Sure, but that's an uploader's decision they can already make today. It didn't prevent this drama.

The suggestion here is that Youtube should do something about it, and I'm asking what that solution specifically looks like.

It also seems like people are downloading these videos from their creators' channels and then reposting them under their own accounts.

Better defaults

Cooperate with the authorities to find and investigate people who post creepy comments? You already can't post bomb threats online without getting an investigation.

Bomb threats are illegal. Creepy comments are not.

This may be an awkward position to take in public, but I'm not comfortable with the idea of criminalizing "creepy comments", especially on the internet.

I once saw police notified because an employee was looking at gunbroker.com on a company computer. Looking at listings of guns for sale is not illegal, but it bothered the company enough that they called the police and a few questions were asked.

Comments that cross the line into "grooming" are definitely on the continuum of child abuse, which is illegal.

> Public content is a bit more dangerous to leave unchecked in 2019 than in 2009.

What sort of advances have happened since 2009 that would explain this?

The sad but inevitable movement from open web to a balkanised web. Much of human interaction, both good and bad, have moved into closed facebook groups, discord, wechat and telegram channels beyond the reach of the search engines. Youtube just happens to exist in the present twilight zone between the old internet and new internet.

To me, the seminal event marking the transition has to be IMDB shutting its forums. Public discussion and discourse is now seen more as a liability than something of value.