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Got Hit with YouTube Age Verification Check (infosec.pub)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by Naho_Zako@piefed.zip to c/privacy@programming.dev
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Last week I tried to watch the "Shut the Fuck Up PSA" from the National Lawyers Guild, and it was age blocked. I did try to log in, but now you have to VERIFY your age too (obviously I clicked off that shit).

But honestly, alternative frontends like Freetube and yt-dlp might not make the cut anymore:

Mpv crashed, and Invidious instances keep saying "video may not be age appropriate"

Edit: My state is soon to perform age verification on social media sites, so this is probably the cause. I'll just have to VPN to other states or countries until VPNs fail/are blocked.

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[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Might help all of us understand this if you told us what your general location is? Which country? Which state? Which region?

Obviously don't dox yourself ... but giving a general location will tell us which regions are actively enforcing all this.

Also ... are you using a VPN ... because if you are then ...

  • your VPN is accessing the network at a region that does age verification
  • your VPN is being bypassed or not working properly or your system is leaking your IP and location
  • the network, website or system doesn't allow users through VPN
[–] Naho_Zako@piefed.zip 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I do use Proton often, and it seems it was set to New Jersey this time. I live in the US, and afaik, my state doesn't have mandatory age checks for all websites.

Edit: NVM, my state has signed and will soon enforce a social media age check. Guess I'll VPN to other states and countries 💀

Even when I disable ProtonVPN, the same things happen. Freetube and Invidious say may be inappropriate, mpv crashes (non age restricted videos play fine), and even YT ReVanced throws a fit on both my accounts. On browser, both Librewolf and Ungoogled Chromium get hit with the same "verify age" button. On Fedora Linux.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The other important question is ... what OS are you using? ... Windows is notorious for leaking location and bypassing VPNs (especially IP, DNS and location) ... don't know much about MAC but I also wouldn't trust them ... Linux is more secure depending on which distro you use and how you use it

[–] Naho_Zako@piefed.zip 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Been using Fedora for a year or so now. I've done tests with ipleak and such to verify my VPN isn't leaking, and have torrented on it (with it attached to my client and tested that the client stops when the VPN is disconnected).

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The other thing that's been creeping into everyone's system is ... browser fingerprinting

This means that if you accessed something somewhere sometime and you got flagged or located, your browser stores key identifying data, history, cookies, etc to basically fingerprint your browser to any and all systems out there in the future. If your browser goes somewhere again, it won't matter if you have a VPN, the online systems remember your browser and will identify you, your location and your history because they've already logged all that data.

If you keep using that same browser with the same profile over and over again, and with all your other accounts, history and user info, it's like driving in the same car day in / day out. Eventually everyone remembers you because you keep driving the same car. It won't matter what kind of VPN, cloaking or obfuscation you use ... all everyone will do is look for the same car you drove last time.

Try setting up a new profile on Firefox/LibreWolf or other browser on a clean unused profile and try again to see what happens.

[–] Naho_Zako@piefed.zip 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yep, fingerprinting is a bitch. I've tried settings on Librewolf and IronFox to reduce it, but obviously it's impossible to fool the creators of internet stalking.

Anyway, tried with a brand spanking new profile on Linrewolf, no VPN on, and tried to watch. Wouldn't work without logging in, and after that it still asked to verify my age.

Tried in Ungoogled Chromium with VPN set to Canada on guest profile (I've never used guest), and same thing. Tried with Japan VPN on a fake profile named "Jimmy", same thing. Tried my other Google account on another new fake chromium profile and Argentina VPN, but no dice. At this rate Google probs thinks I'm hacked lol.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

If you want to keep narrowing it down. You should go to the next step .... a brand new clean OS on a dedicated laptop. Install a new Linux OS, new browser, new profile, do absolutely nothing with any of it, set up a VPN, try the site again.

If that fails, then chances are the ID is being done some other way ... do you have control of your router? Are you accessing the internet through someone's connection? maybe your ISP and your general area, regardless of who is using VPN.

The other possibility is ... Are you tethering on a phone? I notice that phone devices seem to play loose with VPN and due to geolocation built into the device tagged to wifi locating services, phones leak location all the time.

[–] Sunshine@piefed.ca 13 points 1 week ago

Coming to a country near you. Sighs in Canada.

Bill S-209 sponsored by the authoritarian Julie Miville-Dechêne

[–] ozymandias@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 week ago

they did that too me too, on one of my many google accounts…
all of the other ones are fine, and i can still watch age restricted content while signed out….
but the one account, that one just neeeds to be verified.
this in california usa… its not about age verification laws, it’s about identifying dissenters

[–] SlykeThePhoxenix@programming.dev 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

My Google account is almost 18 years old.

[–] faintwhenfree@lemmus.org 1 points 1 week ago

My account turned 18 I think 4 months ago.

[–] logging_strict@programming.dev -4 points 1 week ago

your Google account is old enough to go fight Europe's wars

[–] generic_rock@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (3 children)

FYI: google might suspend and eventually delete your Google account if you don't verify your age within a set period of time.

They say it's to "prevent minors from having access to an account that isn't monitored by parents".

Seems more like unecessary corpo powertripping, to me.

(If you decide to go through with the age verification: the credit card method is probably the least invasive. Just be sure to unlink your card from the account afterwards.)

[–] Tilgare@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Seems more like unecessary corpo powertripping, to me.

Under normal circumstances I'd assume so too. But age verification laws are popping up all over the world and are bound to be VERY different in Aus vs EU vs each of the 25 US states with these new laws. Remember that the companies didn't want any of this - but now that they have to act, they also can be held accountable for failure to act (or insufficient solutions).

And on this one, unlike our horrendous failure to enforce antitrust laws in the US, I do expect to see enforcement somewhere in the chain, at least in the short to mid term. The first lawsuit will become the framework for dozens more to follow against a single company if they don't comply sufficiently.

[–] korazail@lemmy.myserv.one 2 points 1 week ago

Remember that the companies didn’t want any of this -

It'd be nice if those companies used their millions of lobbying dollars to tell lawmakers just how stupid this shit is.

They won't, though, because knowing exactly who you are and then verifying it via government documents or biometrics is way more valuable than the users lost who won't verify.

They "don't want it", but they actually do.

[–] Naho_Zako@piefed.zip 4 points 1 week ago

Holy shit, that's crazy. Thankfully I've moved most of my stuff from Google to other services (I love mailbox.org ♥️) but I might have a thing or two stuck on there...

YT Music SidenoteAnyone know a good way of downloading your entire liked music playlist on YT music? I was never good about making my own playlists, and I paused and deleted my YT music history like 2 years ago, so the likes is the only thing I have. I've recently started using Listenbtainz to track my history.

Thanks for the heads up, hopefully I can just ride this one out, but it's ass man...

[–] NaibofTabr 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Seems more like unecessary corpo powertripping, to me.

None of the tech companies want to do this. They're being forced by age verification laws.

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago

Funny how they have huge successful lobbies for everything but this eh

[–] phlegmy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

I recently used one of these for the face identification: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008414395786.html

It worked surprisingly well

[–] AntiBullyRanger@ani.social 3 points 1 week ago

1st🕒?

[–] pir8t0x@ani.social 2 points 1 week ago

Verifying through email seems like the better option compared to the other ones

[–] eemon@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago

Evil.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world -2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This is quite common actually. Not sure why you think it's weird. It could literally be the "Fuck" in the title that age restricts it. This is why Youtube creators have been bleeping out every possible curseword for years now. Third party clients wouldn't be able to bypass the age check either. You need an adult account to get access to the video stream data.

But if you're just venting, yeah, it's awful. But it's also kind of normal that an age check is an actual age check. If only the reasons for limiting by age were less restrictive. Keep in mind though that Youtube is strict because it makes it easy on a global scale.

[–] forrgott@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago

It's not about protecting anyone, all age verification is censorship. They just found an excuse they can sell to the public is all...

[–] Naho_Zako@piefed.zip 3 points 1 week ago

I know why YTs have been censoring themselves, and I know that the video having "Fuck" in the title is the reason. But in the past Google would just give a warning, or simply use the age listed on your account (which yes, could be faked as I did in the past). None of that is new to me.

The issue now, is that they're actually enforcing age checks, and you can't get around them without giving up personal info to Google. I am legally an adult, but now I have to show ID or use a credit card to prove it. That's the gross shit. I guess it's mostly a vent post, since this is the first time I've literally been unable to watch a video.