I've been busy these days (Redhat, thanks for changing the rules of the game on CentOS. I'll remember your shitty name forever), but some news leaked me. Let's talk about P *** HUB.

On P *** HUB had fallen the usual accusation common to EVERY major Internet player, namely "you host the material of Satan / Putin / Pedobear / Avostrascelta". The controversy smacked of "the usual endless controversy over the liability of content providers", one of those things made to talk during the Christmas holidays. Obviously, good finance (the same that accepts cobalt mines where children dressed in rags work) rebelled and took away the right to use credit cards. All against the evil p *** o.

Instead P *** HUB threw it in the ass at all.

Which, to say it all, we could also expect it. What else will P *** HUB do if you tease him? He throws it in your ass. “I throw it in the cul *” is almost P *** HUB's core business, after all.

So, P *** HUB threw it in the ass at everyone: instead of whining that it's too difficult, rather than whining that ISPs can't be held accountable, he simply concluded that:

1. it's not too difficult, it's a join query on a user database and that of available videos.
2. the responsibility was already falling on him, like it or not.

So they simply disabled all videos made by unverified users. But since the p *** o verifies on contracts or using credit cards, the result is that now he could complain that the escaping credit cards prevent him from checking the age of the users with the usual fake transaction. So the credit cards are now "forced" to return.

In short, from now on you can only upload if P *** HUB knows exactly who you are, or if you are a partner company (like Bra ** ers).

Good.

But that means throwing it in the ass to everyone else. Which is a very popular sport on P *** HUB sites, so that was to be expected.

Because'?

1. P *** HUB ACCEPTED responsibility for its content, putting an end to the eternal debate "but are sites responsible for user content?".
2. P *** HUB showed the FEASIBILITY of the content source control project, putting an end to the excuse "but it is difficult, we are working hard, we have chosen a committee of controllers, etc etc".

and in doing so, GAFAM have no more excuses. When I say that P *** HUB threw it in the ass to everyone I mean just that: that it threw a BIG thing in the ass. Hard and painful. Which, honestly, was to be expected. Who else can have the mentality of throwing you in the ass something big and painful, if not P *** HUB?

What P *** HUB did is the final inexorable global thermonuclear bomb. In one fell swoop they tore away years of excuses like "but we can't be responsible for the users", and also the excuses "but it's too difficult to control EVERYTHING". They reset the political debate: laws that previously seemed unthinkable now appear possible.

“Do like P *** HUB”, they will tell Facebook & co. “If P *** HUB does it you can do it too”, they will tell GAFAM.

What's the problem'? The problem is that if Facebook does this (allow only verified users to write) its users drop from two billion to 500 million. If Youtube does, 70% of the content disappears. If Linkedin (Microsoft) does it, 10% of people remain.

The only company that is almost untouched would be Apple, because Amazon also owns Twitch so it is involved in the social world.

This is pretty much the mess that P *** HUB made. Obviously now everyone is careful not to attack other big p *** o sites , since they could react the same way , and if EVERYONE shows that they take responsibility for the content in the p *** o, it will be difficult for others non-p *** actors or keep arguing that they can't.

Ultimately, then, P *** HUB threw it in the ass at all. Especially while the EU is debating two laws assigning responsibility to websites for their content, the move was devastating.

Don't fuck with p ** n. They know it better.