Downloading a video is functionally identical to watching the video. I’m not 100% sure they can’t tell, but they certainly shouldn’t care… You’re not circumventing anything by downloading a streamed video, they just obfuscate the download functionality.
I imagine they might care because advertisements are their source of revenue on that platform, which I believe loses money regardless. They’re also getting increasingly adamant about breaking people’s ad blockers.
It also appears to me that every combination of functional use requires some form of identification:
If you’re logged out, they’re okay with you browsing from an identifiable home IP address.
If you’re on a VPN, they’re okay with showing your videos if you log in so they can track your viewing habits.
If you’re on a VPN and make a new account, they want your phone number so they can tie your identity to an actual human being.
It might be a bit paranoid, but these factors combined suggest that Google does not want us to watch videos without providing some form of (inferrable) personal identification. And if Google can’t get what it wants, specifically data and ad revenue, they might be very willing to terminate an account that’s draining their coffers.
Does it have to be a home IP? I use a 4G connection behind NAT444 and it works fine without logging in. My LAN is 192.x.x.x and my router is on 10.x.x.x which is on the ISPs network, then right now on 85.x.x.x as a public IP which is clearly shared between multiple other customers.
They would do this instead of giving out IPv6 addresses…
Downloading a video is functionally identical to watching the video. I’m not 100% sure they can’t tell, but they certainly shouldn’t care… You’re not circumventing anything by downloading a streamed video, they just obfuscate the download functionality.
I imagine they might care because advertisements are their source of revenue on that platform, which I believe loses money regardless. They’re also getting increasingly adamant about breaking people’s ad blockers.
It also appears to me that every combination of functional use requires some form of identification:
It might be a bit paranoid, but these factors combined suggest that Google does not want us to watch videos without providing some form of (inferrable) personal identification. And if Google can’t get what it wants, specifically data and ad revenue, they might be very willing to terminate an account that’s draining their coffers.
Does it have to be a home IP? I use a 4G connection behind NAT444 and it works fine without logging in. My LAN is 192.x.x.x and my router is on 10.x.x.x which is on the ISPs network, then right now on 85.x.x.x as a public IP which is clearly shared between multiple other customers.
They would do this instead of giving out IPv6 addresses…