123 What If YouTube Had Failed in 2006?

An entire generation has grown up in a world where uploading hours of 4K video to the Internet is not only common, but expected. But, what if the legal and technological barriers that killed Napster and other file-sharing sites had also crushed YouTube? In 2006, despite its growing popularity, YouTube could easily have been wiped off the map by copyright battles and the skyrocketing cost of hosting humanity's video. So, what would the Internet, its culture, and the world look like today if YouTube had failed? Adi Robertson, senior reporter at The Verge, has imagined just that in her alternate history of the Web. While mostly an entertaining thought experiment, Robertson's theories are rooted in "Web 1.5's" corporate landscape, and what was technologically possible at a time when putting video onto the Internet was no easy task. Alli and Jen talk to Robertson about the inspiration for her piece, why education and politics would be different, the miracle that YouTube exists at all, and WTF a "mesh net" is. Read Robertson's full piece: https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/28/21145506/youtube-without-internet-fiction-alternate-history Support 2G1P on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/2G1PJoin us on Discord: discord.gg/2g1p Email us: 2G1Podcast@gmail.com Talk to Alli and Jen: https://twitter.com/alligold https://twitter.com/joonbugger Call the show and leave a message! (347) 871-6548 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices