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Do you have anything to back that up? I ask because I feel the same but don't actually have any proof that things are shady. It is just a feeling which obvious

Do you have anything to back that up? I ask because I feel the same but don't actually have any proof that things are shady. It is just a feeling which obviously isn't enough to convince others but is enough to put me off using it the few times I've tried. Something about all this 'rewards' stuff just feels dodgy. No idea why I feel this, I probably read something at some point but don't recall now.

sam0x17 6y ago
I've used it for over a year and yeah it's nothing more than a feeling -- experience has just been better than anything else in terms of the default ad blocking. "Disable your ad-blocker" things also leave you alone because they know if you are using Brave you aren't going to budge.
- Qub3d 6y ago
  That's not how anti-adblocker banners work, generally. Brave is likely just using the anti-anti-adblocker lists, which uBlock and many others now use, as well. [0]: https://secure.fanboy.co.nz/fanboy-annoyance.txt?a=0 https://secure.fanboy.co.nz/fanboy-annoyance.txt?a=0 [1]: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AdguardTeam/FiltersRegistry/master/filters/filter_14_Annoyances/filter.txt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AdguardTeam/FiltersRegistr...
redvenom 6y ago
Brave by default collects telemetry data. It is anonymized but any security researcher will tell you that metadata of this nature over time can be more revealing that is claimed. It's right their in their FAQ. Brave's primary customers are advertisers. While this is not evidence in itself, it is certainly something to be wary of.
- dsissitka 6y ago
  > It's right their in their FAQ. Which FAQ? This appears to be the only FAQ that mentions anonymized data: > Will Brave sell user data to advertisers? > > We do not have access to identifiable user data. The anonymized aggregated ad campaign related data we do collect is used for accounting and reporting, but this data cannot be mapped back to devices or user identities of any kind. Learn more If you follow the "Learn more" link it says: > If you switch on Brave Rewards and switch on ads (in Rewards settings) you will see ad notifications, and will receive BAT to reward you for viewing these ads. It seems like it's off by default?
- eznzt 6y ago
  >Brave by default collects telemetry data. It is anonymized but any security researcher will tell you that metadata of this nature over time can be more revealing that is claimed. So like Firefox?
- songshuu 6y ago
  "Any security researcher" who actually understands how differential privacy works would not.
- ffpip 6y ago
  Oh shut up. Brave's telemetry is the least privacy invading among every browser. And you only have to turn off a single toggle to even turn that off. Do they collect your history? No. Then good
- ekianjo 6y ago
  > Brave by default collects telemetry data. Firefox does too.
Aaronstotle 6y ago
They lost a lot of credibility when they put an affiliate links automatically without any disclosure. Source: https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-aff...
- agilob 6y ago
  I never understood why people think affiliate are bad. I get that it's unethical do it without users consent, but I am personally OK with anyone using affiliate links for whatever I subscribe to. I don't lose anything, I don't pay for it, some company is letting other people or smaller companies increase budget. I often ask my colleagues if they can get me referral link before I signup for something. What's wrong with it?
  - markdown 6y ago
    They create the wrong incentives. In a niche I operate in, there are a ton of otherwise reputable websites promoting inferior products merely because they make more money promoting those products rather than products whose owners don't have an affiliate system. A widget hand-made by an owner-operator in small-town USA who sells from his own website gets ignored while the Amazon-listed widget made in a Chinese sweatshop gets shilled because Amazon pays affiliates.
  - Aaronstotle 6y ago
    There's nothing wrong with it, but it's a shady practice to do it automatically (no disclosure) on a Browser that claims to be a more privacy focused browser.
    - ekianjo 6y ago
      What do affiliate links have to do with privacy?
      - dagmx 6y ago
        From a technical perspective, many affiliate links are redirect based. So the end user may only see the initial site they clicked from and the final site they go to, but there is a redirect in the middle. This can be used to track users across the web without their knowledge or consent. However I don't know Brave's implementation here. Just answering the question in the abstract.
tomxor 6y ago
https://rudism.com/the-brave-browser-is-brilliant/ https://rudism.com/the-brave-browser-is-brilliant/ Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22510008 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22510008 TL;DR It's an ad company posing as a privacy company. Brave replaces other ads with Brave's, created a crypto currency for the purpose of sharing profits with website owners, but in reality pockets almost all of the money since site owners rarely become aware of it [0] or more likely because it's spread so thin across the web that few sites reach the 100$ threshold. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18734999 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18734999
romanovcode 6y ago
Closed Source.
- bsclifton 6y ago
  What exactly is closed source? Signing, configs, etc are of course private... but all of the code should be online - https://github.com/brave https://github.com/brave - https://github.com/brave-intl https://github.com/brave-intl
  - Ayesh 6y ago
    > of course private. Why "of course"? Keep your signing key off the repo, but you can very much keep them open source too.

sam0x17 6y ago

I've used it for over a year and yeah it's nothing more than a feeling -- experience has just been better than anything else in terms of the default ad blocking. "Disable your ad-blocker" things also leave you alone because they know if you are using Brave you aren't going to budge.

Qub3d 6y ago
That's not how anti-adblocker banners work, generally. Brave is likely just using the anti-anti-adblocker lists, which uBlock and many others now use, as well. [0]: https://secure.fanboy.co.nz/fanboy-annoyance.txt?a=0 https://secure.fanboy.co.nz/fanboy-annoyance.txt?a=0 [1]: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AdguardTeam/FiltersRegistry/master/filters/filter_14_Annoyances/filter.txt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AdguardTeam/FiltersRegistr...

redvenom 6y ago

Brave by default collects telemetry data. It is anonymized but any security researcher will tell you that metadata of this nature over time can be more revealing that is claimed. It's right their in their FAQ. Brave's primary customers are advertisers. While this is not evidence in itself, it is certainly something to be wary of.

dsissitka 6y ago
> It's right their in their FAQ. Which FAQ? This appears to be the only FAQ that mentions anonymized data: > Will Brave sell user data to advertisers? > > We do not have access to identifiable user data. The anonymized aggregated ad campaign related data we do collect is used for accounting and reporting, but this data cannot be mapped back to devices or user identities of any kind. Learn more If you follow the "Learn more" link it says: > If you switch on Brave Rewards and switch on ads (in Rewards settings) you will see ad notifications, and will receive BAT to reward you for viewing these ads. It seems like it's off by default?
eznzt 6y ago
>Brave by default collects telemetry data. It is anonymized but any security researcher will tell you that metadata of this nature over time can be more revealing that is claimed. So like Firefox?
songshuu 6y ago
"Any security researcher" who actually understands how differential privacy works would not.
ffpip 6y ago
Oh shut up. Brave's telemetry is the least privacy invading among every browser. And you only have to turn off a single toggle to even turn that off. Do they collect your history? No. Then good
ekianjo 6y ago
> Brave by default collects telemetry data. Firefox does too.

Aaronstotle 6y ago

They lost a lot of credibility when they put an affiliate links automatically without any disclosure. Source: https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-aff...

agilob 6y ago
I never understood why people think affiliate are bad. I get that it's unethical do it without users consent, but I am personally OK with anyone using affiliate links for whatever I subscribe to. I don't lose anything, I don't pay for it, some company is letting other people or smaller companies increase budget. I often ask my colleagues if they can get me referral link before I signup for something. What's wrong with it?
- markdown 6y ago
  They create the wrong incentives. In a niche I operate in, there are a ton of otherwise reputable websites promoting inferior products merely because they make more money promoting those products rather than products whose owners don't have an affiliate system. A widget hand-made by an owner-operator in small-town USA who sells from his own website gets ignored while the Amazon-listed widget made in a Chinese sweatshop gets shilled because Amazon pays affiliates.
- Aaronstotle 6y ago
  There's nothing wrong with it, but it's a shady practice to do it automatically (no disclosure) on a Browser that claims to be a more privacy focused browser.
  - ekianjo 6y ago
    What do affiliate links have to do with privacy?
    - dagmx 6y ago
      From a technical perspective, many affiliate links are redirect based. So the end user may only see the initial site they clicked from and the final site they go to, but there is a redirect in the middle. This can be used to track users across the web without their knowledge or consent. However I don't know Brave's implementation here. Just answering the question in the abstract.

tomxor 6y ago

https://rudism.com/the-brave-browser-is-brilliant/ https://rudism.com/the-brave-browser-is-brilliant/ Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22510008 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22510008 TL;DR It's an ad company posing as a privacy company. Brave replaces other ads with Brave's, created a crypto currency for the purpose of sharing profits with website owners, but in reality pockets almost all of the money since site owners rarely become aware of it [0] or more likely because it's spread so thin across the web that few sites reach the 100$ threshold. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18734999 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18734999

romanovcode 6y ago

Closed Source.

bsclifton 6y ago
What exactly is closed source? Signing, configs, etc are of course private... but all of the code should be online - https://github.com/brave https://github.com/brave - https://github.com/brave-intl https://github.com/brave-intl
- Ayesh 6y ago
  > of course private. Why "of course"? Keep your signing key off the repo, but you can very much keep them open source too.