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Well it hides website ads, which is fine, but has an option to then show its own ads instead, which is not. It has a history of injecting its own affiliate cod

Well it hides website ads, which is fine, but has an option to then show its own ads instead, which is not. It has a history of injecting its own affiliate codes into your URLs. It has a history of accepting "donations" for people who cannot claim them, and pretending to represent those people. Many of their more egregious issues have been "fixed", but the pattern is clear. Their CEO provided institutional support to the proposition 8 campaign (to ban same-sex marriage), and they get consistent placements on the far-right's pet hardware projects. I'm not here to promote Firefox (indeed, I use Safari and, on Linux boxes, Falkon), but no-one should be supporting Brave.

basch 5y ago
>but has an option to then show its own ads instead, which is not. To be clear, the software pops up OS level ad notifications, whether you visit sites with ads to block or not. The two features are independent of each other. It may still be a gray area, but its unfair to paint it as what its not.
- Kerbonut 5y ago
  Doesn’t the user have to specifically turn that option on?
  - basch 5y ago
    I was replying to >but has an option to then show its own ads instead, which is not. While conceptually sure they offer ad replacement, technically they sort of dont. Ads support their product, and their product blocks ads. You can turn off the support ads, you can turn off ad blocking. They are two independent unrelated features.
prohobo 5y ago
What are "the far-right's pet hardware projects"? We shouldn't use Brave because the CEO, not the company, has a particular political (and moral) position you don't approve of - one which has no chance in hell of ever becoming law. This is the guy who invented JavaScript, should we also stop using that? Are you saying he's a neo nazi or neo nazi sympathizer? I noticed that Mozilla is making decisions that work against cryptocurrencies, while Brave is embracing them. Does that have anything to do with your dislike of Brave?
- LeoPanthera 5y ago
  The "Freedom Phone" is one of the more high profile examples. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/technology/freedom-phone-smartphone-conservatives.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/technology/freedom-phone-... As for Javascript, hopefully the difference between an abstract programming language he doesn't have total control over and a closed-sourced software project that handles your personal data on a daily basis is obvious.
  - prohobo 5y ago
    Oh, we should fear the fascist underpinnings of a "privacy focused" phone with an "uncensorable app store" designed by a yuppie who has no idea what he's doing. Are you being serious? I was expecting some kind of phone that blocks certain political viewpoints and reports your location and activities to the authorities.
  - therios 5y ago
    You do understand that Brave's philosophy is based on the utopian (maybe naïve,IMHO) idea of fair profit distribution and automatic revenue share, right? And thus as "left" as it can be if we are going for the political spectrum. Also have you boycotted Javascript-related tech already? Because its founder was a big part of its development...
addicted 5y ago
I feel like I would use Vivaldi before I did Brave. At least Vivaldi has a different philosophy for what a browser should be which justifies using it. I’m not sure what Brave adds to the mix other than schemes to make money for themselves.

basch 5y ago

>but has an option to then show its own ads instead, which is not. To be clear, the software pops up OS level ad notifications, whether you visit sites with ads to block or not. The two features are independent of each other. It may still be a gray area, but its unfair to paint it as what its not.

Kerbonut 5y ago
Doesn’t the user have to specifically turn that option on?
- basch 5y ago
  I was replying to >but has an option to then show its own ads instead, which is not. While conceptually sure they offer ad replacement, technically they sort of dont. Ads support their product, and their product blocks ads. You can turn off the support ads, you can turn off ad blocking. They are two independent unrelated features.

prohobo 5y ago

What are "the far-right's pet hardware projects"? We shouldn't use Brave because the CEO, not the company, has a particular political (and moral) position you don't approve of - one which has no chance in hell of ever becoming law. This is the guy who invented JavaScript, should we also stop using that? Are you saying he's a neo nazi or neo nazi sympathizer? I noticed that Mozilla is making decisions that work against cryptocurrencies, while Brave is embracing them. Does that have anything to do with your dislike of Brave?

LeoPanthera 5y ago
The "Freedom Phone" is one of the more high profile examples. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/technology/freedom-phone-smartphone-conservatives.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/technology/freedom-phone-... As for Javascript, hopefully the difference between an abstract programming language he doesn't have total control over and a closed-sourced software project that handles your personal data on a daily basis is obvious.
- prohobo 5y ago
  Oh, we should fear the fascist underpinnings of a "privacy focused" phone with an "uncensorable app store" designed by a yuppie who has no idea what he's doing. Are you being serious? I was expecting some kind of phone that blocks certain political viewpoints and reports your location and activities to the authorities.
- therios 5y ago
  You do understand that Brave's philosophy is based on the utopian (maybe naïve,IMHO) idea of fair profit distribution and automatic revenue share, right? And thus as "left" as it can be if we are going for the political spectrum. Also have you boycotted Javascript-related tech already? Because its founder was a big part of its development...

addicted 5y ago

I feel like I would use Vivaldi before I did Brave. At least Vivaldi has a different philosophy for what a browser should be which justifies using it. I’m not sure what Brave adds to the mix other than schemes to make money for themselves.