I have seen many people in this community either talking about switching to Brave, or people who are actively using Brave. I would like to remind people that Brave browser (and by extension their search engine) is not privacy-centric whatsoever.
Brave was already ousted as spyware in the past and the company has made many decisions that are questionable at best. For example, Brave made a cryptocurrency which they then added to a rewards program that is built into the browser to encourage you to enable ads that are controlled by Brave.
Edit: Please be aware that the spyware article on Brave (and the rest of the browsers on the site) is outdated and may not reflect the browser as it is today.
After creating this cryptocurrency and rewards program, they started inserting affiliate codes into URL’s. Prior to this they had faked fundraising for popular social media creators.
Do these decisions seem like ones a company that cares about their users (and by extension their privacy) would make? I’d say the answer is a very clear no.
One last thing, Brave illegally promoted an eToro affiliate program making a fortune from its users who will likely lose their money.
Edit: To the people commenting saying how Brave has a good out-of-the-box experience compared to other browsers, yes, it does. However, this is not a warning for your average person, this is a warning for people who actively care about their privacy and don’t mind configuring their browser to maximize said privacy.
If you have an android phone you could use something like Mull.
Isn’t mullvad browser just yet another Firefox flavor?
Mull, not Mullvad Browser. But yes. (They are two separate things)
Why doesnt Mull completely clear out/remove Google Safe Browsing? There’s 20 settings still in about:config that still have google domains and URLs. I don’t want any part of Google touching my browser.
On a personal gripe, my complaints about Mull (or any FF Android app) are UX/UI related. No custom homepage (important to me), and the alternative “Shortcuts” on the home screen keep adding every site I visit. And while I’m at it, Mull’s icon is ugly. It certainly doesnt need to splash screen the ugly logo every time you open it.
I can’t really answer that question, but you can always get rid of them manually. As I’ve said in a previous post, the mobile market is just lacking privacy options in general.
I’m not the guy to just go deleting settings without knowing exactly what will change. Deleting or changing the wrong thing could break anything. As far as UI, I really couldn’t begin to know where to start.
That’s a big part of this whole argument at it’s base, really. End users don’t always know how to make changes in config files, nor should they need to. The ideal browser comes set up and ready to go, without “don’t forget to change x, y, and z. Don’t forget to download this add-on.” Etc.
Yes, ideally browsers would be privacy-centric by default, but they aren’t. I assume that in this community people are okay with having to mess with settings to have more privacy.
I agree. Sadly, adoption doesn’t come from people already doing the tech thing. It comes from making privacy and security E.A.S.Y.