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SponsorBlock – Skip over sponsorship segments on YouTube

(sponsor.ajay.app)
192 points bgstry | 3 comments | 21 Apr 21 07:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.64s | source
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daveoc64 ◴[22 Apr 21 00:23 UTC] No.26897141[source]▶
I really don't like how most sponsored segments are just downright misleading about what VPNs do. Making them funny doesn't change the fact that the ads are deceptive.

There's always some fearmongering about people stealing your data on public networks, but no actual substance about feasible attacks that could happen in reality.

In the UK, similar ads have been banned by the advertising regulator for being misleading, and it's about time that spurious claims in YouTube videos got more scrutiny.

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katbyte ◴[22 Apr 21 00:57 UTC] No.26897378[source]▶
I feel like if someone is hawking wares on their channel they should at least use it/have faith in it/do their research. Tom Scott has a great video about VPN sponsorship and how he turned down a sponsorship from a VPN company because of the copy they wanted him to say and debunks the ads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVDQEoe6ZWY

Mad respect for him, and if he ever suggest a paid product in the future i'd trust him. Conversely i really dislike when they clearly don't use the product, or are shilling a product that i KNOW is bad - looking at you raycons. I can't help but lose respect and definitely distrust every sponsorship they have.

tl;dr integrity matters, raycons are really not that great, and i'm tired of hearing the same copy over and over: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb58b7ob2yQ

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Arnavion ◴[22 Apr 21 01:51 UTC] No.26897808[source]▶
Tom missed the biggest factor in VPN companies' exaggerations - that they call themselves "VPNs" because of the positive connotations of "Private", even though they're just proxies and have nothing to do with VPNs.
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1. userbinator ◴[22 Apr 21 02:05 UTC] No.26897914[source]▶
...and even the ones that use actual VPN software don't actually have anything for the "N" part of "VPN", so they are still just proxies.

But I guess it makes it easier to refer to than "proxy for all protocols."

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2. hunter2_ ◴[22 Apr 21 03:01 UTC] No.26898250[source]▶
I've only used my work VPN, so I just assumed commercial VPNs had similar mechanics. They don't lease IP addresses?
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3. Arnavion ◴[22 Apr 21 08:00 UTC] No.26900071[source]▶
There's a tunnel from your computer to the VPN entrypoint, but the point of a VPN is to become part of another Network of computers that is Private and could thus not be reached otherwise. There's no private network of computers for these "VPN" services. They're just a proxy to the internet.