An Engineer

Lately there has been some controversy over the YouTube terms of service, which states that by posting your video to YouTube you grant them

a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube’s (and its successor’s) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the YouTube Website (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels.

Folks are apparently surprised that when you post your video to YouTube, you give them the right to distribute it, sell ads against it, and generally make money from it. But this is YouTube’s business model. They aggregate an audience around consumer generated video and make money by selling access to that audience in one way or another.

YouTube is no different than America’s Funniest Home Videos. If you submit material, it is theirs to use. In fact, YouTube is significantly more generous than most audience participation TV shows. They allow you to take your video down and will stop using it once you do so.

It is worth noting that Phanfare is fundamentally different than YouTube. With Phanfare, you are paying to publish and archive your video. Not only do you retain the rights to your content, but we claim no right to distribute, remarket, or otherwise make money on your content.

Phanfare’ s positioning and business model fits better with the needs of the mainstream who are not seeking anonymous attention but instead seek to maintain a semi-private collection of photos and videos.

Phanfare is not better or worse than YouTube. YouTube is amazing at what it does. If you are looking to get a wide audience for your content and get noticed by the larger world, then YouTube offers fantastic distribution. But if you desire to share your videos with family and friends and not grant a worldwide license to the company that enables that, then Phanfare is the place for you.