[ NNSquad ] "Private Video Sharing" Service "VidMe" Pulls the Plug After Less Than Four Months

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

                 "Private Video Sharing" Service "VidMe" 
               Pulls the Plug After Less Than Four Months

              http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000767.html


Greetings.  Late last June, in "'VidMe' Announces Private Video
Sharing -- But Fails Big Time" ( http://bit.ly/cAG6EA [Lauren's Blog] ),
I expressed concerns regarding the privacy technology claims and
business model of the "VidMe" video sharing service (announced at that
time with great fanfare in the New York Times and other venues).

After my posting, the CEO of VidMe contacted me and we had a pleasant
chat, he said that they'd be modifying their privacy claims, and that
he'd keep me up to date on developments.

So I was somewhat surprised to receive an email from VidMe just now
announcing the termination of the service, less than four months after
it went live:

    "Thank you for being an early user of VidMe's beta video sharing
     service.  Unfortunately, the consumer-facing site has not generated
     enough use to continue the service. As a result, we've made the
     difficult decision to discontinue this part of our business and focus
     on other applications of the technology. As of today, we are disabling
     the ability to upload, share, and view videos.

     If you would like to download transcoded copies of videos you have
     previously uploaded, please email us at support at vidme dot com by 5
     pm EST on Tuesday, October 12."

Good thing I didn't have any videos to download from VidMe -- the date
of the notification message was already *after* 5 pm EST today!
(What's this?  A new email just popped into my inbox from VidMe,
changing the deadline to obtain previously uploaded videos to 
October 19.  At least now you don't need a time machine to ask for 
copies of your vids!)

I'm sorry to see any genuinely innovative project fail, but VidMe's
model just didn't seem practical from the word go, and their privacy
claims (initially at least) simply didn't make sense.

Promising more than you can deliver with these technologies is always
very risky.

Something to remember ...

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance): 
   http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
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