this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
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Privacy

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Please, do not use Brave. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by eya@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
 

I have seen many people in this community either talking about switching to Brave, or people who are actively using Brave. I would like to remind people that Brave browser (and by extension their search engine) is not privacy-centric whatsoever.

Brave was already ousted as spyware in the past and the company has made many decisions that are questionable at best. For example, Brave made a cryptocurrency which they then added to a rewards program that is built into the browser to encourage you to enable ads that are controlled by Brave.

Edit: Please be aware that the spyware article on Brave (and the rest of the browsers on the site) is outdated and may not reflect the browser as it is today.

After creating this cryptocurrency and rewards program, they started inserting affiliate codes into URL's. Prior to this they had faked fundraising for popular social media creators.

Do these decisions seem like ones a company that cares about their users (and by extension their privacy) would make? I'd say the answer is a very clear no.

One last thing, Brave illegally promoted an eToro affiliate program making a fortune from its users who will likely lose their money.

Edit: To the people commenting saying how Brave has a good out-of-the-box experience compared to other browsers, yes, it does. However, this is not a warning for your average person, this is a warning for people who actively care about their privacy and don't mind configuring their browser to maximize said privacy.

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[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Brave is better than chrome ans I'm glad we have alternatives.

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[–] Stahlreck@feddit.ch 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Does this all matter though? Afaik the browser if fully open source, even the crypto stuff so all the shady stuff would be detected (and has as in your examples). Like all of the issues you linked at this point are years in the past. I don't use Brave personally but it being completely FOSS is a huge plus even if the company itself might be weird. On the other hand you have something like Vivaldi that looks like "the good guys" but you'll always have to trust them as well because they're not fully open source.

I use FF but you just cannot deny that using a Chromium based browser has many security advantages over Gecko, especially on mobile. I takes Mozilla seemingly years and years to implement security features like Chromium. They don't put the necessary priority behind this.

[–] moitoi@feddit.de 0 points 2 years ago

The issue is wider than Brave. Nowadays, companies build uncritical communities around their products.

If you try to be critical, you loose the community in which you're involved on one side. And, if you are critical from the outside, "you don't understand" like in the "you're not the choose one".

[–] Engywuck@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I'll keep using and promoting it. I consider it better than Mozilla/FF anyway. Deal with it and stop telling people what they should and shouldn't do.

[–] RandyButternubs@lemmy.nz 0 points 2 years ago

its open source tho, show me the spyware and i will belive you

[–] amir_s89@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (5 children)

How about the Opera Browser?

[–] eya@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago

Proprietary, controlled by the Chinese Government, spyware, Chromium.

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[–] droidpenguin@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago

I used to use Brave, then used Bromite but that got abandoned. I think there's another fork of it, but ultimately I just use Firefox which has worked better for me overall.

Browsers are a big attack vector for exploits and security is very important. Firefox releases patches regularly and I don't have to worry about it being abandoned like some others. I disabled whatever telemetry / sponsored stuff they have enabled by default and feel it's a good balance of security & privacy + doesn't have the DRM crap chromium is trying to add.

Their extension support is nice too.

[–] PlatypusXray@feddit.de -1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Oh no, a shady, unknown neocities site is telling me to not trust my browser! Yes, I can use Firefox, uBlock and uMatrix, except on iOS, where I can’t do that, and that is where Brave does a good job. I am really tired of those „Brave baaad“ posts. Look guys, unless you are using Linux you might want to direct your attention at the huge, morally flexible company that does collect your data, no matter what browser you choose.

[–] eya@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

a shady, unknown neocities site is telling me to not trust my browser

Spyware Watchdog has been a resource for checking browser's for a very long time. It's not longer maintained, which is why I said "in the past".

uMatrix

The fact you even bring up this dead extension...

except on iOS, where I can’t do that

You can use AdGuard and Safari, but if you're on iOS you've already given up any semblance of privacy in the first place.

[–] PlatypusXray@feddit.de -1 points 2 years ago

Oh, yes, because Android is so trustworthy, right? Google would never turn evil, after all. But I suppose you are sharing your wisdom from the coziness of a Windows desktop.

[–] LWJanniesRCucks@lemm.ee -1 points 2 years ago

Not reading all that, still sticking to based Brave 😎

[–] WarlordSdocy@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago

I used to use Firefox but have been using Brave cause I was getting tired of having to open Edge every time there would be an addon or tool that was Chrome exclusive. So unless there's other options for privacy focused chromium browsers I'm just gonna stick with brave.

[–] trailing9@lemmy.ml -1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Why are there daily posts against Brave but not against other browsers? Is Google more trustworthy than Brave?

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[–] Clbull@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Newsflash: everything that isn't free and entirely open source is generally spyware these days.

It's amazing how we pilloried RealPlayer and burned its parent company to the fucking ground over two decades ago for far less egregious transgressions than what we now let Meta, Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc get away with.

[–] Daydream8714@lemmy.today -1 points 2 years ago

I would be very curious what other browsers people recommend. I use Brave solely because of the profile feature it offers, which for my use case is an order of magnitude better than Firefox’s containers. Is there something more private/better than Brave that still has profiles?

[–] nothingness@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago
[–] gasull@lemmy.ml -1 points 2 years ago

If you need a Chromium derivative, then Brave is probably the best choice. It's open-source, and includes ad blocking. Just don't use its crypto token.

I prefer Firefox over Brave, but sometimes I might need a Chromium derivative for a particular site.

[–] Number1SummerJam@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Why should I trust Mozilla over Brave? Just because Mozilla is a nonprofit subsidiary doesn't mean that they don't have an incentive to make money for their profit handling corporate division, the Mozilla Corporation. I tried playing around with Firefox and not having the option to directly add a less-used search engine than the ones given without extensions was pretty sketchy to me. All of the complaints people have about Brave like ads and the weird crypto thing are very configurable in the settings, and I have a lot less compatibility issues compared to Firefox. Also, the source linked claiming all of this is a sketchy Neocities site that anyone could have made that doesn't even prove why Brave isn't private. I get that people are loyal to their favorite browsers but this is silly. If you really want to be private, use the Tor network, but all browsers and extensions need to track you in some degree to function.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation

[–] HKayn@lemmy.ml -1 points 2 years ago

How about we just let users use what they want? I don't use Brave, but it has some legitimate anti-fingerprinting tech.

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