A reader asks: I have a friend who heard that we can be “watched” while we watch online videos. Any truth to it that you know of?
Answer: Theoretically yes, but only if you have a webcam (if you literally mean “watching”). I’ve heard of it being done.
If you mean “knowing what you are watching” (some kind of tracking), that is certain. Youtube remembers what you have seen (it can be embarrassing), and other vid sites do too. Sites do this with tracking cookies and other means to remember what videos you view, what pages you see, and the sites you visit.