Local watchlist
When you save a video, its YouTube ID is stored in your browser using local storage under the key hackertube-saved. The site does not upload that stored list to an application server, Google Analytics or Microsoft Clarity. If you allow Clarity, it may record interactions with visible public video controls, but it does not receive the local-storage list itself. You can remove entries with the same button or clear this site’s browser data.
Search activity
A compact directory index is downloaded for browsing. When you begin a search, the browser also loads a public text index containing summaries and topic context; matching still runs locally. The current code does not send search phrases to Google Analytics or write newly entered phrases into the page URL. If you allow analytics, a search event contains only a query-length range, a result-count range and controlled filter values.
Optional analytics and session replay
Google Analytics 4
With your permission, this site loads Google Analytics 4 using measurement ID G-DCDYH5E0XR. It helps us understand which pages, filters, collections and public video IDs are useful. After consent, the YouTube player API also lets us record playback starts, position milestones, end states and controlled player errors. Position milestones do not measure continuous time watched. Page locations and referrers are sent without query strings or fragments. Custom events do not include search text, video titles, email addresses, Hacker News quotes or the contents of your Watch later list.
Analytics is implemented with Basic Consent Mode. Before you allow analytics, the Google tag is not loaded and no analytics request is sent. If you allow it, Google Analytics may use first-party analytics identifiers and receive technical information such as browser, device and approximate location. Advertising storage, advertising user data, Google Signals and advertising personalization remain disabled.
Learn more in Google’s Privacy Policy.
Microsoft Clarity
With the same permission, this site loads Microsoft Clarity using project ID z79q6ghwk5. Clarity provides heatmaps and masked session replays that help identify confusing navigation, broken interactions and layout problems. It may receive page content and layout changes, clicks, pointer movement, scrolling, performance signals, browser and device details, approximate location and technical request data. The search field is explicitly masked, and the site does not identify visitors or send search text through Clarity’s custom event API.
Clarity receives analytics consent as granted and advertising consent as denied. The Clarity tag is not loaded before you allow analytics. If you later disable analytics, the site sends denied consent, asks Clarity to clear its cookies and reloads the page without the Clarity tag so collection does not continue. Learn more in Microsoft’s Privacy Statement.
Your single choice is stored locally under hackertube-analytics-consent and controls both services. Disabling analytics affects future collection and attempts to remove this site’s Google Analytics and Clarity cookies from the current browser.
YouTube resources
Video cards load thumbnail images from YouTube’s image servers. Opening a watch page loads YouTube’s privacy-enhanced embedded player from youtube-nocookie.com. YouTube may receive technical request data and apply its own policies. A direct link to YouTube is also provided.
Hosting logs and external links
The hosting provider may retain ordinary security and request logs needed to operate the service. Links to HackerTube, Hacker News, YouTube, Karpathy’s blog, Google and the data source take you to services with their own privacy practices.
Questions
For a privacy question about this independent site, use the contact page.