YouTube Regrets - from Corbett Report

Mozilla has launched a new campaign against YouTube called "YouTube Regrets". Investigative journalist James Corbett reports that their motives may be a bit questionable and points out some moral issues with Mozilla's desire to control and dictate what you can and can't see on the Internet. It seems a bit odd than an organization that claims to be for a free and open Internet would be in favor of something like that.

Original story by James Corbett. Originally published 2020-09-30.
This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noderivatives License (CC BY-ND) license.

Are you concerned that watching YouTube-recommended CNN propaganda has turned you into a raging imperial warmonger? Or that that MSNBC video in the sidebar harmed you with its medical misinformation? Well, the Mozilla Foundation wants to hear all about your #YouTubeRegrets.

"YouTube Regrets" Show Notes
foundation.mozilla.org: /campaigns/youtube-regrets/ foundation.mozilla.org: /blog/28-reasons-why-youtube-must-change/ YouTube Regrets Introduction About YouTube Regrets How to save the library – Questions For Corbett #069 Episode 342 – Pricking the Filter Bubble History of Mozilla	Pledge for a Healthy Internet Firefox browser maker Mozilla is taking on fake news (Don’t) Download RegretsReporter today CNN: #Gaddafi arming troops with Viagra, again! JUST GET THE DAMN FLU VACCINE!!! Is There A Flu Shot / COVID Link? – Questions For Corbett #068 7-year-old girl’s heartbreaking cry for help

You can learn more about James Corbett and his vast body of works at corbettreport.com.

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Intgr

15 months ago

Score 1

tl;dr: How is Mozilla's request for more transparency about the algorithm an attempt to "control and dictate"?

> James Corbett reports that their motives may be a bit questionable and points out some moral issues with Mozilla's desire to control and dictate what you can and can't see on the Internet.

This LinuxReviews piece makes it sound like Mozilla has some nefarious purpose behind this campaign.

I watched the whole video but did not hear anything about "Mozilla's desire to control and dictate" nor any "moral issues" of this campaign. Please point out to me where these statements are made.

Corbett's main criticism seems to be that Mozilla's campaign is vague, it's hard to tell what they are advocating for or against. I think that's true and deliberate. I think Mozilla's point is to simply draw more attention to the fact that YouTube's recommendation algorithm exists and can sometimes lead people in unwanted directions. And to study this, they are requesting more data and transparency about the algorithm so researchers can study the effects and results. I don't think this is controversial?

And in fact, Corbett generally seems to agree with Mozilla's point. Corbett himself pointed out that indeed the effect of the YouTube recommendation algorithm is often invisible or underestimated.

> It seems a bit odd than an organization that claims to be for a free and open Internet would be in favor of something like that.

Why is it suddenly bad for an organization developing open source software, to point out the hidden but significant effects of YouTube's proprietary algorithm? Why is it bad to require more transparency about what the algorithm suggests to people? Why is it wrong for them to criticize megacorps like Google?

It seems some LinuxReviews editors simply have a personal vendetta against Mozilla and will spin anything said about Mozilla in a negative way, relying on the fact that most readers probably won't bother watching a 30 minute video. Which was a good video by the way, thanks for the (non-algorithmic) recommendation. :D

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Chaekyung

15 months ago

Score 1

It's probably true that I've had a great disgust for Mozilla ever since Firefox got the "Normandy" backdoor "functionality". I am not aware of any other web browser with a built-in feature that lets the corporation behind it remotely secretly install extensions that do who knows what and change user settings with no user action, consent or knowledge. I guess that grave disgust spills into other areas where it shouldn't.

James Corbett publishes all his videos (and articles) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License which means that we can re-upload and share his somewhat rare tech-related videos. The "NonCommercial" bit means I had to hard-code a strpos($_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"], 'Corbett_Report') check to prevent ads from appearing on the page, but that's fine. Only one in five visitors see any ads anyway, most have Ublock Origin or a browser that sends a Do Not Track header.

btw, you can just outright edit articles and leading text if you disagree. That's fine.

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Gigith

15 months ago

Score 1

The problem is that if I click on a left-learning news video, I wind up being suggested a bunch of corporate shill news videos from mainstream dying TV channels; I'll never click those, so that rabbit hole gets buried immediately.

But if I click on like a Ben Shapiro video because I'm curious what dumb stuff he has to say, I get suggested other videos that are also kind of interesting, like Joe Rogan or Jimmy Dore or whatever.

I don't think YouTube is even all that far right, I just think YouTube's decision to promote TV channel news content THAT NOBODY LIKES is ruining their own algorithm and giving an advantage to right leaning rabbit holes.

That's what they get for being such sell-outs.

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Charliebrownau

15 months ago

Score -1

Anyone ever clearly laid out the difference between

Left Wing Global Socialists Left Wing Global Commies Left Wing Global ANTIFA/BLM

Left Wing Ethnic Nationalist KKK Left Wing Ethnic Nationalist Nazi Left Wing Ethnic Nationalist Socialists Left Wing Ethnic Nationalist Kikes/Zionists/Cuckservitives

Actual Right Wing Far "right" Alt "right"

Along with - Ethnic nationalism - Civic Nationalism

- Multi culturalism

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Gigith

15 months ago

Score 0

The elites, both right & left, propagate an unending war over ridiculous social-issues to stop the population from uniting and talking about policies that would improve the lives of everyday Americans at the expense of rich conservatives & democrats & progressives.

Class conflict is the real issue, but because the rich elite class, both right & left, don't want to talk about it, only certain, more palatable aspects of class conflict get through their media filter and are talked about openly; race & gender.

The surge of right-wing populism, in Europe & America, is also bringing with it SOME unfortunate racist elements, sure, but a lot of what it wants matches up with what BLM wants, if you really think about it.

BLM is obsessed with realigning the wealth of different races & genders in America (among other... things...), but if that were to be achieved, what would they want next?

The modern right's focus on bringing more opportunities to lower and middle class peoples by no longer exporting jobs & exploiting third-world countries, at the detriment of working-class peoples, both black & white... How is that in opposition to helping minorities, exactly? It's not.

It's unfortunate Trump is the one to go against the Republican establishment and champion these ideas; because he's not actually very intelligent. By falling for the whole right vs left illusion he's never going to really bring about any change.

In the US, Indians have a median household income almost double that of whites... Jews are literally neck-and-neck with South-Koreans, all richer than whites on average; This is a stupid copy-paste medieval European conspiracy that never made sense in America.

In Europe, Jews were THE group that didn't fit into their homogeneous mono-cultures; in America, Jews are just ANOTHER culture we've welcomed in. They've been here longer, sure, so some family groups have built up more wealth than modern immigrants from intelligent countries, but who even cares?

I suppose Jews are a workable analogy for elites, but when you actually go on about Jews, you're kind of missing the forest for the trees, here. After all, it was Christian fundamentalists in Great Britain & America that created modern Zionism. To insist it's always the Zionits that are using the Christian fundamentalists, and it's never the other way around, is kind of ridiculous.

But that's just what I think.

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Charliebrownau

15 months ago

Score -1

For a different point of view consider using

- Youtube >> Bitchute - Twatter >> Gab - Fakebook >> Minds

- Google email >> Protonmail - Google Search >> Searx or Swisscow

- Google Maps >> Openstreetmap

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Charliebrownau

15 months ago