4 ms·

Brave has a long history of doing unethical things. You covered some of them, another is the time they hijacked affiliate codes in URLs without disclosing it. T

Brave has a long history of doing unethical things. You covered some of them, another is the time they hijacked affiliate codes in URLs without disclosing it. They turned it off when they got caught and claimed it was a mistake. https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2020/06/06/the-brave-web-browser-is-hijacking-links-and-inserting-affiliate-codes/ https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2020/06/06/the-brave-we...

rglullis 4y ago
A "long history" consisting of one data point where people immediately assumed malice without any chance of recourse. Also, I'd really like to know what browser is being used by those complaining over "unethical behavior". Unless you are using Ungoogled Chromium or Vivaldi, your choice is almost certainly from an organization with a considerably longer "history of doing unethical things". Yes, Mozilla included.
- pavlov 4y ago
  The point is that Brave, despite their short history, has already managed to demonstrate several instances of suspicious or potentially unethical behavior. There's no evidence that they'd do any better than their competitors over time. But some people seem to have a default ideological preference for Brave, similar to how many are theoretically opposed to "Big Tech" but suddenly don't seem to have a problem if Elon Musk were to become the replacement Zuckerberg.
  - rglullis 4y ago
    Brave is already over 6 years old.
- simonebrunozzi 4y ago
  Mozilla: source?
  - stjohnswarts 4y ago
    some people consider pocket, anonymous usage data, etc as deal breakers and "getting sold out" . I don't, but lots of privacy centric people want a browser with zero ads, self-promotion, or phoning home (for any reason) that isn't opt-in.
  - rglullis 4y ago
    "Opt-out" ads in their start page and the Pocket debacle.
    - soundnote 4y ago
      I think Pocket is fine. People just want a browser project to be this pristine piece of perfection - open source, independent engine, donation funded, free to use - which just isn't realistic. I know, I used to be one of those people and raged about the Pocket inclusion. As much as I loathe modern Mozilla's attitude towards doing things, people do hold them to an impossible standard. Browser development has to be paid for some way, and a thing like Pocket is a genuinely useful add-on service.
      - rglullis 4y ago
        Personally, what bugged me about Mozilla was to see them closing down certain projects and teams (Persona and Rust come to mind) on the grounds of "needs to focus on what can bring revenue", yet the CEO was getting substantial pay raises. > As much as I loathe modern Mozilla's attitude towards doing things, people do hold them to an impossible standard. And it's worse for Brave, because a lot of the arguments that people use against them are not even true.
        soundnote 4y ago
        Yes and no. Brave detractors trot out the same false canards again and again, but Brave fans are fundamentally ok with them doing business. The trouble with Mozilla/Firefox is that their ostensible supporters want the org to live on donations and are hostile to useful value adds like Pocket.
- dahdum 4y ago
  Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Mozilla have the advantage of many eyes on them. I may not trust them but they are known unknowns. Brave is niche and very much an unknown unknown to me. They are innovative, moving quickly, and don’t appear too concerned with their reputation (you could make the same case for Mozilla). Their “mistakes” look pretty bad to me and I don’t want the additional cognitive overhead of worrying about my browser.
  - rglullis 4y ago
    Brave is far from "niche". Brave browser has 50 million MAU, and growing almost 100% per year. Firefox is ~200M MAU and declining.
    - skinnymuch 4y ago
      Doesn’t Brave not give a unique user agent any more? There’s no way to know for sure
      - rglullis 4y ago
        They don't have it fingerprinted for sites. They still have anonymized telemetry.
- prepend 4y ago
  I don’t get the complaint either as Brave has really tight privacy and always had. My personal theory is that people don’t like Brandon Eich because of the prop8 stuff from 10 years ago and throw shade for other reasons. This seems to follow the playbook of “I don’t like you for a reason I don’t want to talk about so I’ll find something to criticize even if it is illogical.”
- NelsonMinar 4y ago
  I am responding to a comment that mentions several other unethical things. I am adding one more data point.
  - rglullis 4y ago
    The comment you responded to is a basic admission that they don't have any actual evidence of wrongdoing, just that this is their impression.

rglullis 4y ago

A "long history" consisting of one data point where people immediately assumed malice without any chance of recourse. Also, I'd really like to know what browser is being used by those complaining over "unethical behavior". Unless you are using Ungoogled Chromium or Vivaldi, your choice is almost certainly from an organization with a considerably longer "history of doing unethical things". Yes, Mozilla included.

pavlov 4y ago
The point is that Brave, despite their short history, has already managed to demonstrate several instances of suspicious or potentially unethical behavior. There's no evidence that they'd do any better than their competitors over time. But some people seem to have a default ideological preference for Brave, similar to how many are theoretically opposed to "Big Tech" but suddenly don't seem to have a problem if Elon Musk were to become the replacement Zuckerberg.
- rglullis 4y ago
  Brave is already over 6 years old.
simonebrunozzi 4y ago
Mozilla: source?
- stjohnswarts 4y ago
  some people consider pocket, anonymous usage data, etc as deal breakers and "getting sold out" . I don't, but lots of privacy centric people want a browser with zero ads, self-promotion, or phoning home (for any reason) that isn't opt-in.
- rglullis 4y ago
  "Opt-out" ads in their start page and the Pocket debacle.
  - soundnote 4y ago
    I think Pocket is fine. People just want a browser project to be this pristine piece of perfection - open source, independent engine, donation funded, free to use - which just isn't realistic. I know, I used to be one of those people and raged about the Pocket inclusion. As much as I loathe modern Mozilla's attitude towards doing things, people do hold them to an impossible standard. Browser development has to be paid for some way, and a thing like Pocket is a genuinely useful add-on service.
    - rglullis 4y ago
      Personally, what bugged me about Mozilla was to see them closing down certain projects and teams (Persona and Rust come to mind) on the grounds of "needs to focus on what can bring revenue", yet the CEO was getting substantial pay raises. > As much as I loathe modern Mozilla's attitude towards doing things, people do hold them to an impossible standard. And it's worse for Brave, because a lot of the arguments that people use against them are not even true.
      - soundnote 4y ago
        Yes and no. Brave detractors trot out the same false canards again and again, but Brave fans are fundamentally ok with them doing business. The trouble with Mozilla/Firefox is that their ostensible supporters want the org to live on donations and are hostile to useful value adds like Pocket.
dahdum 4y ago
Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Mozilla have the advantage of many eyes on them. I may not trust them but they are known unknowns. Brave is niche and very much an unknown unknown to me. They are innovative, moving quickly, and don’t appear too concerned with their reputation (you could make the same case for Mozilla). Their “mistakes” look pretty bad to me and I don’t want the additional cognitive overhead of worrying about my browser.
- rglullis 4y ago
  Brave is far from "niche". Brave browser has 50 million MAU, and growing almost 100% per year. Firefox is ~200M MAU and declining.
  - skinnymuch 4y ago
    Doesn’t Brave not give a unique user agent any more? There’s no way to know for sure
    - rglullis 4y ago
      They don't have it fingerprinted for sites. They still have anonymized telemetry.
prepend 4y ago
I don’t get the complaint either as Brave has really tight privacy and always had. My personal theory is that people don’t like Brandon Eich because of the prop8 stuff from 10 years ago and throw shade for other reasons. This seems to follow the playbook of “I don’t like you for a reason I don’t want to talk about so I’ll find something to criticize even if it is illogical.”
NelsonMinar 4y ago
I am responding to a comment that mentions several other unethical things. I am adding one more data point.
- rglullis 4y ago
  The comment you responded to is a basic admission that they don't have any actual evidence of wrongdoing, just that this is their impression.