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I know Brave is supposed to be a privacy-centric browser, but their plan for advertising seems at odds with that. Advertising is a slippery slope and I wonder

I know Brave is supposed to be a privacy-centric browser, but their plan for advertising seems at odds with that. Advertising is a slippery slope and I wonder how long before these promises are eroded or outright reversed. > 100% of your ad spend is placed for active users that opt-in to a rewarding private ad experience. > Craft effective offers and provide captivating full-page experiences directly with consumers in Brave’s Private Ad Tabs. > Brave uses local machine learning with the browser profile to only place ads in optimal conditions. Ads are matched to opportunities, and users become partners instead of targets. > Private ad matching efficiently matches ads directly from the device, without breaching personal information. https://brave.com/brave-ads-waitlist/ https://brave.com/brave-ads-waitlist/

hombre_fatal 7y ago
I think the only reason Brave wasn't immediately laughed out of the room on HN as a browser that literally shows you its own ads is because they brilliantly have their own cryptocoin (BAT) so that anyone who thinks their $10 investment will buy them a lambo one day will come out of the woodwork to mention the browser. The same thing you saw happen to any other cryptocurrency. It basically kills all earnest conversation. The Brave thought this was worthwhile makes the whole thing feel scummy to me. But we are way off topic.
- Ajedi32 7y ago
  BAT is necessary in order to allow decentralized payments from users to site operators with no intermediary. No centralized alternative system would be sufficient for Brave's use-case.
Ajedi32 7y ago
Advertising doesn't have to be at odds with privacy. So long as the user agent is in charge of deciding what ads to show rather than a centralized server (which is the entire point of Brave), no user data needs to be revealed to anyone.
jancsika 7y ago
> I know Brave is supposed to be a privacy-centric browser, but their plan for advertising seems at odds with that. I know "Have I Been Pwned" is supposed to be a security tool for white hats, but the fact that they collected hundreds of millions of users passwords seems at odds with that. Additionally, there's a service called 1password that leverages this data. It claims to be a tool to help users know if their password has been compromised. But a service that has the ability to check a user's current password against a database seems at odds with that. On a completely unrelated note-- do you know how Brave actually implements advertising in their browser?
- jp_sc 7y ago
  1Password is a very popular password manager.

hombre_fatal 7y ago

I think the only reason Brave wasn't immediately laughed out of the room on HN as a browser that literally shows you its own ads is because they brilliantly have their own cryptocoin (BAT) so that anyone who thinks their $10 investment will buy them a lambo one day will come out of the woodwork to mention the browser. The same thing you saw happen to any other cryptocurrency. It basically kills all earnest conversation. The Brave thought this was worthwhile makes the whole thing feel scummy to me. But we are way off topic.

Ajedi32 7y ago
BAT is necessary in order to allow decentralized payments from users to site operators with no intermediary. No centralized alternative system would be sufficient for Brave's use-case.

Ajedi32 7y ago

Advertising doesn't have to be at odds with privacy. So long as the user agent is in charge of deciding what ads to show rather than a centralized server (which is the entire point of Brave), no user data needs to be revealed to anyone.

jancsika 7y ago

> I know Brave is supposed to be a privacy-centric browser, but their plan for advertising seems at odds with that. I know "Have I Been Pwned" is supposed to be a security tool for white hats, but the fact that they collected hundreds of millions of users passwords seems at odds with that. Additionally, there's a service called 1password that leverages this data. It claims to be a tool to help users know if their password has been compromised. But a service that has the ability to check a user's current password against a database seems at odds with that. On a completely unrelated note-- do you know how Brave actually implements advertising in their browser?

jp_sc 7y ago
1Password is a very popular password manager.