeing with youtube. That is too bad, but I am hopeful and optimistic that it will lead to a more open internet. The fact that we are having this conversation on a decentralized social network is a positive sign.
It still doesn’t matter. A website can choose which attestors to trust (if they had to trust all of them the whole thing would be useless), so Youtube can just deny access to the video streams to anything that isn’t a trusted browser environment, and anything third party like Invidious, Piped, Newpipe, Freetube… won’t be able to work anymore.
Well yeah. But those clients could ultimately just say they are firefox if Mozilla is open enough, which they tend to be. It ends when Google decides that stuff like YouTube should only work on chrome. That would be bad, and I think regulators would treat it as bad, especially the EU.
Just to be clear, I don’t think forcing this standard down everyone’s throats for naked commercial reasons is a good idea either.
IIRC the proposal includes some crypto-handshake verification to make sure the attestor is who it claims to be, so no, apps can’t just fake it. Or, if some of those secret keys leak and apps use it, sites won’t accept it anymore.
It’s a question of trust. Google will select the certificates they trust for the services they provide, and the entities that own those certificates will decide what do to with them. If they trust a certificate from Mozilla, and Mozilla agrees to make that certificate open to everyone for instance, than Google’s only choice is to stop trusting it. But if Mozilla decides that is the certificate Firefox will use, than Google has to choose kicking off Firefox as well as other third party apps. Same with Microsoft and Apple, but I think Mozilla is more likely to oppose this kind of standard rather than try to reach some kind of agreement with Google.
The other way that this could play out every browser dev makes some kind of arrangement. Very unstable when we are talking about competitors.
At the end of the day, it requires a level of co-operation with the browser developers and internet service providers that I don’t think a lot of people will go for, for various reasons. Especially not regulators. I guess I am just more optimistic about the open internet.
How long until Google says “fuck it” and outright starts banning adblock users? Considering how deep a lot of people are into the Google ecosystem, this is potentially devastating. Imagine losing access to you email, photos, etc., with no way to appeal. Good luck if you want to actually speak to anyone human at Google.
I’m already in the process of decoupling from gmail for this exact reason.
I’ve decoupled the most important things, but there’s just so much stuff that is still using my gmail.
It took me a couple of years to migrate away from Gmail but it was completely worth it. People lose their Google accounts for any and no reason at all. People don’t realise how many important accounts would be lost without access to their email. Now, with my own domain, I can move hosts at any moment.
Any email services you recommend?
Fastmail and Proton. Don’t shoot me but iCloud is actually a good option if you’re already in the Apple ecosystem. Personalised domains are included if you’re paying for any iCloud tier, even the very cheap one. That will support personal email domains for the whole family. For families I think it’s the best value. iCloud also includes other things like cloud storage/backup, “hide my email,” and private relay.
Losing access to your banks. Banks in England send you an email link to confirm your access.
Set u a forward from the Gmail address to the new one, and maintain the account at least minimally. As a reference, I have an account created at least 14 years ago still forwarding email. Should be enough time to change the profiles.
in case of a bank Im sure you can just walk to a physical office and get your account linked to another email
things will get hard with things like steam
În uk there’s many online only banks
I migrated my Steam library off Gmail last month. You’re allowed to change email addresses.
I had this exact thought. I’ve since bought a domain name, moved my email over to tutanota, did a takeout request, and installed DeGooglified LineageOS on my phone. I went nuclear. Fuck Google - remember when their motto was “Don’t be evil” ? Ha!
I don’t think they’d ever ban users, but this game of cat and mouse will continue forever. They’ll make the service worse and worse, while alternatives like Rumble and Odysee will get more and more users.
That said, back up all your Google data, and migrate to your own email domain. Millions of people all over the world lose access to their Google accounts each year for any and no reason at all. All it takes is a capricious algorithm. They don’t have any customer support at all.
deleted by creator
unlikely especially if they’re paying for other services. they’ll most likely prevent playback
There’s plenty of stories online
. It’s all automated and if it decides you’re bad, you’re out. No questions asked, no appeals.
Googlesearch it up and you’ll find many more.
Revanced also works with no problems
I stopped using Revanced for NewPipe when it was giving me trouble. But I have a friend that swears by Revanced.
They are Android only, iirc. Practically the mobile app version of the projects someone listed in another comment.
Has Google considered making their advertising engine better? Allow us to skip every ad. Allow us to block all those fucking cryptocurrency scam ads. Forcing me to watch an ad for a company that I’m not interested in guarantees that I will hate that company and never buy their product even if I need it. I will go out of my way to buy something from a company that hasn’t tried to ram their advertisements down my throat. If ads weren’t so fucking terrible I might agree to watch them.
Thank you, this is an exact point I was making earlier today in a different conversation.
Google has two decades of information about me. Just as one random example, I’m hooked into their mapping app so they know everywhere I go and on what schedule, and can infer what I buy.
Not once in 20 years has Google advertised something to me that is in line with my interests and needs. Google knows I go to the cigar store every Monday to replenish my supply, and they’ve never suggested to me a product or service that can save me time, money, or make it more convenient.
Google’s ad system seems to shove garbage products in my face like black label shit from China (raycon, manscaped, etc) and products/companies that do not operate in my region.
How hard is it to know everything about a person, and still fail to advertise one single thing that is useful to them over decades??!
While you’re right that Google isn’t very good at targeting ads, I don’t think more accurate ads is what we want.
It’s what I want.
I worked for years in tech, and adjacent to marketers and sales people.
I know from direct experience that people want relevant advertisements for things that will solve a problem in their lives.
Going back to my example, I would very much appreciate an advertisement for a cigar store that will either give me a discount, introduce a new product to me, or deliver my product on my schedule.
I also make and buy mechanical toys, and I’ve had an interest in them for decades. I would really appreciate an ad that highlights a new collection of mechanical puzzles.
But instead I get badgered by Google ads for things that are nuisances and of no relevance to my life.
Instead of sharpening service for the professional barber clippers I own, because Google knows I cut my own hair, I get advertisements for Manscaped.
I steadfastly maintain there is an opportunity to advertise to people in a helpful way, but Google doesn’t do it.
Or in my country: most ads are in only one of the main official languages but not the one in my region so it’s wasteful for them.
I’ve found for me, freetube works better than invidious and piped. Much better response time and freetube has subscriptions nd a good UI.
Freetube on desktop + newpipe/libretube on mobile is pretty much my combo. I very, very rarely visit youtube’s site directly anymore lol
I haven’t visited the site intentionally from my devices in years
FreeTube actually has Invidious support as well so you can use both if you like.
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
switched to freetube yesterday, pretty good so far, though I cant figure how to import my playlists over.
deleted by creator
ah, makes sense why it wouldn’t take the playlists i exported from youtube then.
deleted by creator
I did the same yesterday and was pleasantly surprised with how much more responsive it is compared to normal YouTube in a browser. The interface is very snappy. FreeTube also has Sponsor Block built in as an optional feature.
I would love to use it, instead of Youtube but two things hold me back.
- i sometimes like to just browse the home page and watch some recommended videos.
- Blocking channels with Freetube is kinda bothersome. Having to copy past the name of every channel i dont want to see is tedious, especially since I use the Blocktube extension, and at this point have hundreds of channels blocked. I would be happy if there was a similar option in Freetube, or if I could import my blocklist from BlockTube.
I think the last update made it better. I used to get errors loading pages and feeds… It would still work but it would post an annoying error bubble. Now it doesn’t! This is one of my must haves for a Linus install.
I will gladly accept my usual downvotes to remind people Sponsorblock is only hurting the content creators, not Google, and given there’s absolutely no threat of malware or tracking from a sponsored in-video ad, you have no need for it besides entitlement and a disrespect for the people that are already getting fucked over by Google in the first place.
Sorry… watching a sponsored video for world of tanks for the 10th time, or simply safe, or whatever other garbage is there isn’t going to make me want to purchase it.
I value my time… If I didn’t use sponsor block, I’m still going to skip right past it… This, just does it for me.
And I still don’t give a damn! There are two scenarios in case of sponsors.
- The creator already got paid for the ad before the video. or
- The creator is payed by percentage of their affiliate link.
It doesn’t matter if I skip for number one, obviously. Number two could be an argument. But 99% of those sponsors are borderline scams anyway, so I really don’t care, because I will never buy something off a sponsorship like that. Not NordVPN (which still tracks you btw…), nor Raid, nor any other crap.
Additionally, SponsorBlock also gets rid of those annoying reminders to “like and subscribe” barely a second into the video, and other such annoyances like fillers or those dumb spoilers that show the best parts of the video right at the start.
SponsorBlock isn’t the issue. It is a symptom of Googles unfathomable greed and the creators/consumers collective Stockholm Syndrome. I value my time more, than hearing the same five sentences about World of Tanks, Raid or any other braindead “game” repeated 500 times.
The only sponsors I don’t skip are the ones from InternetHistorian. He at least puts effort in and makes it fun to watch.
Agreed. If any content creator makes an effort in their ad spots (Jay Foreman, How to Drink, and the aforementioned Internet Historian) then that automatically gets whitelisted on sponsorblock.
And often the ads for stuff like Raid or similar stuff can be jarring, with the audio louder than the actual video or beginning with some random sound that “captures your attention”. Thank goodness for sponsorblock.
deleted by creator
Sponsor block says it’s skipped about 18hrs since I started using it. No way I’m going to stop using it when I have a choice.
You’ve saved people from 4,176 segments ( 2d 2h 15.4 minutes of their lives )
You’ve skipped 9,064 segments ( 3d 1h 27.2 minutes )Yeah… no… 3 days of my life back? That I didn’t have to waste watching an AD? Full agreement with you there… Fuck that noise. I’m going to keeping using the hell out of it.
It’s a terrible argument too… Does it make sense to yell at someone using a DVR that skips forward? My Plex server does this automatically.
Not being a youtuber I don’t know, but do sponsors even know that you’re using sponsorblock? How could they tell?
I don’t think they can really. I don’t work in that stuff, but skipping isn’t included in YT analytics from what I’ve read. I would bet they rely on something like average view percentage to just make assumptions. For example, if a content creator places the sponsor bit in the first 10% of the video, and average view percentage for that video is 80%, then it is assumed the sponsor bit was watched. I wouldn’t be surprised if sponsors require some form of transparency in analytic reporting for content creators to get paid.
I also would figure that YouTube, as it has no bearing on their revenue, is probably not going to add in analytic features for Skip just for the sake of some third party.
I don’t know about you, but when I watch a video I’m not there to watch an ad.
Also don’t forget about the bad companies and scams (example: Established Titles).
YouTube: makes ads more and more intrusive.
People: block annoying intrusive ads.
This guy: “YoU’rE jUsT hUrTiNg ThE cReAtOr!”
Companies will keep making ads worse and worse until people stop putting up with it. I’m not going to put up with their bullshit so that the content creator can get 0.0001 cents from my view. If you want to support the creator that’s what Patreon is for.
I mean people don’t have to watch Youtube. Also all this shit about ads and then blocking them but still watching Youtube does nothing. People actually not using the platform might make a difference.
You are entitled to your own opinion but it’s because of Google’s content monetization strategies that user-generated videos now include native content ads. Content creators are following the money. I don’t have to agree with them, Google or your nonsense opinion.
SponsorBlock is useful for more than just skipping sponsored segments, you know.
I use it mostly to remove the “hey guys” and “like and subscribe” bullshit that is in literally every. single. video. It’s irritating and I’m tired of hearing it.
Also, the “skip to highlight” is useful for those of us with ADHD. It keeps the less interesting videos interesting. Not everything needs a 20 minute intro before they get to the subject of the video.
I use sponsorblock not for sponsors, but for things like non-music parts of MVs or interaction reminders tbh
When the sponsor is baked into the video itself, there’s no way for the advertiser to know how many of the people who watched the video, skipped past the sponsor. The only way they know wether their ads are working or not, is by seeing how many people used the discount code from said channel. If you’re the kind of person going thru the effort to install additional software on top of adblocker to get rid of this sponsored content aswell, I think it’s quite safe to assume you weren’t going to buy their product anyways.
Also if you’re still feeling bad about it, just donate few bucks directly to the content creator. That’s way more than they’re ever going to profit from you watching ads anyways.
I’d also like to point out that mpv has youtube-dl built-in (and can also use the cooler fork, yt-dlp). You can open YouTube links directly in mpv and they will play with no bullshit. It can even pull 4K streams.
There are browser plugins that let you open links directly in external programs like mpv, although they are a bit of a hassle to set up (especially if you are on Ubuntu with their godforsaken Snaps).
deleted by creator
I can’t comment on how Piped works, but I can tell you how it doesn’t work. Piped does not access or utilize your Google account in any way. 👍
This comment was posted from a device that’s never been logged into any Google account in the first place.
What email account provider do you use? Would be interested to get free of Google. .
Proton mail is excellent and comes with a decent VPN that is free for personal use.
If you want to get away from just Google, you can try iCloud or whatever Microsoft calls their Mail product now. If you want to get away with big tech run products, I recommend Proton. Of course you can always go full tinfoil hat and host your own email server with your own domain, but that will set you back at least 7 bucks a year, even if you for the cheapest register (Cloudflare, they don’t add their own fees at all, so you can’t really go lower).
Unfortunately I still use Google, just not on this particular phone or my tablet. I’m still in the process of gradually de-Googling myself.
I’ve heard Proton is good though, it’s on my radar in the future… https://proton.me/
Also, not for daily use, more as a throwaway email for sites that have no business asking your email… https://www.dispostable.com/
- Choose instance: https://github.com/TeamPiped/Piped/wiki/Instances
- Click instance link
- watch videos
- ?
- profit
You can create account on a per instance basis.
Cheers
It doesn’t use the APIs at all, which is also why Google can’t Cease & Desist them for not complying with API terms
I’ll stick with revanced, there really isn’t anything they can do to stop it long term.
Revanced is pretty much perfect for my needs.
And SmartTube on my Android TV.
I run my own Invidious instance on my local network and its not bad, but you really aren’t able to endlessly doom scroll Youtube recommendations with it. That sounds like a non-issue, but its more difficult to find new content you like without that algorithmic aspect. Technically, Invidious will load playlists, but the UI is designed to maximize the video presence without the other add-ons, so scrolling is a pain. Also, history is unnamed so its just a thumbnail with no other info.
You can change UI of Invidious with Stylus (ex. https://userstyles.world/style/6850/invidious-all-instances-player-and-tabs-v-3), but that won’t run in qutebrowser and I love my native vim bindings.
Ever since I disabled every recommendation in libretube I don’t watch anything on youtube anymore because I have no fucking clue that it even exists.
I’ve been relying on yt-dlp and hint links to pipe video from Youtube to mpv. Its not a bad solution, but isn’t quite the doom scrolling I want. Here’s an example: https://files.catbox.moe/688xbo.png
That’s one of the reasons I like Piped, the video you are currently on does have a small similar-to feed on the side
Yeah, as good as Youtube’s algorithms are at pushing hardcore right-wing content on completely fresh accounts in like 3 clicks, my accounts have been around for so long that my recommends tend to be on the money most of the time.
I discover multiple new channels each month from my recommends whereas 10 years ago I’d occasionally check a channel that a friend recommended or was embedded on a forum post
Hah, it still tries with the right-wing conspiracy garbage though every so often though. Its like “Hey…you wanna watch some hate crimes? No? Uh… uh… ok, here’s the 37min of LOTR facts you asked for…”
Piped.video
I use noscript don’t have this problem.
Good idea. I will soon as well.
well duh, the detection uses JavaScript.
I don’t get it you guys are all about privacy and this or adblockers but you still willingly allow Javascript?
please read up on threat models. If you need that amount of privacy/security that’s fine, but many don’t.
Because LITERALLY EVERY WEBSITE THAT HAS A WORKING BUTTON THAT UPDATES ITSELF requires JavaScript.
Everyone should use script blockers. Flat out only way to reliably block the boatloads of malicious scripts that litters the internet.
Do any modern websites run with no script? I figured with most websites based in JS frameworks like react and Vue, hardly anything would work with noscript
You enable the minimum necesary for the website to do what you need.
