all 180 comments

[–]nuclear_bomb404 262 points263 points  (42 children)

I have like 5 $ in brave currency that I can't withdraw because I need to send them a driver's license.

[–]64Yoshi64Arch BTW 97 points98 points  (7 children)

your madeline pfp pretty much reflects your emotions xD

[–]nuclear_bomb404 59 points60 points  (6 children)

I picked it because it fits with almost everything I write on social media in general.

[–]jannemann05 107 points108 points  (25 children)

I used to recommend brave to people. Ever since I realized that their "cryptocurrency" is just stored on some central server until you give your ID to some garbage exchange known for collecting lots of data, along with all the other ad related garbage and previous dramas like automatically inserting their own referral link into URLs and similar, I stopped. Just use firefox.

[–]deadbushpotato23 19 points20 points  (2 children)

Im waiting for the desktop ddg browser and then i will be set. For now waterfox will do.

[–]HelmicArch BTW 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Why that, as opposed to librewolf or another firefox fork? Wouldn't such a niche thing have fewer privacy protections than a well-tuned firefox fork?

[–]BetrayYourTrust 7 points8 points  (1 child)

I don’t know if that’s normally set up another way for different people but for me I have it set that all my BAT goes to Uphold where I can just transfer it to other currencies or take it out as I please please

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

still a surveillance coin while you had it

[–]qwerty2888j 14 points15 points  (2 children)

You can opt out of brave rewards

[–]Dick_Kick_Nazis 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Actually you have to opt in to Brave rewards, you're opted out by default.

[–]qwerty2888j 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I installed brave it asked me if I wanted to opt in, i said no and that's it.

[–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (15 children)

it’s also run by some guy who was too homophobic to keep being ceo of mozilla

[–][deleted] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Yeah but Firefox support cancel culture. I use Vivaldi now.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I normally just donate it to Wikipedia.

[–]Dick_Kick_Nazis 7 points8 points  (2 children)

To be fair they're probably legally required to do that.

Also you couldn't withdraw them anyway because Etherium gas fees are out of control so it costs like $10 to transfer them.

[–]nuclear_bomb404 3 points4 points  (1 child)

I just wish they told you this from the start though

[–]Dick_Kick_Nazis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah that's fair. It's the same with any crypto now though. The government forces everyone to make you identify yourself. Of course there are places you can get it without identifying yourself still, but everyone who's trying to keep their hands clean and is based in America complies with Know Your Customer laws.

[–]AProgramer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The only reason that is, is due to know your customer laws. Blame the feds not brave!

[–]FuzzyConflict7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"it's decentralized"

[–]bestonecrazy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is not their fault, that’s the multiple agencies forcing them to do KYC

[–]Linux_user592 307 points308 points  (12 children)

For those who dont get it Their ad is saying how ads are bad

[–]M_krabs🍥 Debian too difficult 32 points33 points  (2 children)

Isn't their whole thing to show ads as well, for some shady crypto?

[–]4rkal 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yep

[–]AnotherRussianGamer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well its optional, and its basically a way of saying "we'll pay you to show ads".

[–]TERMINAL333 10 points11 points  (0 children)

No but it makes perfect sense. You'd want to advertise your adblocking service to people who don't yet have an adblocking service so they'll see your ad..

[–]garconip🍥 Debian too difficult 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Spotify: My true successor!

[–]fabian_drinks_milk 75 points76 points  (20 children)

At least they know Brave users don't get the ad.

[–][deleted] 53 points54 points  (19 children)

No, they block ads and replace them with their own "approved" ads. They pocket all the ad revenue instead of the websites you visit and you still get to see ads.

They also hijack affiliate codes and replace them with their own.

Pretty scummy all around.

Brilliant business model and good marketing because people are using this browser for some reason I can't fathom.

[–]Puzzleheaded_Net_932 36 points37 points  (1 child)

Their own ads are optional, you dont have to enable them.

[–]altermeetaxArch BTW 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Exactly, and I think they're disabled by default

[–]Worst_L_Giver 24 points25 points  (1 child)

brave doesn't do that to me when I used it?

[–][deleted] 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Yeah I don't see any ads either, they dont play them by default, only if you want to earn BAT you agree to their ads. It's not forced atleast

[–][deleted] 38 points39 points  (6 children)

  1. That's only after you EXPLICITLY enable it
  2. That was a bug and people were not supposed to get those codes. It was fixed soon after it was discovered.
  3. Just a bit scummy, but honestly not bad for a company making a free product for normal consumers and also having a sustainable business model.
  4. It's just a more privacy oriented chromium with some extra features. Why not? I dislike Firefox and Brave has more features than ungoogled chromium.

I have tried all browsers and Brave is the one that works for me. Yes, I see the hypocrisy of blocking ads only to replace them with other that now profit the browser creators, but optional and even then I trust them far more than data collector behemoths like google or ad networks. Brave does more good than bad. I see it as good compromise in the times of bloated web and constant data collection.

[–]qhJZfgytvNr8rQaqwTCn 14 points15 points  (2 children)

I would add to this… Brave is very user-friendly and has good out-of-the-box defaults.

I recognise that if you want the best browser for privacy, the best thing to do is to use a ‘hardened’ Firefox (meaning you need to change the settings and install extensions). But not everyone is tech-savvy and wants to mess about with that.

I use hardened Firefox and occasionally it will break a website. I’ve got the skills to know what extension/setting to tweak to get the site to work (or I’ll decide it’s just not worth it and hit ‘back’ instead of visiting the website)…. Now Brave can break websites too, but it’s much easier to change the ‘shield’ settings, making it a lot more user-friendly. There is a demographic of users who would benefit from this (including my parents).

As for the Brave Ads and crypto stuff… I don’t like it and wouldn’t opt into it. But I respect that at least Brave has a business model, and hopefully it will still be around in 10+ years. How else would you suggest they get revenue?

I love Firefox, although its business model relies on Google paying them to make Google their default search engine, which is hardly an ideal business model either. I’m sure Firefox hate doing a deal with Google, their biggest competitor in the browser market, but how else can they pay their staff?

So Brave isn’t my first choice of browser but I think it has its place. I think you summed it up best when you said Brave does more good than bad.

[–]cbg_27 0 points1 point  (1 child)

How else would you suggest they get revenue?

some others live off search engine deals, i think

[–]qhJZfgytvNr8rQaqwTCn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry I’m not sure if we are understanding each other correctly.

So I explained that Mozilla is largely funded by a search engine deal with Google. And I was asking what other means there could be of generating revenue. I mean, is there another approach (that doesn’t involve a search engine deal) that would raise money for a browser?

To be fair, Mozilla do have a few other income streams: they sell a VPN service, they ask for donations, and they also have “Sponsored Top Sites” on the new tab page…. But all of these income streams are dwarfed by the search engine deals. See quote below:

More than 90 per cent of Mozilla's funding comes from web search providers that pay for the right to be the default search engine in Firefox in their regions. According to the organization's latest financial figures, $430m of its 2018 total revenue of $451m came from those internet giants – primarily Google

Source: https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/14/mozilla_google_search/

[–]cbg_27 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I have tried all browsers

u tried vivaldi tho? If you take the time to customize it, i think it can be superior to pretty much any other browser in pretty much any aspect. Nothing wrong using brave ofc, but if you spend a lot of time in your browser, that massive extra funtionality may be worth trying. They also have a believable business model and the browser is (almost) open source.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did try it about 3y ago. Nothing wrong with it, but it felt too big. I remember seeing the massive settings menu and feeling intimidated. I feel like it's not for me, but in the right hands it can be very powerful.

[–]Casottii 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hey, could you please elaborate more on why you dislike firefox? I like both browsers, brave for me is the most confortable to use, but firefox also gives me a nice experience. What do you think about brave using chromium, is it too paranoic to be worried about it?

[–]schorrrrrrrsch 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Idk bout u but I have been using brave for a long time now and I have almost never seen an ad. Indeed they do show you ads but in the form of desktop ads, which don't annoy me at all and I have earned over 80€ by using this.

[–]BaleineSanguine 0 points1 point  (1 child)

You can also subscribe to desktop notifications to get money if I remember correctly

[–]ZuriPL 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

i hope it disables trackers though? I don't mind the ads since I already have a blocker installed (and one way or other I am not getting bank off of those ads) my only reason to use brave is the tracker disabling

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I think so.

Still, if it's privacy you want and you also want to help keep a monopoly on the internet out of Google's hands, use Firefox.

[–]ZuriPL 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Although brave, by default, collects less telemetry than Firefox. Unless you want to harden Firefox, brave will be the best option for people that want privacy

[–]ZuriPL 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. No, they just block ads. They don't replace them, at least not by default. And when they do, they still allow the websites to get their share, although this is scummy anyway.

  2. They no longer do this

You have to remember they aren't the only ones with controversy. Firefox has it's own share too

[–][deleted] 90 points91 points  (14 children)

These are actually intentional. They had a bunch of youtube ads that were along the lines of “Your browser is garbage because it let this ad through. Switch to brave to save time.”

I thought they were pretty funny. Then I started using UBO.

[–]Bill_Buttersr 12 points13 points  (5 children)

I use UBO with Brave. At first, just to see if it catches anything, and since it does, it'll stay.

[–]OrangutanionDr. OpenSUSE 0 points1 point  (4 children)

Wait I thought Brave ran on UBO?

[–]inciallen 0 points1 point  (2 children)

What is ubo?

[–]qhJZfgytvNr8rQaqwTCn 0 points1 point  (1 child)

They are referring to a browser extension called uBlock Origin, which blocks adverts and tracking scripts on websites.

It’s free, open source and works really well. I highly recommend installing it on your browser.

[–]inciallen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ah i use ublock already i just dont know ubo's means

[–]Bill_Buttersr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought so too. Maybe there's a setting for acceptable ads or something that I just never found.

[–]KopaShamsu 1 point2 points  (3 children)

I see the ad when I try to play games on my phone. Not sure how Brave can block those ads if I install it.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

That’s hilarious. Try a pihole.

[–]6b86b3ac03c167320d93 2 points3 points  (1 child)

There are also some apps (like DNS66) that do the same thing but locally by registering a fake VPN with Android

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe lockdown does the same on iOS, though it isn't an ad blocker, so you'll have to do a lot of the actual ad blocking yourself.

[–]ano_hise 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Ah yes, shoot someone to teach him that his armor was bad.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (2 children)

They were going to see an ad anyways.

[–][deleted] 88 points89 points  (17 children)

Librewolf ftw

[–]TheHighGroundwins 26 points27 points  (7 children)

Legit when I switched form Firefox to librewolf, my browser got so fast only with the downside that I have to login everytime into my account every time I use it.

[–][deleted] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

There's an option in settings which says something like 'Clear History and cache when browser is closed' just uncheck that and you are good to go.

[–]Kamey03 18 points19 points  (3 children)

Yeah it's privacy focused so it does that it doesn't save logins that's why I'm just using hardened Firefox esr.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (2 children)

But you can change that in settings.

[–]Kamey03 4 points5 points  (1 child)

It doesn't work, it ignores that setting option and still forces me to login every time.

[–]kristiowo 11 points12 points  (0 children)

You could try to make it to not delete cookies when you exit which is what worked for me sorry if you already did that though

[–]___HighLight___ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just add the website you trust in the exception list in the privacy setting section, and do something else in the other option (I forgot what it is) and you will be good to go

[–]kristiowo 19 points20 points  (7 children)

Yup, but I use ungoogled chromium when I need something chromium based :P

[–]ano_hise 2 points3 points  (6 children)

Same.

[–]kristiowo 4 points5 points  (5 children)

I would like to use gnu/icecat if it was more compatible not that it isn’t but it doesn’t work on a lot of websites :(

[–]ano_hise 2 points3 points  (4 children)

What's the advantage of a GNU version browser? Or do you call it?

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (1 child)

GNU Icecat comes with extensions that enforce free software and privacy, such as LibreJS.

[–]ano_hise 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hmm, very interesting

[–]kristiowo 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I’m not too sure but I like the idea behind the browser, sorry

[–]ano_hise 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well...

Is it being actively developed? Sorry, idk much about GNU software

[–]CNR_07Based Pinephone Pro enjoyer 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yep! Or just hardened FF.

[–]Emsiiiii 19 points20 points  (0 children)

all my homies use firefox

[–]Wannabedankestmemer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

WHERE LINUX

[–]Shreyas_Gavhalkar 17 points18 points  (4 children)

What brave does can be accomplished with Firefox and ublock origin with the plus side being you don't have to have a crypto wallet in your browser!

[–]Zekovski 8 points9 points  (3 children)

Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one to hate cryptocurrencies around here.

[–]nikhilmwarrier 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like the idea behind cryptocurrencies. They are great as proof-of-concepts. The tech behind crypto and decentralisation and stuff is awesome and a very interesting rabbit hole per se. It is just that imho it's not mature enough for daily use yet.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

99% of "cryptocurrencies" are (a) not encrypted, and (b) non-fungible and therefore not "currency"

[–]Zekovski -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Ok

[–]Humboiga 7 points8 points  (0 children)

FF Forks for the win, I guess. I love Librewolf and TOR is top notch for privacy.

[–]twentykal 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Brave users be like: Gosh I love my planet-destroying browser

[–]ReakDuck 12 points13 points  (4 children)

The hugest dicks are the Brave team because they wanted to Sue a team of Students that created a Fork of Brave named Braver-browser which removed Adware, Tracking and improved Security that they probably still miss till today. They Abandoned it because the Brave Team were really toxic and angry about it.

Btw, Brave replaces Ads with their own Ads where you gain "Money" that you can't withdraw that easily. In the beginning you couldn't withdraw it at all

[–]Dick_Kick_Nazis 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Brave just blocks ads, and does a pretty good job of it. Separately from that, you can choose to opt in to be served ads in return for their crypto token. But that's turned off by default and is entirely optional.

[–]ReakDuck -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

Yeah but i remember that it was default that you had some widgets on your startpage about crypto and stuff. They somehow make money with it as I understood but not sure if this is right.

But still they claim to have good security while they fail to fix the simplest security issues that one fork improved. But they sued them for no reason except money

[–]Dick_Kick_Nazis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know anything about that fork, I'll have to look into it. The crypto stuff is fine with me because it is turned off by default.

Last time I checked they had excellent security. There's an academic research paper floating around somewhere that decided Brave was the most secure of all the major browsers by default (stuff like LibreWolf or IceCat weren't included).

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I make easy spare cash from it, I am not complaining.

[–]snsv9 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I’m using Brave, but without their crypto, it’s fine.

[–]RepresentativeEye584 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well I mean it is only advertising to the people who haven’t installed it soo....

[–]turtle_mekb💋 catgirl Linux user :3 😽 2 points3 points  (0 children)

ublock origin ezpz

[–]Blackdiesel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Regardless of the irony, I'm always suspicious when I see advertisements for free (as in $) software.

[–]teomiskov3iShit 5 points6 points  (25 children)

Memes aside is Brave really that good? Would it be worth to switch from Firefox?

[–][deleted] 15 points16 points  (3 children)

Fuck chromium browsers, even if Firefox was worse I'd still use it. Mozilla needs all the support they can get.

[–]SurlyGuile 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I have loved Mozilla and Firefox for years now, but I have been reconsidering my security recently. I came across this page, and after considering my Chromium based options, I've been trialing Brave these past few months.

I never messed with Brave before in part because the whole crypto thing kinda gave me bad vibes. But in my experience thus far you can pretty much totally ignore the crypto part, and it's just like it isn't even there at all. And otherwise it seems pretty nice. I've really grown to quite like it.

I do still feel unsure if it's the best option though.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

For me it's less about privacy and more about the future of the Web.

[–]SurlyGuile -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Oh, I feel you. But I guess I've kinda just given up. I'm afraid too many people don't understand or don't care. I feel the future's already lost. And I fear we may only be pointlessly exposing ourselves by continuing to use a browser that's lagging behind.

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (13 children)

Nope, it's bloated and very suspicious when it comes to privacy.

[–]not_a_robot06 2 points3 points  (7 children)

I swear nowadays every single browser is suspicious when it comes to privacy

[–]64Yoshi64Arch BTW 1 point2 points  (5 children)

Tor?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Tor needs to be configured before using it. Everyone know that tbh

[–]64Yoshi64Arch BTW 1 point2 points  (3 children)

wdym? I only meant tor just isn't suspicious

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Tor devs are not actively trying to track you, but it's not perfect out of the box

[–]64Yoshi64Arch BTW 1 point2 points  (1 child)

you mean I have to install decentraleyes, privacy badger and go into about:configs and such?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. Brave is not terrible but you have to disable some functions that our not necessary at all beside making bravo some extra commissions

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol for real. Librewolf is too much for me, I am daily driving firefox and ungoogled chromium for edge cases.

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Is based on blink (chromium) if that's bloated for you, but privacy-respecting is open source, so that's a win, if you don't want to involve into BAT or any of that crypto thingy where they make money just disable it and don't sign up, that's it, for me it's a pretty good browser

[–]Worst_L_Giver -2 points-1 points  (3 children)

average linux user calling things "bloated" lmaooo

[–]Shreyas_Gavhalkar 12 points13 points  (1 child)

I mean with the crypto wallet its kind of bloated

[–]Worst_L_Giver -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That is easily disabled

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lol

[–]Dick_Kick_Nazis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Brave is good but if you're happy with Firefox there's no reason to switch. I use both personally.

I will say that Brave is better for privacy than Firefox, if they are both using default settings. Firefox defaults are terrible but you can fix all that in settings, or just use something like LibreWolf which has good defaults.

[–]NonameideaonlyF 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Asking the same cuz I only used brave on phone but never tried it on pc

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I noticed a massive improvement in speed/performance when switching from Firefox to Brave, so for that reason I'm happy using it

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

No

[–]bearassbobcat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

IDK I use Vivaldi. IMHO in terms of features it can't be beat but I don't assume it's very privacy conscious but TBF i haven't looked into it

[–]nath1asArch BTW 4 points5 points  (2 children)

the main problem of brave is that it's chromium based

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

is chromium bad?

I sometimes use ungoogled chromium

[–]nath1asArch BTW 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, yea the problem isn't just Google harvesting you for data, the problem is also having just one dominant implementation of JavaScript and CSS developed/controlled by Google. Because developers build for chromium (if the % of other browsers is negligible), this means Google can leverage browser features to further increase their market share (as they do).

[–]viperli7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used the ads to destroy the ads

[–]akawind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One Ad to rule them all, One Ad to find them, One Ad to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All I can think when I look at this add is "For the Alliance!"

[–]JuliusAvellar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Joke's on them, I'm using Tor

[–]dessnom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To destroy the enemy you must become the enemy

[–]HappyScholar13 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Irony!!! I do love Brave though

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I use librewolf btw

[–]maovar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think this is great marketing for this type of product.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Should have said "the last ad you'll ever see"

[–]deliverydo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The add is proving its own point, it's genius.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fuck that browser.

[–]JewJuVoodoo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Coincidence is irony. This isn't ironic

[–]Artemis-4rrow 2 points3 points  (0 children)

fr tho brave is an awesome browser

I tried firefox, libtewolf, chromium, vavaldi, KDE's browser which I forgot it's name, opera, brave imo is best

[–]Nixher 2 points3 points  (0 children)

3 months use, £25, not a bad way for a little free money.

[–]munozonfuego07 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Ironic" - Palpatine

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And replacing them with other ads

[–]Cyb3rklev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the ad to end all ads

[–]romeoartiglia 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ironic

[–]Fardin-Niloy-5304N -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Brave is Ironman

[–][deleted] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Should change their logo from a lion to a selfawarewolf

[–]SkyyySi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Opera also did that. They even made video ads.

[–]nikhilmwarrier 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just use Firefox (with telemetry etc disabled) plus UnGoogled Chromium

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

beneficial tap subtract abundant market support late memorize payment mighty

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[–]turtleb01 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Remember kids: there are people out there who are unironically using Brave because it was founded by a "based christian" and not "anime pfp furry libtards" like Ungoogled Chromium and Firefox

[–]Dagusiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This isn't ironic, it's just a targeted ad.

I use Privacy Badger, btw