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.
Let's not forget one of the biggest investors is a right-wing billionaire who runs a corporate intelligence agency that contracts with the DoD. And the only proof we have that he doesn't collect data on Brave's users is the questionable word of the devs.
Brave has been off limits for me ever since I saw my QAnon nutjob father using it lol.
Big ol yikes right there
That's dumb.
Would you stop drinking water just because Hitler drank it too?
And...the source code?
If the devs aren't trustworthy, I'm sure as hell not trusting that they didn't add something extra.
I would appreciate if we don't bring politics into the conversation. They are completely subjective and only serve to stray away from the original point.
Edit:
Yes, I'm aware I'm in the wrong here.
Privacy is a political subject.
To be fair, nearly everything is/ has been/ can be a political topic. Two of the more ridiculous ones (IMO) I can think of are video games and D&D.
Please educate me. Why is it political?
Because governments and corporations all over the world are trying to hollow out privacy?
Easy. You put your personal shit on the internet then after you get into an argument with a groyped up nazi, they look up your information which is easily accessible and know more about you than a close friend would. You're starting to get a little harassment but you're quick to block, but it just keeps coming and coming and coming. Eventually they find out that you're like 0.00001% jewish then lie about your family history as justification to take things to the next level. You get constant death threats until one faithful day one of them shows up at your doorstep to lynch you. They shoot you dead and the cops let them off the hook because of course they do. All because you freely posted all your personal information on the internet for any freak to see.
Think that's an extreme example? It literally happens all the time. The only reason I'm still around is because I keep that shit private so it never gets past the first step, but there's been plenty of others who weren't so lucky when it came to that sort of thing.
I would appreciate it if conservatives stopped trying to strip away our rights, including the right to privacy.
Same but it is relevant that there is bipartisan support for stripping away our rights to privacy and general tech/internet freedoms.
Of course it is! But Peter Thiel isn't bipartisan, so idk what that has to do with his involvement in Brave. He self-identifies as far-right. Not leftist, liberal, or independent. And since we're talking specifically about Brave and Thiel, I don't really care about whataboutism in this context.
I don't see how you can acknowledge this being relevant but also consider it whataboutism, those seem like opposite positions. If it is whataboutism, that's a claim that it isn't relevant. It is relevant because partisan affiliation is not a reliable predictor of how someone will approach this issue, which matters for whether considering it in this context makes sense.
untrue, politics affects the shape of everything, if we don't 'make it political' we let whatever political lean already is there continue. thats not apolitical, thats apathy
that said thanks for the post, good to know!
Please educate me. Why is it political?
FOSS hacks the copyright system to build a software commons independent of corporation, guaranteeing the freedoms of users and developers - what part of that statement isn't political?
Politics are as subjective as the right to privacy. There isn't a hard logical truth to it, it's what people think is moral. Considering that, and considering that right-wing billionaires aren't known for being friendly to privacy, I think it's fine to bring politics into this discussion.
aren't you on a fucking anarchist instance, ding dong? shut the fuck up, we don't do "apolitical" theatrics here.
how can privacy ever be stripped of political content? it's inherently about social forces - ie politics.
Everything is political.
If you know you're in the wrong, delete the comment, or at least strikethrough everything you have changed your mind about.
The people who downvoted you have already moved on, they don't need or care about an apology and won't see it.
I won't delete the comment as that also deletes (not really but hides) the replies. As for strikethrough, I don't really think it matters that much.
When I read your comment I couldn't see what specifically you consider yourself being wrong about. Striking through could have clarified. Without it, I would have preferred the comment as it was. Then it at least makes sense within the thread and makes a clear statement. (Whether one agrees with it or not.)
Everything is politics kid. Sticking your head in the sand is no different than allowing people with evil intent to do whatever they want.
We can, will, and must continue to talk about everything through a political lens until all the problems of the world are resolved
You are aware that "Don't bring politics into this" is code for "I don't agree with what you're saying" right? It's never a good look.