5 ms·

Brave blocks more stuff than Vivaldi, FYI. https://privacytests.org/ https://privacytests.org/ I would say #1 LibreWolf #2 Brave

j16sdiz 2y ago
Does brave still do the purchase referral code swap thing?
- TylerE 2y ago
  Brave is, and always has been, super scummy.
  - getlawgdon 2y ago
    Can you elaborate?
    - WD-42 2y ago
      Wasn't their entire original premise the Basic Attention Token? It was some kind of crypto that you'd buy and then the browser would block ads for you and instead pay a small amount to the website owners. Problem was if the website owner wasn't part of the program they'd just keep the tokens for themselves, something like that.
      - dankwizard 2y ago
        No BAT wasn't the controversey. Unless you count the "Tipping any website but if the website didn't accept BAT it went back into the pool". The controversy came when it was found out they were inserting their own affiliate code into links. That's scummy.
        WD-42 2y ago
        OK that does ring a bell. The whole project always seemed a little on the scammy side and I wasn't sure what the browser actually brought to the table that Firefox didn't, so why even check it out?
        TylerE 2y ago
        [flagged]
        homebrewer 2y ago
        Much better performance on less powerful hardware (I don't care about synthetic benchmarks, do your own testing and you will notice the difference). Vertical tabs. Built-in tor support, built-in efficient adblocker that supports ublock origin rules, but is complied into native code. More anti-tracking and anti-fingerprinting measures (in total, and only counting those enabled out of the box). Configurable shortcuts for absolutely everything. Probably something else I'm forgetting. Plus a bunch of crypto bullshit, but it's disabled unless you make an effort to enable it.
        TylerE 2y ago
        There's far more that. Privacy violations - https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/nxce6t/brave_browser_scam_a_fake_privacy_browser_sharing/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/nxce6t/brav... Bundling crapware https://community.brave.com/t/brave-has-become-malware/510414 https://community.brave.com/t/brave-has-become-malware/51041...
        maineagetter 2y ago
        A little research proves that this crusade by this guy against Brave is poorly researched https://np.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/nw7et2/deleted_by_user/h1ffs7l/ https://np.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/nw7et2/delete...
        TylerE 2y ago
        Ok totally authentic account with no posting history.
- soundnote 2y ago
  Purchase referral code swap thing? As far as I know, nothing like that has existed. There's a ton of FUD "reporting" about Brave out there intended to drive users away. There was a function that'd suggest a campaign partner while typing things in the address bar (eg. "binan" for binance.com, it'd show an ad for binance as one of the dropdown suggestions). For one day, it had a bug that if you wrote a complete url (eg. binance.com) in it and that matched a campaign partner, it'd give the ad as a suggestion. The bug was fixed within one day of being reported and the whole ad suggestion thing turned off by default. As far as I know, they've never done anything to referral codes within websites. The current browser does have a function where if you right-click a link, it gives you an option to copy a clean link by stripping tracking nonsense out of it. Eg. X links just become plain links to tweets and so on.
LeoPanthera 2y ago
Even if I agreed with the “block ads and then show our own” business model, which I don’t, I will never install a web browser, or any other application, that includes a cryptocurrency wallet. Sadly, this also includes Signal at the moment, but I won’t be moved.
- edoceo 2y ago
  And remember when KeyBase added that crypto crap? Downhill then dead.
- groundcontr01 2y ago
  I'm not baiting or anything, just purely curious --why not? And what do you use as an alternative to Signal?
  - ParetoOptimal 2y ago
    https://simplex.chat/ https://simplex.chat/
  - LeoPanthera 2y ago
    I'm lucky enough that all the people I communicate with regularly use iPhones, so, I use iMessage.
- somenameforme 2y ago
  Brave's optional stuff is opt in. If you don't like seeing the little icon for the Brave Wallet you can right click it to hide it.
  - LeoPanthera 2y ago
    "Yes it comes with awful stuff but you don't have to use it" is not an argument. There are plenty of alternatives without that awful stuff in the first place.
    - somenameforme 2y ago
WD-42 2y ago
I'd amend this list to place anything that can run UBO (the real version, not kneecapped lite version that now runs on chrome) at the top. AFAIK that still only includes Firefox and derivatives.
- yborg 2y ago
  Vivaldi is still supporting Manifest v2 for the moment but said they will drop support once Chromium upstream drops support. Opera has has said they will continue to support them going forward.

j16sdiz 2y ago

Does brave still do the purchase referral code swap thing?

TylerE 2y ago
Brave is, and always has been, super scummy.
- getlawgdon 2y ago
  Can you elaborate?
  - WD-42 2y ago
    Wasn't their entire original premise the Basic Attention Token? It was some kind of crypto that you'd buy and then the browser would block ads for you and instead pay a small amount to the website owners. Problem was if the website owner wasn't part of the program they'd just keep the tokens for themselves, something like that.
    - dankwizard 2y ago
      No BAT wasn't the controversey. Unless you count the "Tipping any website but if the website didn't accept BAT it went back into the pool". The controversy came when it was found out they were inserting their own affiliate code into links. That's scummy.
      - WD-42 2y ago
        OK that does ring a bell. The whole project always seemed a little on the scammy side and I wasn't sure what the browser actually brought to the table that Firefox didn't, so why even check it out?
        TylerE 2y ago
        [flagged]
        homebrewer 2y ago
        Much better performance on less powerful hardware (I don't care about synthetic benchmarks, do your own testing and you will notice the difference). Vertical tabs. Built-in tor support, built-in efficient adblocker that supports ublock origin rules, but is complied into native code. More anti-tracking and anti-fingerprinting measures (in total, and only counting those enabled out of the box). Configurable shortcuts for absolutely everything. Probably something else I'm forgetting. Plus a bunch of crypto bullshit, but it's disabled unless you make an effort to enable it.
      - TylerE 2y ago
        There's far more that. Privacy violations - https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/nxce6t/brave_browser_scam_a_fake_privacy_browser_sharing/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/nxce6t/brav... Bundling crapware https://community.brave.com/t/brave-has-become-malware/510414 https://community.brave.com/t/brave-has-become-malware/51041...
        maineagetter 2y ago
        A little research proves that this crusade by this guy against Brave is poorly researched https://np.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/nw7et2/deleted_by_user/h1ffs7l/ https://np.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/nw7et2/delete...
        TylerE 2y ago
        Ok totally authentic account with no posting history.
soundnote 2y ago
Purchase referral code swap thing? As far as I know, nothing like that has existed. There's a ton of FUD "reporting" about Brave out there intended to drive users away. There was a function that'd suggest a campaign partner while typing things in the address bar (eg. "binan" for binance.com, it'd show an ad for binance as one of the dropdown suggestions). For one day, it had a bug that if you wrote a complete url (eg. binance.com) in it and that matched a campaign partner, it'd give the ad as a suggestion. The bug was fixed within one day of being reported and the whole ad suggestion thing turned off by default. As far as I know, they've never done anything to referral codes within websites. The current browser does have a function where if you right-click a link, it gives you an option to copy a clean link by stripping tracking nonsense out of it. Eg. X links just become plain links to tweets and so on.

LeoPanthera 2y ago

Even if I agreed with the “block ads and then show our own” business model, which I don’t, I will never install a web browser, or any other application, that includes a cryptocurrency wallet. Sadly, this also includes Signal at the moment, but I won’t be moved.

edoceo 2y ago
And remember when KeyBase added that crypto crap? Downhill then dead.
groundcontr01 2y ago
I'm not baiting or anything, just purely curious --why not? And what do you use as an alternative to Signal?
- ParetoOptimal 2y ago
  https://simplex.chat/ https://simplex.chat/
- LeoPanthera 2y ago
  I'm lucky enough that all the people I communicate with regularly use iPhones, so, I use iMessage.
somenameforme 2y ago
Brave's optional stuff is opt in. If you don't like seeing the little icon for the Brave Wallet you can right click it to hide it.
- LeoPanthera 2y ago
  "Yes it comes with awful stuff but you don't have to use it" is not an argument. There are plenty of alternatives without that awful stuff in the first place.
  - somenameforme 2y ago

WD-42 2y ago

I'd amend this list to place anything that can run UBO (the real version, not kneecapped lite version that now runs on chrome) at the top. AFAIK that still only includes Firefox and derivatives.

yborg 2y ago
Vivaldi is still supporting Manifest v2 for the moment but said they will drop support once Chromium upstream drops support. Opera has has said they will continue to support them going forward.