Summary
- Channels are subject to removal in response to legal notices, abuse reports, violation of third-party websites' terms of service while embedding those websites on CyTube, or generating undue nuisance to CyTube's administrators.
- CyTube's administrators host CyTube in their spare time and at their own expense. CyTube's administrators do not have the time, energy, or resources to fight legal or terms-of-service battles in defense of specific channels.
- Users who disagree with CyTube's administrative decisions are encouraged to migrate their channel to a self-hosted instance of the software.
CyTube's purpose
"CyTube" consists of a free software product, hosted on GitHub, and a public instance of that software, hosted at https://cytu.be.
The hosted instance at https://cytu.be is provided as a free service to the general public, funded by CyTube's administrators and managed in their spare time. While we receive donations from some appreciative users, we don't earn any profit from the operation of the website.
My goal is to keep https://cytu.be available for the majority of users and channels and to continue to provide support for a variety of third-party website content in compliance with those websites' terms of use. I provide this at no charge within reasonable limits on the expense and time/effort required to support it. I do not operate CyTube in support of any political or moral purpose.
The software used on https://cytu.be is available for free under a permissive license at https://github.com/calzoneman/sync.
How I handle channel takedowns
First, I perform cursory verification that the takedown is legitimate, for example, by:
- Checking that the sender matches the expected entity for this type of takedown and has submitted it in good faith.
- Checking that the channel is indeed engaging in the activity being reported.
I do not perform deep analysis of whether the content is technically legal, technically allowed by the hosting provider's AUP, whether I personally agree with the reason for removal, etc. CyTube is something I work on in my spare time; I have other full time work and life obligations that take priority and I simply do not have the time, energy, or resources to fight over technicalities in defense of individual channels.
Next, it is my priority to take the channel offline, to bring CyTube in compliance as quickly as possible (this may result in little-to-no notice for the channel). This is typically achieved by deactivating the channel (which leaves all channel settings intact, but prevents users from joining it).
Except in cases of egregious abuse, channel admins are welcome to contact me privately to arrange next steps. Depending on the type of takedown, and whether the channel has previously been taken down, this may result in:
- Reinstating the channel with immediate removal of the content identified in the takedown and a plan to avoid showing similar content in the future.
- Reinstating the channel with restricted access to allow channel admins to export relevant channel settings to use on another website.
If you would like more control over how abuse reports and takedown notices are handled, you are encouraged to host your own copy of the software on servers you control.
Why do you remove channels?
Generally, I don't remove channels simply because I or someone else find them objectionable. However, I do remove channels for a variety of reasons:
- I believe the content presented in the channel is illegal under US law, or violates the AUP/TOS of my hosting provider.
- I receive a takedown notice from a copyright holder or authorized agent, such as described in 17 U.S.C. § 512.
- I receive a forwarded abuse report from my hosting provider.
- Channel violates CyTube's terms of use.
- Channel violates third-party websites' terms of use in the context of embedding that third-party website on CyTube (thus jeopardizing CyTube's ability to continue offering that third-party website content for other users).
- Channel attracts excessive traffic or attacks (such as DDoS attacks) or otherwise generates undue nuisance to CyTube and its administrators.
This list is non-exhaustive; I reserve the right to remove any channel for any reason necessary. Note that removal of a channel in response to an abuse report does not necessarily mean CyTube's administrators agree with the submitter of the report; we are only responding as a neutral third party.
How can I make sure my channel won't get taken down?
I cannot offer legal advice, however, here are some rules of thumb you may find helpful:
- Avoid showing content that has to be hosted on a shady third-party platform because the officially supported content providers would flag and remove your content.
- Avoid showing content that is similar to content reported in previous takedowns (or is owned by the same company).
- Familiarize yourself with the terms of service of third-party content providers before choosing to embed their content in your channel.
- Avoid showing content that is likely to portray CyTube in a bad light and attract negative attention.
Can I just make my channel private?
The "List channel publicly" setting only controls whether the channel will be listed on CyTube's public channel list. Channels which disable this option are still discoverable through other means, for example:
- Direct links to the channel from other websites (which may be indexed by search engines).
- Direct reports from users present in the channel.
- Search engine references to the channel from when it was previously listed publicly on CyTube's public channels page.
- CyTube's administration tools, which show website administrators the full list of channels (even those that are not publicly listed).
Channels are encouraged to comply with the rules and not try to hide behind unlisted URLs.
Why not move to a hosting provider that ignores DMCA/abuse reports?
- It is not my goal to host a shady "anything goes" website that blatantly ignores US laws. As previously noted, this is just a website I host in my spare time, I have no vested interest in being an anarchist vigilante.
- CyTube's current hosting providers have provided a generally high quality, stable, reasonably priced service for many years. I would like to continue doing business with them, and I believe moving to providers that ignore US laws will likely result in a worse experience for the majority of CyTube's users.
What if I disagree with your administration policies?
Compliance with CyTube's policies, US law, the terms of service of third-party content providers, and CyTube administrators' instructions is required to use https://cytu.be.
If you disagree, please understand our position, present your point respectfully, and be prepared to accept "No" as an answer and part ways if necessary. Childish retaliation, including verbal abuse, harassment, threats, and concern trolling of other channels, will not be tolerated.
The software at https://github.com/calzoneman/sync is offered under a permissive license which does not bind you to the same policies. If you would like more control over how the site is administered, you are welcome to host a copy of the software on your own server and take responsibility for it yourself.