ON INVIDIOUS
6/15/2023 - Levi Neuwirth - for immediate publication
Open source projects exist for many different reasons. They provide passion projects for students like myself. They respect the freedom and privacy of the users, and help to circumvent invasions of privacy by data-brokers (also known as tech corporations). Today, Google has once again demonstrated their incompetency by sending a baseless cease-and-desist letter to a program that doesn't make use of any Google API.
Invidious is an open-source frontend for YouTube that blocks Google from tracking the habits of its users. Link
Invidious is unique in that it does not use YouTube's API, but rather acts as a crawler of sorts, sending the relevant information to the user. It's more like a web browser than an implementation of the API, like Musi for instance. This important distinction means that Google has absolutely no case against Invidious, and has either forgotten what an API is (likely, since their only priority is invasion of privacy, not actually understanding computer science) or that they would like to abuse their position to force a privacy-respecting, greatly beneficial open source project offline. More about how tech companies abuse their users and their power.
I commend the team at Invidious for standing up to Google's foolish and baseless antics and announcing that development will continue as long as possible. To anyone affiliated with Google reading this - you are making very poor choices. Open source apps are outpacing your AI models and your search engine while respecting the rights of the users. Your company is going in the wrong direction, and fast.
Please consider supporting free software and privacy-respecting alternatives like Invidious, and boycotting services like Google that abuse their power and invade the privacy of millions.