[ajuc]

My problem with peertube is - if I install it and federate I'll have all sorts of illegal videos on my computer. Nazi propaganda, child porn, anything.

I'm not going to spend hours moderating that, and I certainly don't want to explain myself to police.

And if I don't federate it's basically less convenient ftp.

[danShumway]

> These instances can chose to follow each other (this is called federating). For example, if the head of IT services of College X would like KarateTube videos to appear on CollegeTube, all she has to do is federate with KarateTube. KarateTube’s videos will remain on its server but students who are used to watching videos from CollegeTube will be able to see them.

It sounds like federation isn't an everything-or-nothing approach. You can federate with a specific instance that you trust, and even in that case, you won't host any videos on your device other than what you upload.

Would like to see confirmation, but it also seems like instances can follow in one-direction. IE, I could have a private server that follows no one, but allow other instances that want to include my public videos in their search results to follow me.

That assumes I understand the details correctly -- the FAQ is a tiny bit vague so maybe I'm misunderstanding.