The way they describe it as an issue with free accounts seems vague and misleading. Why would _any_ account have this broad of access? Why would free ones be uniquely insecure vs official ones?
This suggests a bad actor at any institution could do the same thing done here. No?
I desperately want someone to interview someone at YouTube and directly ask about this bullshit and get them to say it’s all in the name of increasing watch time at all costs.
They see those hovers as attention. And they likely calculate how long you linger. The lingering tells them a lot when you are infinite scrolling on other platforms.
They would love to have full on eye tracking. So the next best thing is a cursor. (Even though I’d agreed with anyone who says it’s a poor signal.)
This suggests a bad actor at any institution could do the same thing done here. No?