YouTube restricts some videos unless you are not signed in and verify you are over 18. I don’t have a YouTube account and don’t want to get one but I do want to watch the video. Also I was in the Middle-East and I couldn’t watch a few music video’s on YouTube as it was censored. So I had to find a way around it. Here is a quick tip which will enable you to play restricted videos where ever censorship is prevalent. I am taking YouTube for this example but you can do the same for other video sharing sites like Google video, Soapbox etc. This info is for educational purposes only and I am not advocating you break any local rules. Please use your common sense for I am not to be blamed for any of your actions that may get you into legal troubles.

• Go to www.youtube.com (or any other video sharing site)
• Search for a video that you want to play

I searched for ‘Call on me’ a song by Eric Prydz on YouTube and I got a few results. I think the top result is fine and I click on it. But I get a message that this song cannot be played as it is restricted due to local rules or company restrictions.

• Right click the link on the song listed in the search and copy the link location. It will be ‘Copy shortcut’ on Internet explorer. I got: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUsJYKdYGmw .
• Modify this link by removing the watch?v= attribute and replacing it with /v/.
• I got: http://www.youtube.com/v/dUsJYKdYGmw . Use this link for later use.
• Then search for a song that you think will be allowed to play and open it. You will be given an embed code. Copy this code.

I got something like…

• Replace the Http:// codes in the code above with the link you saved earlier and use the modified code in a Video gadget or embed it in your blog entry to view your restricted video on your space.

• You can also save a notepad file as a .htm file and save it as all files(see picture below) When you open the html/internet/firefox file and you will see your video and can play it.

For future use the code below and replace the part in bold with a modified youtube video link.

<EMBED src=http://www.youtube.com/v/modifiedYoutubeLINK width=425 height=350 type=application/x-shockwave-flash wmode=”opaque”></EMBED>

You can now watch restricted videos without signing in or in China, Middle-east, and in the future probably in the USA with the way things are going

Done!