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.

  • droidpenguin@lemmy.world
    29·
    9 months ago

    I used to use Brave, then used Bromite but that got abandoned. I think there's another fork of it, but ultimately I just use Firefox which has worked better for me overall.

    Browsers are a big attack vector for exploits and security is very important. Firefox releases patches regularly and I don't have to worry about it being abandoned like some others. I disabled whatever telemetry / sponsored stuff they have enabled by default and feel it's a good balance of security & privacy + doesn't have the DRM crap chromium is trying to add.

    Their extension support is nice too.

        • clanginator@lemmy.world
          2·
          9 months ago

          Personally I used Bromite and switched to Cromite. Still the best mobile browser for Android IMO.

          ABP built-in, userscript support, privacy/security enhancements, option for bottom address/tab bar, etc.

          Problem is, it could end up going the way of Bromite as well, which would mean searching for a new browser again.

          I'm excited for Waterfox Android, whenever that releases, as I switched back to Waterfox for my desktop browser recently, but there hasn't been any word on that lately so no clue when that'll happen.

          Edit to add that I also love that Cromite has a desktop version. I always wanted a desktop version of Bromite, and I now have Cromite set up alongside Waterfox in case I need a chromium browser for compatibility. Once Waterfox Android releases, I'll have the perfect browser setup.

          • k2helix@lemmy.world
            2·
            9 months ago

            Oh I see! I didn't know Cromite had a desktop version! Thanks for sharing your thoughts :)

            • clanginator@lemmy.world
              1·
              9 months ago

              Yep! Note that if you end up running Cromite on Windows and want auto-updates, you'll have to download and set up a shortcut with chrlauncher as well as a custom config file. Only takes a few minutes though and works great once set up.

              • k2helix@lemmy.world
                2·
                9 months ago

                Bad thing that I don't use Windows that much, wish it had a Linux version. However I'll check it out when I use Windows to see how it goes. Thanks!