How safe is YouTube?

[droht]

Maybe this is a dumb question (wouldn't be my first), but I'm wondering how safe you IT savvy guys would consider YouTube to be? I'm talking safe from the standpoint of posting family videos. My wife, god bless her, is staunchly against any "public" posting of pics or vids of our child.

If I post on YouTube with no personal info, just a video with no tags or anything, I can share the link with family and friends. I assume other people could see the video, but I'm not sure how they'd find it. And even if they did, with no info attached, what's the big deal? Only concern would be if my account info is not safe. I don't believe anything is really safe, but I'm talking safe from 99% of the public.

Whaddya think? Besides the obvious "get over your paranoia dude". :)

Thanks.

[madpoet]

I create dummy YouTube accounts all the time. Sign up for a Gmail account under a fake name, post it, etc;

[persisting1]

You don't have to worry about security problems.

The biggest threat if any would be using your kids full names and the name of their school and what city they live in. Things like that shouldn't be posted publicly, which I'm sure you're aware of.

Other than that, you're correct to assume that this video will be lost in the billions of videos posted on YouTube.

And if you are still concerned, take madpoet's advice.

[greg_mitch]

I Have posted several videos to youtube, vimeo, photobucket, etc.

They let you make it public or private on most sites. I have had several videos up for over 2 years and only 12 views...all family members. If you title it right and dont put keywords up it will just get lost amongst the billions of people trying to get famous.

[allan11]

If you're concerned about pedophiles finding it, then that is a risk you will have to take. Those people will watch it, bookmark it, etc but it will have no info. The worst would be if that person shares it with others of his kind. I'm sure it's safe but who knows who's watchinig your kids vidieos and who they are sharing it with and where it will end up. There are ways to extract video from youtube but that is another topic.

[MUCHO]

When your family goes out in public are they covered with sheets to hide their identity? No? Why not?

[allan11]

So when you are walking around and some guy wants to take a picture of your kids, wouldn't you be concerned why and what website it will end up in? No sheets over their heads but I sure don't want my kids pictures to be in the hands of kiddie porn. You can't stop it and I sure don't even think of it when out in public but just the thought of it. Anyways, OP asked how safe youtube is and I would say it's safe but be aware of where it could end up. Just like the pictures of the girls on this forum. I know those were already made public but what's stopping anyone from posting a friend that you thought was hot.

[droht]

Thanks guys, appreciate the insight. To me, the difference between YouTube and just being out in public is the unknown. I wouldn't let a newspaper publish a photo of my child with her address or full name, for example. I was trying to determine if posting on YouTube would provide similar exposure.

[sabbott1877]

I don't know if you have an account or not, but posting videos on facebook allows you to determine exactly who can and cannot see it...

[dvenardos]

I don't know if you have an account or not, but posting videos on facebook allows you to determine exactly who can and cannot see it...

That is a good idea. I wouldn't post family videos on youTube, just a little creepy to me. I want to have the illusion that it is private.

[neuronbob]

I don't know if you have an account or not, but posting videos on facebook allows you to determine exactly who can and cannot see it...

I was going to suggest this as well. I had a couple of family videos up on Facebook at one point, and it's easy to restrict viewing to specific friends or a group of friends.

[persisting1]

I was going to suggest this as well. I had a couple of family videos up on Facebook at one point, and it's easy to restrict viewing to specific friends or a group of friends.

You can do this with YouTube as well.