Didn’t know where to post this, so hopefully this is the right spot. Please boycott Brave. I’ve recently learned that not only is their CEO bad, but their fanbase is toxic, too. I will no longer be using Brave for that reason.

  • uthredii@lemmy.ml
    2·
    4 years ago

    I don’t really agree that Brave should not be used because of a toxic fanbase.

    I think the best reason not to use Brave is that they are a marketing/advertising company that claims to give their users privacy. Advertising companies will always have an incentive to invade privacy as it increase add revenues. Brave is just copying Google’s business model with extra steps.

    • jonuno@lemmy.ml
      2·
      4 years ago

      The more you dig the weirder it gets.

      They are selling an idea of a better browsing which honestly I bought into it (monetising attention is still a great thing to me) but in practicality it is just benefiting Brave.

      The user experience I had was horrible, from not getting it to work, to seek for help in their community and being met with disdain… “Oh I never thought I’d see the day that people would complain of not getting adverts”… well that’s the narrative you are selling isn’t it? I agree to watch ads in turn to redistribute that attention to my fav creators.

      They are pulling users in through all these different nice ethical values: privacy focused browsers, a fairer economy to creators, being paid for you attention… utopic in all the ways. In practice, they are pulling the biggest number of users and investors through crypto greed.

      But above all this was what personally got me out of it - just reflecting on the whole thing:

      When you start using brave, you will block ads (which definetly get you a better browsing experience) but you are cutting the revenue from the creators, like all adblocking does. What brave is purposing is that you have the option to watch ads but not those you are blocking! They select ones that are ‘relevant to you’ - which are their partners… win win for them. And in turn you get BAT… so you take away the potential money from the creators to your wallet. Hum…

      But still, even if you are in for the greed, the story it’s not really like that- yes it is slowly filling your uphold wallet (if you get it to work, because that’s another problem… if you don’t, guess where the money is sitting - with brave!) and then you can spread through your creators (again - if you can get it to work, and only for the ones that are affiliated w brave or else you can’t). So it’s all Brave’s territory isn’t it?

      And in mobile you can’t connect your uphold wallet until you reach 25bat of credit - which will take you a year of normal use even getting ~20ads a day. (They get a 20% cut). So all this promise of content creators being paid in a fairer way, turns out that you are spending your attention watching adverts that are only benefiting brave.

      In practice you will diverting ad revenue from creators to brave while you think you are making money, or worst, making the internet a better place. Nah. Fuck Brave.

      TL;DR: in practice Brave cuts creators stream of revenue (ads) and replaces them with Brave’s partner ads that after watched by you Brave takes a share and then are converted into Brave’s cryptocoin and held on Brave’s side until you follow Brave’s rules.

      PS: you can also find dirt on Firefox. Our consumerism is a form of vote. Choose wisely, do your homework.

  • Halce@lemmy.ml
    1·
    4 years ago

    I just don’t use it for technical reasons:

    https://wccftech.com/privacy-centered-browser-brave-is-in-hot-waters-for-violating-users-confidence/

    https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/brave-privacy-browser-caught-automatically-adding-affiliate-links-to-cryptocurrency-urls/

    That said, I think it should continue to exist, if only for stunts like these:

    https://www.zdnet.com/article/brave-browser-files-gdpr-breach-complaints-against-google-in-the-eu/

    I use the Firefox fork Librewolf, and am quite happy with it myself.

  • AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml
    1·
    4 years ago

    If you want a good all around browser, Firefox.

    If you don’t like Mozilla either (which is fair), GNU Icecat, Fennec F-Droid, etc.

    If you absolutely need Chromium, Ungoogled Chromium.

  • Magolor@lemmy.ml
    1·
    4 years ago

    Tbh I never trusted brave. Firefox with addons is also great fro privacy. Yes, somettimes Mozilla is doing some iffy things, but it is still better than Brave.

  • Zerush@lemmy.ml
    01·
    4 years ago

    I use Vivaldi, great and nice community and a great and well known CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, who had created the Islandic cooperative Vivaldi. Privacy oriented and the most advanced Browser today