Youtube offers a more private version of their player that claims to not use cookies
Not exactly surprising, but Youtube lied; which is the ICO's problem as they should have spotted this with a
simple test.
Youtube No Cookie includes google.com cookie
youtube-nocookie.com is a video player that promises no cookies. However, the player includes a dependency on
a request to google.com, which will be paired with Google cookies including Google account identifiers.
Note: the dependency currently has a cache expiry of 365 days, so the chances of being affected may be slim.
Google can match this data to the user and the ICO page view if you have a Google account or likely if you've
used Google.
We embed videos from our official YouTube channel using YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode. This mode
may
set cookies on your computer once you click on the YouTube video player, but YouTube will not store
personally-identifiable cookie information for playbacks of embedded videos using the privacy-enhanced
mode.
Read more at YouTube's
embedding videos information page.
Okay, so let's visit the Youtube page, which states
(The privacy-enhanced mode only relates to tracking of viewer behaviour, not ad-serving behaviour. To
disable tracking for advertising purposes, you can add yourself to the Tag for child-directed treatment
page.)
I'm not sure I trust Youtube's commitment.
Vimeo
Vimeo cookies
Loading the page with a video present, regardless of playing it, results in a request to Vimeo.
For users who've never been to Vimeo, you might be lucky and just have a vuid cookie set; pairing you to
a
tracking id that may reveal your identity to vimeo later.
For users who've got a Vimeo account, Vimeo get cookies that identify exactly who you are and the ICO
page
you are visiting.
Pressing play on the videos above will set third-party cookies necessary for the video to play and
collecting analytics such as the length of time the video was played. The third party cookies do not
track users. Please read our cookie policy for more information
We embed videos from our official Vimeo channel. When you press play Vimeo will drop third party
cookies
to enable the the video to play and to collect analytics data such as how long a viewer has watched
the
video. These cookies do not track individuals.