Hacker News Reader

Comment by wmf | Hacker News Reader

The normal YouTube TOS says things like "You are not allowed to: access, reproduce, download, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, alter, modify or otherwise use any part of the Service ... circumvent, disable, fraudulently engage with, or otherwise interfere with any part of the Service" https://www.youtube.com/t/terms#c3e2907ca8 This pretty much bans alternative clients.

View on HN

This bans the use of alternative youtube clients, but not the creation of such clients.

It's not functionally possible to develop software without using it.

I don’t know. I’ve used plenty of software where I’ve asked myself “Did the people who wrote this ever try to actually use it?”

You can get upvotes here but this smartassery will get you a spanking in court.

Which is in some way worse. Not only would the TOS allow YouTube to ban Rossman, it would allow them to ban every person who uses GrayJay. Obviously they're not going to do that because of the collateral damage.

IANAL

just because they say it does not mean they can enforce it

Do you need to agree to youtube's TOS to use it? I can open youtube in an incognito window or on a machine I never used without a TOS consent required.

Also, youtube itself is just a website. Websites can be accessed through multiple venues, aka browsers. Browsers don't always guarantee the way it will render or present html will be as the author would expect.

What about embedded YouTube videos on other sites?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com