Privacy Policy

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This policy explains what personal data is processed when you use ssyoutube, why, who else receives it, how long it is kept and what rights you have. We have kept it as short and plain as we can.

In short: you don't need an account and we never ask for your name. We use Google Analytics to count visits and see how the site is used (with cookies, except for visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, where analytics cookies are off), and we show no advertising. To find download links we process the video link you paste and your IP address, which we keep only briefly (see How long we keep data), and when we need fresh data from our video-data provider, your IP address reaches that provider too. We don't sell personal data.

Who we are

ssyoutube ("we", "us", "our") runs this website and the free tool on it that finds download links for YouTube videos (together, the "Service"). ssyoutube is an independent service and is not affiliated with YouTube or Google.

For the personal data described in this policy, ssyoutube is the controller (the "Data Fiduciary" under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023). You can reach us at contact@ssyoutube.live. Our Grievance Officer can be reached at the same address.

How the Service works

When you paste a YouTube link and press Download, your browser sends the link to our server, which runs on Cloudflare's network. Our server takes the video ID from the link and, unless a recent answer is already in our cache, asks a third-party video-data provider which formats YouTube offers for that video. We then show you a list of files. When you press a Download button, your browser opens that file directly from YouTube's video servers in a new tab.

We never download, store, convert or modify videos ourselves, and video files never pass through our servers. You don't need an account, and we don't ask for your name, email address or phone number to use the Service.

Data we process and why

The video link you submit

The YouTube link you paste is sent to our server so we can look up that video; we use only the video ID it contains. The link is also added to the address of our page, so you can reload or share the result. Like any page you visit, it stays in your own browser history until you delete it.

Our server sends only the video ID to our video-data provider, and only when the video is not already in our cache (see Who receives data).

Your IP address

Like every website, our server receives the IP address of the device or network you connect from. We use it for these purposes only:

  • Rate limiting. To prevent abuse, each network can send a limited number of requests per minute. For this count we use your IPv4 address or, for IPv6, only the network part of the address (its first half). The counters are kept by Cloudflare's rate-limiting service and, as a backup, in the working memory of the server handling your request. They are never written to a database or to disk, and each counter covers only 60 seconds. The backup copy in memory is discarded when that server process ends.
  • Daily limits. Fresh look-ups at our provider are limited, so each network can look up only a limited number of new videos per day. For this we store a counter next to a pseudonymous code: a shortened one-way hash of your network address and the date. We do not store the IP address itself, and the code changes every day. Because the number of possible addresses is limited, such a code could in principle be matched back to an address, so we treat it as personal data. This happens only when a video is not already in our cache. Counters from previous days are deleted automatically when counting starts for a new day (UTC).
  • Passed on to our provider. When our server requests fresh data from our video-data provider, Cloudflare, which runs our server, automatically adds your IP address to that request in a technical header ("CF-Connecting-IP") that our code cannot remove. RapidAPI, and possibly YT-API (see Who receives data), can therefore see your IP address together with the video ID requested. This does not happen when the answer comes from our cache.

Technical logs

Cloudflare, our hosting provider, keeps technical logs of the requests our server handles, such as video look-ups. They can contain details such as the time, the address requested (with everything after the "?" removed, so the link you paste is not logged), the response code, your browser type, the approximate location and network that Cloudflare derives from the connection, and your IP address. If you use one of our shortcut addresses that ends with a video ID (for example after "/shorts/"), that ID is part of the logged address. We use these logs only to keep the Service running and to investigate errors and abuse. The logs we can access are deleted automatically after a few days (at most 7 days). Cloudflare may also process request data for its own purposes, such as protecting its network, as described in its privacy policy.

Our server also records short status messages about our provider's answers, such as whether a look-up worked and how long it took. These messages contain no IP addresses and no video links.

Cached video information

To answer repeated requests quickly and use fewer paid look-ups, we keep each answer from our provider in a cache under the video ID. A cached answer describes the video (title, length, thumbnail address and the temporary download links) and contains nothing about you: it doesn't record who asked for it. Successful answers are kept for up to 5 hours, "video unavailable" answers for 1 hour, and live-stream or temporary-error answers for 2 minutes.

Emails you send us

If you email us, we receive your email address, your message and anything you attach. We use them only to reply and to deal with your request, for example a support question, a copyright notice or a privacy request. Emails are handled by our email service providers.

What we do not collect

  • No accounts, logins, phone numbers or payment details.
  • No local storage or similar technologies of our own to recognise you. The only cookies on our pages are those of Google Analytics (see Cookies).
  • No advertising or social-media tracking tools.
  • No fonts or styles loaded from other companies, and no scripts except Google Analytics. The other exceptions are the video thumbnail and the video files themselves, which your browser loads from Google (see below).
  • No profiling, and no automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects on you. Our automatic limits only pause look-ups for a short time.

Who receives data

We share personal data only with the providers we need to run ssyoutube, and only as described here:

  • Cloudflare, Inc. hosts our website and server, delivers our pages through its global network, protects the site against attacks, and keeps the logs and counters described above on our behalf. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.
  • YT-API, through RapidAPI. Our video-data provider is YT-API, a third-party service that we use through the RapidAPI marketplace (run by Nokia). For each fresh look-up, RapidAPI receives the video ID and, as explained above, your IP address, passes the request on to YT-API, and returns the available formats and download links. We send them nothing else about you. Their handling of data is governed by their own terms and by RapidAPI's privacy notice.
  • Google (YouTube). When you submit a link, your browser connects to Google's image server (i.ytimg.com) and, when results appear, loads the video thumbnail from it. When you press a Download button, your browser opens the file directly from YouTube's video servers (googlevideo.com). In both cases your browser connects to Google, which receives your IP address and browser details and may use cookies, as described in Google's privacy policy. We tell your browser not to send Google the address of our page with these requests.
  • Google Analytics (Google LLC). measures how our website is used on our behalf, as described in Analytics and advertising. Google receives the data listed there from your browser. See how Google uses data from sites that use its services.
  • Norton Safe Web. Only if you click the "Scanned by Norton Safe Web" link does your browser open Norton's website, which handles your visit under its own privacy policy.
  • Authorities. We may disclose information when the law requires it, for example in response to a valid order of a court or government authority, or when it is necessary to protect our rights, our users or the public.

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for advertising.

Cookies

We use Google Analytics, which sets first-party cookies named "_ga" and "_ga_" followed by our property ID. They hold a random identifier that lets Google Analytics recognise a returning browser, and they expire after up to 2 years. For visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland these analytics cookies are switched off by default (Google Consent Mode), so no analytics cookies are set there; Google then receives only cookieless signals. Apart from Google Analytics, ssyoutube sets no cookies of its own. You can delete or block cookies in your browser settings, or use Google's opt-out browser add-on. To protect the site, Cloudflare may in some cases set strictly necessary security cookies, for example "__cf_bm" or, after a security check, "cf_clearance". They are used only to tell people from bots, not for advertising; see Cloudflare's cookie information. Google may use its own cookies when your browser loads a thumbnail or a video file from Google's servers, as described above. We don't show a cookie banner at the moment: where consent is required for analytics cookies (the EEA, the UK and Switzerland), they simply stay switched off.

Analytics and advertising

We use Google Analytics 4, a service of Google LLC, to understand how many people visit ssyoutube, which pages and languages they use and how the site performs, so that we can improve it. When a page has finished loading, your browser loads Google's analytics script and sends Google information such as: the page you visit (without the video link you pasted), the page that referred you, your browser, device type, screen size and language, approximate location (country or city, which Google derives from your IP address), how you interact with the page (for example scrolling, and clicks on links that lead to other websites, including the Download buttons), and, where cookies are allowed, a random identifier stored in a cookie. Google Analytics does not log or store your IP address.

We use these statistics only in aggregate. We have not enabled Google's advertising features, and we don't combine analytics data with other information about you. For visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, analytics cookies are switched off by default. You can stop Google Analytics by blocking cookies or scripts in your browser or with Google's opt-out browser add-on. As part of its hosting service, Cloudflare also gives us traffic statistics, such as the number of requests per day and per country.

We show no advertising. If we decide to add advertising, we will update this policy before we do so and explain what is collected and what choices you have.

How long we keep data

  • Rate-limit counters: 60 seconds. The backup copy in server memory is discarded when that server process ends.
  • Daily-limit codes: until counting starts for the next day (UTC), when the previous days' counters are deleted. Deleted counters can remain in Cloudflare's automatic database backups for up to 30 days.
  • Technical logs we can access: a few days, at most 7 days.
  • Cached video information (no personal data): up to 5 hours.
  • Google Analytics data: event-level data is kept for 2 months (our Google Analytics retention setting) and then deleted; the analytics cookies in your browser expire after up to 2 years unless you delete them. Aggregated reports without identifiers may be kept longer.
  • Emails: as long as we need them to deal with your request, normally no longer than 12 months. Copyright notices and counter-notices may be kept for up to 3 years so that we can deal with repeat infringement and legal claims.
  • Your browser history: under your control; you can delete it at any time.

We may keep data longer only where the law requires it, for example when an authority lawfully asks us to preserve it.

International transfers

Cloudflare handles each request in a data centre of its global network, usually one near you, which may be outside your country. Our video-data provider and Google (including Google Analytics) may also process data in other countries, for example Singapore or the United States. Where the law requires safeguards for such transfers, we rely on those our providers offer, such as the standard contractual clauses in Cloudflare's data processing terms, or on the transfer being necessary to provide the Service you ask for.

Security

We keep the data we process to a minimum and protect it with measures suited to a small service: every connection uses HTTPS, our pages load no third-party scripts except Google Analytics and use a strict content security policy, the access key for our provider's service is kept only on our server, IP addresses used for daily limits are stored only as pseudonymous codes, and access to our hosting account is restricted. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If a personal data breach occurs, we will inform the authorities and the people affected where the law requires it and where we have a way to reach them.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:

  • ask what personal data we hold about you and get a copy of it;
  • have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected;
  • have your data deleted;
  • object to, or ask us to restrict, processing based on our legitimate interests;
  • receive data you gave us in a portable format;
  • complain to a data protection authority, for example in the country where you live or work.

To use your rights, email contact@ssyoutube.live with the subject "Privacy request". Because there are no accounts and we keep IP addresses only briefly or as daily codes, we usually hold no data that we can link to you. To help us search, tell us roughly when you used the Service and from which IP address, or refer to an earlier email. We may ask for information to confirm your identity before we act on a request. We reply within 15 days.

Users in India

If you are in India, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 gives you, as a Data Principal, the right to:

  • get a summary of the personal data we process about you, of how we process it, and of whom we have shared it with;
  • have your personal data corrected, completed, updated or erased;
  • have your grievances addressed by us (see Grievance Officer);
  • nominate another person to exercise your rights in the event of your death or incapacity.

To use these rights, email contact@ssyoutube.live. If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your grievance, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

Grievance Officer

In line with the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you can send complaints about this website, its content or our handling of your personal data to our Grievance Officer:

Grievance Officer, ssyoutube. Email: contact@ssyoutube.live, subject "Grievance".

We acknowledge every complaint within 24 hours and resolve it, or explain our decision, within 15 days of receiving it. Please include your name, how we can contact you, a description of the complaint and, where relevant, the YouTube link concerned.

California residents

If you live in California, we will honour the rights that the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, gives consumers: to know what personal information we collect, use and disclose, to have it deleted or corrected, and not to be discriminated against for using these rights. We collect these categories of personal information: identifiers (your IP address and, if you email us, your email address), internet activity (requests to our server, including the video links submitted, and the usage data collected through Google Analytics) and approximate location (the country or city that Cloudflare derives from your IP address). We collect them from your browser or your email, use them for the purposes described above, and disclose them only to the providers listed in Who receives data.

We do not sell or share personal information, as these terms are defined in that law, and we do not use sensitive personal information. To make a request, email contact@ssyoutube.live; you can also ask an authorised agent to do so for you.

Children

The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them. In India, everyone under 18 is a child under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023: if you are under 18, please use ssyoutube only with the involvement of a parent or legal guardian. We don't build profiles or show targeted advertising to anyone, including children; our analytics only measures how the site is used. If you believe a child has sent us personal data, for example by email, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when the Service or the law changes, for example before adding advertising or another analytics tool. The date at the top of this page shows when it last changed. If a change significantly affects how we use personal data, we will make it clearly visible on this website before it takes effect.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your personal data: contact@ssyoutube.live. You can also see our Contact page.