Viddme: anonymous video sharing platform

[pumpingiron22]

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Viddme: anonymous video sharing platform
by Martin Brinkmann on January 17, 2014 in Music and Video - Last Update: January 17, 2014 6
http://www.ghacks.net/2014/01/17/viddme-anonymous-video-sharing-platform/


YouTube is the uncrowned king of video sites on the Internet. While that is the case, criticism has become louder, most recently in regards to the integration of Google's social networking service Google Plus as the sole commenting option on the platform.

One of the main points of criticism is that one cannot remain anonymous when uploading videos to YouTube. That's one of the reasons why Viddme has been created.

The service strives to introduce anonymous video sharing to the Internet, to become what Imgur is for images or 4Chan for discussions.

The homepage of the service resembles that of Imgur. Not visually, but functionality-wise. You get a selection of popular videos on it, options to upload or record videos, or paste video or gif links, or check out the services Android or Iphone apps.

As far as supported upload formats go: Viddme supports popular formats like avi or mp4, but lacks support for others such as flv.

I could not find any information on upload limits on the site itself. All of the videos linked on the service's frontpage have a playing time of less than 10 minutes.

Strong arguments speak for Viddme on the other hand. First, it does not have the same rigorous restrictions that YouTube has. You can upload any type of content, including adult, as long as it is legal (this includes copyright of course).

In addition to that, since it is anonymous, it does not require you to create an account. You can start to upload a video right away on the site without account creation.

What this means as well is that videos do not get linked to a specific account. On YouTube, if you want a video not associated with your Google account, you need to create a new Google account to do so.

There is also no advertisement yet on the site, but that is to be expected. Not only because of the lax content restrictions, but also because of it being a new service. It is likely that some form of monetization will come to the service eventually.

The video player uses HTML5 by default, and while I could not play any video in Google Chrome at the time of testing, I had no such issues using Firefox. [Update: seems to be a problem with the most recent Chrome Dev build, not Chrome in particular]

The apps apparently let you use the same functionality. Upload an existing video or one that you record to the service, all without account creation or other annoyances.

You get a short url in the end that you can share with others. In addition to that, you can also copy code to embed the videos directly on websites.

Verdict
Viddme has received some traction lately, but it is too early to say if the service will stick around, or if it will be closed down eventually.

This depends on a lot of factors, including the company's monetization strategy, if it becomes the favorite video hosting service for a popular site such as Reddit or 4Chan, and if the service can keep up with accelerated growth if it is happening.

For now, I'd create backups of videos that I upload to it, just in case.


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[pumpingiron22]

Has any one used this yet. Im looking into it at the moment.

 

[vivame]

Haven't used it, nor even heard of it until your post. I took some time to look through their API, and it seems very well designed however anonymity is not their focus (perhaps at all.) To me, it looks like their main goal is just to simplify video sharing. I'd be surprised if they stick around more than a year or two; but they do have a good portfolio of apps so who knows.

So my conclusion would be that you can share video's simply and if you do it though an anonymity network the uploader is relatively secure. However you cannot delete a video if you do it this way, and there is no reason to think that they don't log IP's and possibly more for both the uploader and viewer. Also they are US based.

 

[vivame]

Here's their privacy policy. TL;DR but it seems they do collect IP, GPS, device info, user agents and header info.

Privacy Policy
Last updated: December 3, 2013

Welcome to Vidme! We respect your privacy rights and we created this policy to help you understand what information we collect and how we use it when you use our websites, mobile applications, and other services (collectively, the “Services”).

What information do we collect?

In operating our Services, we may ask you to provide personally identifiable information such as your name, phone number, e-mail address, contact information of your contacts, and other contact information.

We also get technical information when you use our products. Such information is collected via:

1.) Automatic Collection. Our servers automatically recognize visitors' IP addresses (the number assigned to computers on the Internet), Internet service provider, browser type, computer platform, referring web site, date and time of access, links clicked through, and possibly other information as well. No personal information about you is revealed in this process. The Site may also gather anonymous "traffic data" that does not personally identify you, but that may be helpful for marketing purposes or for improving the services we offer.

2.) Cookies. From time to time, we may use the standard "cookies" feature of major browser applications that allows us to store a small piece of data on your computer about your visit to our Site. If you create an account on our Site, we may store your email address and a unique account tracking identification code in a cookie on your computer so that the Site remembers you. Cookies also help us learn which areas of our Site are useful and which areas need improvement. Our advertisers may also use cookies on our Site. We have no access to or control over these cookies once Site advertisers have been given permission to set cookies. This Policy only covers use of cookies by the Company itself, and does not cover use of cookies by any Site advertiser. You can choose whether to accept cookies by changing the settings on your browser. However, if you choose to disable this function, your experience at our Site may be diminished and some features may not work as they were intended. We may also adopt newer technologies serving some of the same functions as cookies (including by way of example only, and not of limitation, HTML 5 local storage) from time to time.

3.) Global Positioning System (GPS) Functionality. When you access our Site using a GPS-enabled (or equivalent "location-aware") device, we may collect this information from your device, and use it to provide certain location-based services, and you hereby consent to our collection and use of all such information. By way of example only, and not of limitation, we may use this information to display your distance from or your current location to other Members with whom you are "friends" or with whom you share a group (or equivalent). You may disable this functionality by altering your device settings so that location information is no longer made available, but if you do so this could negatively affect your experience while using or otherwise accessing the Site.

How do we use the information we collect?

1.) Personal Information. We will not share your personal information with any third parties without your consent, except as necessary or appropriate to provide you with our services or to comply with the law. We may use your personal information to verify your identity. We may also use your contact information to inform you of any changes to our Services, to send you additional information about the Company and/or the Site, and to offer you other products, programs or services that we believe may be of interest to you from time to time.

2.) Anonymous Information. We use anonymous information to analyze our Site traffic, but we do not examine this information for individually identifying information. In addition, we may use anonymous IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, to administer our Site, or to display the content according to your preferences. Traffic and Site activity information may also be shared with advertisers and other third parties on an aggregate and anonymous basis.

3.) Use of Cookies. We may use cookies (and other technologies having similar functions, such as HTML 5 local storage) to deliver content specific to your interests, to remember you when you return to the Site, or for other purposes. Promotions or advertisements displayed on our Site may also contain cookies (or technologies with similar function). We do not have access to or control over information collected by outside advertisers on our Site.

4.) Disclosure of Personal Information. We may disclose personal information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (i) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on the Company or its affiliates, (ii) protect and defend the rights or property of the Company or of Site users, or (iii) act under exigent circumstances to protect the safety of Site users or the public at large.

5.) Sale of Assets. In order to accommodate changes in our business, we may sell or buy portions of our company or other companies or assets, including the information collected through the Site. If the Company or substantially all of its assets are acquired, customer information will be one of the assets transferred to the acquirer.

Device and contact information

Certain features of the Services require access to your device's native phonebook and image storage applications (e.g., to find friends or to store a message in your photo gallery). If you choose to find friends, the phone numbers in your device's native phonebook will be transmitted to our servers. Although you may decide whether or not to use these features, on Android devices you grant Vidme permission to access these features as part of the installation process. If you later decide to revoke this permission, you can do so by following the standard uninstall process and removing the Vidme mobile application from your device. Alternatively, on iOS devices, you can grant or revoke your consent at any time and prevent us from continuing to access your phonebook and image storage applications by changing the settings on your device.

Children

Our Services are intended for adults, and we do not direct any of our content or services at minors under 13 years of age. We understand and are committed to respecting the sensitive nature of children's privacy online. If we learn or have reason to suspect that a Site user is under 13 years of age, we will promptly take any action we may deem appropriate, including without limitation conducting further inquiry/investigation and/or deleting that user's account.

Security

We have security measures in place to prevent the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information that we obtain from you, but we can make no assurances regarding our ability to prevent any such loss, misuse or alteration.

Push notifications and alerts

We may send push notifications or alerts to your device. You can deactivate these messages at any time by changing your settings within our mobile application (Android) or by changing the notification settings on your device (iOS).

Contacting us

If you have any questions about this Policy, or, our practices related to our Services, please submit your questions to hello@bitkitchen.co

Updates and changes

We reserve the right, at any time, to add to, change, update, or modify this Policy, simply by posting such change, update, or modification on the Site and without any other notice to you. Any such change, update, or modification will be effective immediately upon posting on the Site. It is your responsibility to review this Policy from time to time to ensure that you continue to agree with all of its terms.

 

[pumpingiron22]

I read and saw this. I was more lured to via the option of being able to post with out sign up. They also give you a delete key. If you want to take it off. So our you saying if you have a vpn it will not let you know? I've seen guys post video's here at meso. I would to but dont like the sign up ordeal. I would like to post video's but anonymously.

 

[vivame]

I didn't notice the delete key, but I think I read that you must have an account to be able to delete; I may be wrong. You can definitely post anonymously and it seems like a better choice than the other media sites. Viewers IP and referrer could definitely be logged, probably not a big concern though. The only thing I'd be somewhat concerned about is (and I don't believe this applies to vid.me because they use a JavaScript player,) would be if the video player is flash or Java VM based as this can connect to the site without using your proxy/VPN; hence the warning on TorProject to not stream video.

I'd give it a shot, it is definitely safer than youtube/vimeo. One thing to note, XenForo (the forum software MESO uses,) cannot embed the video from vid.me as of yet. I tried with the video below.

https://vid.me/nyt

 

[pumpingiron22]

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