Just gonna leave this here… privacytests.org
Why you shouldn't use Brave Browser
Submitted 1 year ago by dantheclamman@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.spacebar.news/p/stop-using-brave-browser
Comments
ShouldntHaveSaidThat@lemmy.world 1 year ago
just_browsing@reddthat.com 1 year ago
The guy who runs the site literally works for Brave. It says so in the about page.
ShouldntHaveSaidThat@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Agreed, he could very well be biased even when trying not to be, according to FAQ, but the project is open source and he made easy to clone the git to check verify the work for anyone that doubt his work.
RatoGBM@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Mullvad and LibreWolf are better than Brave, jokes on you.
I use links btw.
ShouldntHaveSaidThat@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I had never heard of Links before, thank you for giving me another rabbit hole to dive into!
L_Acacia@lemmy.one 1 year ago
the setting used for vivaldi on this test are worse than the default one, pretty bad source as the author tries to make brave look as good as possible
wildcelt@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I get people wanting an alternative Chromium based browser. Vivaldi, IMO, is a much better than Brave, and doesn’t have all the annoying crypto weirdness.
I don’t use either, though, I use Firefox
remus989@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I started using Arc and have loved it.
wildcelt@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Hmm, I tried Arc but didn’t really “get” it. Perhaps I should give it a longer try
Warfarin@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Vivaldis UX is too bloated and slow sadly. Try and drag a tab out and watch it all just refresh
ChaosAD@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Why not chromium?
prosp3kt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
NOT OPEN SOURCE.
dantheclamman@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I do like Vivaldi. Continuing that Opera way of life, though without Presto sadly.
dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Anyone here ragging on brave that is on a Windows platform has got a real funky view of privacy. By percentage, that is probably most.
daveydee@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Definitely agree, but your comment makes me wonder what the stats are for desktop users. Lemmy is mostly geeks for now from what I can tell.
dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Could be. But considering spikes after API elimination from Reddit I bet it’s a hugely mobile crowd. I myself am a nearly exclusive mobile user. Desktop lemmy is a pretty dismal experience at present I’m sorry to say.
decenthuman@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If you’ve got a computer or a phone, you’re almost certainly being tracked. Picking and choosing which entity is tracking you seems masturbatory.
Freesoftwareenjoyer@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You can use computers without being tracked.
seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
The writer is proposing Vivaldi, a closed-source browser, as an alternative to Brave, which is free and open-source. I think a better alternative would be Ungoogled Chromium.
DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
Yeah I use Firefox & ungoogled-chromium
dbilitated@aussie.zone 1 year ago
urghhhhh but firefox just doesn’t perform as well. i tried, i really did. i found a 15 year old (!!) bug affecting svg drawing performance that was fucking up a page i was working on, i’m not imagining it.
I’m not sure if it’s the same one but i just found a similar bug with a five year old comment saying i guess we’re not fixing it anytime soon… bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=483868
I do have it installed and check in occasionally but it feels like a downgrade when i try to use it as a daily driver.
is there any way to get a functional de-googled chromium build with settings sync across devices?
dantheclamman@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I have used it as a daily driver on PC and phone for years. It works great for me. There are compatibility issues that force me on Edge sometimes, but I try to keep those as short as possible.
Baketime@kbin.social 1 year ago
I use Firefox on PC and I'm happy with it there. But on my phone Firefox isn't great. Scrolling and zooming is pretty choppy, not excessively but it shouldn't be choppy at all.
dbilitated@aussie.zone 1 year ago
yeah I really notice the difference. I wish I didn’t, I’d rather use Firefox, but it feels slower and I want my settings syncing between devices
QuazarOmega@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Just curious, does that only affect macOS?
I tried on Linux and saw no hanging nor any cores at 100% usage, bit slow on performance though, yesdbilitated@aussie.zone 1 year ago
I’m on windows but I think the Mac testing bed had the issue too
it was a couple of years ago and I’ve tried ff since and it’s good, there’s just always a reason to switch back.
vreraan@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
This article is written by a dickhead who doesn’t know how to write objectively. The fact that the CEO is a bigot and antigay matters to me but it’s not the most important thing and someone else might not give a fuck. TL;DR what you need to know: Brave is an overrated shit full of bloat and cryptoshit and firefox is the least worst.
yesman@lemmy.world 1 year ago
[deleted]vreraan@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Here I express myself
Warfarin@lemmy.world 1 year ago
[deleted]vreraan@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Bigot most include antigay but not necessarily.
SireCaesar@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Don’t use Brave because of the ads and crypto currency stuff
I don’t see why how one person even the CEO and founder’s political beliefs from 15 years ago should stop anyone from using a product today. Unless we want to expose all 7 million+ people who voted for and passed prop 8 in 2008 and cancel them all into oblivion.
dantheclamman@lemmy.world 1 year ago
He didn’t just vote for it. He donated and doubled down on it, despite it being an acknowledgement he helped strip the rights of some of his own employees. People are free to disapprove of that behavior
UmbrellAssassin@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Such a brave article. So brave that they turned off the comments when people started bringing up valid criticisms against it. Such a cop out.
Aesthesiaphilia@kbin.social 1 year ago
Such a brave article
eyyyy
CosmicDetour@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Went straight for the “alt-right” accusations as well.
xaxl@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Just because something is open source doesn’t mean the people behind it have the best intentions in mind.
Virkkunen@kbin.social 1 year ago
I think one of the biggest issues with FOSS-minded people is that they automatically consider open source software private, safe and having good intentions in mind, but they never actually go beyond the surface to check if it actually is.
themeatbridge@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Most people who use FOSS are not qualified to check source code for ill-intent (like me) and rely on people smarter than them (and me) to review the code and find any problems. FOSS isn’t automatically private, safe, and having good intentions, but if it isn’t, at least the code is transparent and the review process is open for all. Commercial software has no review, and zero transparency.
Freesoftwareenjoyer@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Free software is not automatically private or secure, but it can be. Proprietary software can’t.
rodolfo@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’ve read the article via Firefox, with NoScript enabled. Am I doing this right?
AphoticDev@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Don’t bother with NoScript. Just use uBlock Origin, it is capable of blocking scripts as well, and with finer control than NoScript is capable of.
rodolfo@lemmy.world 1 year ago
nope not quite as effective in my opinion. also I use them both, ah ah ah. Anyways, Brave founder seems to be Javascript creator, so… NoScript seems more adequate as a joke.
linearchaos@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I prefer bypass paywalls clean, it does a better job of surgically removing the paywall even if the site is actively trying to stop you from disabling javascript.
rodolfo@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’ll try it. thank you
Warfarin@lemmy.world 1 year ago
No
Fuck Mozilla too
nomadjoanne@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Honestly I don’t care who or what he personally donated to. But the ad model is the problem for me.
Sans_outside@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Not saying I like the ad model but how else are people to make money to keep software going. Not enough people donate which is why we have some much Ads currently.
nomadjoanne@lemmy.world 1 year ago
LibreWolf manages. But the idea behind Brave was to make a for-profit company.
MaxMouseOCX@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I just read an article about a browser… That somehow included a court case about hulk hogan being gay or not… I had to stop right there lol.
anonymouslemmy@feddit.nl 1 year ago
I think that the number 1 reason to not use brave is that is based on the chromium engine. The number 2 is that they use limited anti fingerprinting tools and support his self built tracking and ads. The others about ideology of the CEO i think are not so important.
protput@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Why don’t you like Chromium? I’m looking for a Chrome alternative that IS based on Chromium. I have tried Firefox countless of times. Last time I used it 2 months. But chrome is just imo better, more stable, more compatible. And I’m so used to having to do calculations in the address bar and having the result without having to press enter.
hazelnot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
more compatible
That’s because at this point Google basically has a monopoly on the web. They’re pushing what they want, because they control most of the browser marketshare through not only Chrome but every other browser based on it. That’s also the main reason to not use Chromium-based browsers, because it’s helping Google strengthen their monopoly.
anonymouslemmy@feddit.nl 1 year ago
Chromium is made by google. And google define with the chromium engine the web standard. Search about the deprecation of the manifest v2, and will know how the google monopoly is not a good thing as well
zerbey@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’ve had zero compatibility issues with Firefox in the last, oh, 5 years? It was an issue a long time ago but not these days. If you absolutely, 100% must use a Chromium engine then Vivaldi isn’t too bad, but do your own research on their organization and see if it’s right for you.
prosp3kt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Pretty lost battle IMO.
Sanrasxz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
I always find it funny when people bring ideologies of the creator into discussions like this about software. Like no, I don’t give a fuck about what this guy’s opinions on political issues is. Are there any issues with the piece of software itself? You’re trying to argue about the product, not the creator behind it.
iesou@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Wtf is spacebar.news. where do you find sites like this?
instamat@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I just deleted it on my phone. All roads lead back to Firefox.
gunpachi@lemmings.world 1 year ago
If you put aside the crypto crap, Brave is an okay browser. Sometimes I use it for web development. But I don’t like the direction the company is heading towards.
Most of the time I use Firefox with Extensions and Librewolf for everything. Firefox has always been my go-to for years and I sure hope it atays that way.
ooli@lemmy.world 1 year ago
That 1k donation, from years ago, is very usefull to someone. I dont know who cares so much to destroy this Brave founder, but that story for a 1k donation keep being repeated over and over.
Some people gave millions to have trans right banned… we never hear about thoses people. But 1k, big deal!
zerbey@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I stopped using Brave over the whole BAT thing, it just felt shady and weird. This article just validated my decision even more. Happy to be back with Firefox, even though Mozilla has its own issues.
sturmblast@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Soooo… bad PR = bad browser… advertising bad, crypto bad, source of funds bad, anti gay marriage guy bad… meh I get the reasoning here but… it’s a bit of a reach
CaptainStrider@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Firefox works well enough for me. Never given me any problems or grief. I don’t really understand the fascination with chromium forks or the insistence on using them instead of Mozilla’s engine.
QuazarOmega@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Out of the box Firefox is definitely not very privacy conscious, better than Chrome no doubt, but worse than Brave. It can be configured to be better than both or one can use Librewolf/Mullvad browser
zeriah@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I tried Brave for maybe 2 days before going back to literally anything else. The heavy push for Crypto made me wary, and it really didn’t seem to be doing anything specific to increase my privacy online.
Birdlaw@lemmy.world 1 year ago
This is really just a rip on the CEO because of his political beliefs. I imagine if he donated money to some sort of left wing thing there would be no story. Just another tech person doing what they do. It’s so amazing how divided everyone is nowadays, always looking for some reason to hate someone. That goes for left, right and center!
avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
I hadn’t read the details of their intended ad network. I just recall it sounded shady. Now that I read about it, it sounds very similar conceptually to Google’s Privacy Sandbox. I’m not sure if this is a better or worse approach than the status quo but I surely don’t trust Brave Inc, a startup with a questionable business model and investors, with gathering and processing this data.
mo_ztt@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Why was appointing Eich as CEO so controversial? It’s because he donated $1,000 in support of California’s Proposition 8 in 2008, which was a proposed amendment to California’s state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
I want to try a thought experiment. Imagine that you observe this comment in reaction to the above:
I just don’t get why the author is so pissed about their political contributions. Guess what, people who are involved in big business are usually right-wing and support right-wing organizations. Shocking. Who could have known. I don’t even want to imagine how the author comes to the conclusion that this is some big conspiracy but I think we all know what political spectrum that guy belongs to.
What I just wrote is a mirror-image version of the top rated comment on that article from a few days ago about the Mozilla foundation funding left-wing organizations. Do you agree with one of those statements and not the other? If so, why?
It is one-sided to say that someone involved in Brave should only be “allowed” to do so if he doesn’t support anything conservative. Just as would be one-sided and wrong to say that Mozilla shouldn’t be “allowed” to support left-wing organizations. Flipping it around, and looking at the reaction when it’s the other way around, is an easy way to analyze your own internal reactions on it.
(Generally, I’m in agreement with the idea that you shouldn’t use Brave because of all these other shady things; just this one part jumped out at me as one thing that’s not like the others.)
rvin_01@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Just to play devils advocate, while I do agree that there are some shady stuff happening, if the browser remains open source that wouldn’t be a problem right? These “features” while present can be disabled by the end user, either within the settings menu or by adjusting in the configs page.
nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Right we shouldn’t use brave because CEO donated $1000 to some law author doesn’t like. Maybe we should leave lemmy too because creators believe in things most other people don’t like. These kind of morality plays are stupid, who knows what every devs and ceo of company actually think and do with their money and honestly if it’s legal who cares.
infyrin@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Any browser that is becoming complicit in web slowly becoming DRM is a browser we all should avoid, yes even people’s dear Firefox is getting into the trend.
I’ve never touched Brave browser either. Seems overrated anyways.
Chipthemonk@lemm.ee 1 year ago
This article did not present a compelling case for abandoning brave. Who cares what the founder thinks about various political issues. If the software is good, then that’s all that matters.
Don’t get me wrong, I support same sex marriage, but people have a right to oppose the concept as marriage is a government idea that is tied up in politics.
Fungah@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I oppose marriage ad an institution
fireflash38@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Did you only make it past the first paragraph? Cause you missed the years of scummy shit they’ve done, completely unrelated to politics.
Chipthemonk@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Your question doesn’t make sense. But anyway, I read the rest of the article, but very quickly as I found it to be unconvincing from the start.
The adding shit to the URL is scummy but that’s no longer there. The author spends an excessive amount of time on this issue Eva use it’s no longer there. It was a bad move by Brave, but they retracted from it pretty quickly it seems.
The crypto stuff doesn’t bother me. I am not anti crypto. I think it’s an interesting technology that has potential. A lot of people, I think, are lashing out against crypto because they don’t understand it and there are too many crypto bros.
AustralianSimon@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Agree. I voted **for **SSM in Australia but how much of modern tech was built off Nazi or other evil creator tech, where do we draw the line? I’m sure Eich isn’t the only CIS white male CEO that is anti-SSM but isn’t open about it. It comes with a lot of religious bigotry. Do we refuse to use products that faith holders develop?
How about let users choose their experience. IMHO Firefox has a long way to go to recover its golden years and the mobile app is in fact **crap **so it won’t lure me back until performance is fixed. Until then Vivaldi is my main.
ponfriend@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
People have a right to support slavery as a government idea that is tied up in politics. /s
Chipthemonk@lemm.ee 1 year ago
What’s your logic? That slavery and same sex marriage are similar?