YouTube's Policy on Hacking Tutorials is Problematic - MalwareTech

Recently YouTube changed its policy on “hacking” tutorials to an essential blanket ban. In the past, such content was occasionally removed under YouTube’s broad “Harmful and Dangerous Content” clause, which prohibited videos “encouraging illegal activity”. An updated policy now specifically targets instructional hacking videos.

One major problem here is that hacking tutorials are not inherently bad. There exist a vast YouTube community aimed at teaching the next generation of cyber security experts.

If you were to ask someone to identify a person breaking into a house, in most cases they’d be able to. Everyone knows it’s possible to climb through an open window, but how many could identify a hacker breaking into a website? Probably very few. Without knowing what it is hackers do, or how they do it, how can someone possibly be expected to prevent or stop them? The answer is simple: they can’t.

It’s not like this policy is just a precaution either. Kody Kinzie, a well known YouTuber and Blogger, who makes educational security content has already had his account suspended as a result.

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