Is YouTube a Privacy Liability Just Like Facebook?

What kind of data does YouTube collect?

You would be shocked to know just how much YouTube knows about you. The video sharing site keeps a close eye on each and every user, constantly updating the profile with your personal data. It would be a monumental task to mention every item on the list, but here is a small sample of the things that YouTube logs about you: all topics and keywords typed into the search field; every video category and channel visited; videos you liked or disliked; your location and preferred language; IP and device information; age and gender; and most importantly the ads that you click on.

What does Youtube do with its data?

The reason for YouTube’s Big Brother-style monitoring is because otherwise the artificial show master would not be able to run its circus. Hundreds of videos are uploaded to the site on an hourly basis, which would be impossible for human supervision to sort. For this reason YouTube relies on a learning algorithm. The recommended content displayed on your main page or sidebar are hand-picked by this algorithm after analyzing your preferences. It also sprinkles in videos that are trending in your country or popular in your age bracket. Without a massive library of information such as this, people would only receive a randomized selection of content – meaning no one would ever find anything new that they specifically would enjoy watching.

Someone think of the children!

YouTube’s data collection policy is somewhat acceptable when it comes to adults since they understand the weight of their own decisions. The privacy of kids, however, is protected by specific laws. In this regard the law in question is the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act that was made official in 1998. To briefly explain it, the law forbids internet companies from knowingly collecting the data of children under 13 without their parents’ permission. Several privacy advocate groups have complained to the Federal Trade Commission, stating that YouTube violates this law.

The situation is quite controversial. On one hand, YouTube’s terms of use states that all visitors must be at least 13, otherwise they cannot register for the site. On the other hand, this rule isn’t enforced by any means and it’s as clear as day that children way younger than 13 are visiting the site, some of them even upload gameplay footage or create vlogs on a regular basis. Furthermore, the preteen demographic represents a massive viewer base for YouTube, which in turn generates a significant amount of profit for the company.

The video sharing site has tried to circumvent the problem by releasing an app just for kids, where the content is vetted by human controllers. Unfortunately, inappropriate content has still managed to slip through the cracks.

As of right now the only way to prevent YouTube from collecting certain personal information is by creating a dummy account. If you also intend to conceal your true location, then you would need to use a VPN to mask your IP, otherwise the system will catch onto the trick. At the same time this virtual change of location can even unlock content on YouTube that is otherwise blocked in your country. In utilizing such a tool you can also rely on the protocols put into place for your VPN connection to protect your connection and data as you use YouTube’s services.

Whether you’re logged in as a user with YouTube or just visiting without an account, once you’ve pushed that big red play button, the website begins tracking your behavior and data. And similar to how you wouldn’t pass the remote of the TV to your better half because you want to be in charge, you don’t want YouTube to have your data in its possession.