I’m personally just not that excited about needing a YouTube account to be signed in, in order to view/download videos. I imagine they wouldn’t take too kindly to that if they caught me. My existing account kind of matters, and apparently now you need a phone number to register a new one
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.
So what has worked for me in the past is:
Get a cheap android/ChromeOS device (or power-wash one that you’re not using any more) and ensure that there’s not a working SIM card in it.
When you power it up and it goes through the first-time-user setup, it asks you for your Google account, and provides you with the option to create one if you (claim you) don’t have one.
Since there’s no SIM card, the newly created Google account has no phone number attached.
I imagine that you could copy down the info about this newly-created account (after making sure it has a password and you know what it is), and then wipe/power-wash the phone/tablet/Chromebook and do the process all over again and create another Google account.
Every google-OS-running device I’ve ever owned has gotten a new Google account created for it.
I’m personally just not that excited about needing a YouTube account to be signed in, in order to view/download videos. I imagine they wouldn’t take too kindly to that if they caught me. My existing account kind of matters, and apparently now you need a phone number to register a new one
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.
So what has worked for me in the past is: Get a cheap android/ChromeOS device (or power-wash one that you’re not using any more) and ensure that there’s not a working SIM card in it. When you power it up and it goes through the first-time-user setup, it asks you for your Google account, and provides you with the option to create one if you (claim you) don’t have one. Since there’s no SIM card, the newly created Google account has no phone number attached.
I imagine that you could copy down the info about this newly-created account (after making sure it has a password and you know what it is), and then wipe/power-wash the phone/tablet/Chromebook and do the process all over again and create another Google account.
Every google-OS-running device I’ve ever owned has gotten a new Google account created for it.
That is sneaky. I might need to give that a shot… Although I have the feeling it might not like whatever VP and I sign onto first
🏴☠️