Nothing requires YouTube to host anything. It's a platform, not a repository. They're not deleting history; that stuff still exists, it's just not on YouTube anymore.
though it is removing it from a widely accessible platform, and many people would not know where to go to find the information. most people would rather search it on youtube instead of go to a library, too.
Thats "most peoples" fault, then. YouTube is not a public commons; it's a private company with their own rules. They do not have any responsibility to host anything.
Maybe, but YouTube, being owned by Google, has a certain amount of "for the good of all" branding. People support YouTube in part because it's easy, but also because many people think of Google as "a good company". Making previously available educational content unavailable is a bad thing. Maybe YouTube isn't required to keep hosting it, sure, but we as a consumer base also have very reason to let our opinions on the subject be known. Consumer voices matter. Companies have changed their policies because they upset their consumer base. And that's good. Human spending has always had a bigger impact than government oversight on how good a company aims to be.
Phone companies are private too, they aren't allowed to deny people access due to how they use it, who they talk to with it, or their political stances like youtube is doing. Youtube has become big enough and widely used enough it should be classified as a public utility with all the rules and regulations that go with it.
That's a very bad analogy. A phone company is a public utility that this country actively relies upon for it's day to day operations. YouTube is a big, electronic video message board. And yes, the government can deny people access to telecommunications depending on how they use them. It happens all the time.
I agree that the phone company analogy isn't good. However, YouTube also should have to follow laws which protect employees. There are a lot of people who make money on YouTube and it should be regulated as an employer.
The fact is, laws are not in place to deal with the evolving technology we have today.
That I agree with. For me, youtubers are like newspaper writers, and provide the service with a lot of revenue. I also believe that the internet as a whole is a public utility and needs to be regulated as such.
The fact is, laws are not in place to deal with the evolving technology we have today.