News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by jpxw on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:44PM (#22656303)
For a browser which prides itself on being the ethical and privacy-focused choice, farming its users out like this seems bizarre.
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by stefan_ on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:54PM (#22656410)
The genius play was having their own cryptocurrency, so they get all the bag-holders to defend them unquestionably. Live in this thread!
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by rasengan on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:50PM (#22656369)
This title should be changed. The user is clearly on a mission to defame Brave. The title does not match the GitHub post.

This post here by JamesTheHacker is slander at best.

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by earthtolazlo on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:54PM (#22656412)
I see posts attacking the messenger quite often whenever someone points out yet another cryptocurrency scam. Can you respond to the actual content of the thread?
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by huffmsa on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:01PM (#22656484)
Brave isn't actively scamming anyone. You have to sign up and put your own money in the pot with etoro for anything to get a cut.

If you're willynilly giving people money for complex financial instrument's, you probably shouldn't have control of your own money.

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by eh78ssxv2f on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:08PM (#22656544)
That's a very "brave" position. We will show you ads without following laws of the land (Ctrl-F "FTC" in the github thread). If the user falls for our unlawlful ads, then it's the user that's stupid?
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by huffmsa on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:11PM (#22656566)
I understand that Brave is supposed to show the affiliate disclaimer. Which they should.

But is etoro an illegal company?

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by hither2 on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:42PM (#22656287)
OK, I suppose this is good reporting, but it is not the scandal you think it is.

Also, etoro does a lot more than cryptocurrency-trading.

Edit: This is a repost too. Interestingly the title of the other post "Brave Browser earning commissions promoting high risk blockchain platform" less click-baity got 2 points, 1 comment.

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by cortesoft on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:51PM (#22656371)
It is not good reporting, though. What new information is being brought to light? Brave makes it clear they generate revenue via ads, and this is an example of an ad.
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by hither2 on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:09PM (#22656555)
I was being non-confrontational.
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by tuananh on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:00PM (#22656467)
what etoro does doesn't matter.
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by maallooc on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:44PM (#22656305)
> Using a browser that the company depends to make money on

Who thought this was good for the first place?

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by hu3 on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:01PM (#22656482)
> Using a browser that the company depends to make money on

Mozilla gets paid roughly 500m/year for letting Google be the default search engine.

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by BrendanEich on Sunday March 22, 2020 @05:52PM (#22659055)
Not that much, by my estimate (I have no inside knowledge).

How many of you work for free, BTW? No hands, huh.

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by jariel on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:48PM (#22656340)
Google depends on Chrome to make money, just in different ways. They are not doing it for charity.
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by smabie on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:56PM (#22656429)
I don't see the problem with this. Etoro is not a scam and CFDs are not shady in the least bit. It's just an ad, which other browsers have as well. I don't think this guy really knows what he's talking about or if he does, maybe he should state more clearly what he finds objectionable. Ads in brave? The kind of ad?
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by Meekro on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:06PM (#22656528)
Calling this a "scam" is misleading and inflammatory. eToro is exactly what it claims to be: a cryptocurrency exchange. Certainly there have been scammy exchanges that run off with people's money, but the author hasn't presented any evidence that eToro is one of those.

Brave has been completely up-front about their "sponsored images" advertising program, as you'll see if you read the entire GitHub thread. They are easy to disable, or you can choose to leave them on and get paid for having to look at them.

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by huffmsa on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:00PM (#22656462)
You have to be participating in Brave Rewards to see the ad.

If you're participating in a crypto token rewards program, you should hopefully have your head on your shoulders tight enough not to blindly sign up for everything you see.

If you don't, well you probably will after you lose a few bucks.

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by flyinfungi on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:48PM (#22656338)
There a way to remote the ads from Brave? They are quite annoying.
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by hundchenkatze on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:01PM (#22656480)
There's a toggle "Show Sponsored Images" in the dashboard settings.
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by blisterpeanuts on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:55PM (#22656419)
browse to:

chrome://rewards/

turn off the Ads slider.

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by huffmsa on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:03PM (#22656493)
You have to turn them on. They're off by default.

Why did you turn them on without reading what you were getting in to?

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by nothrabannosir on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:45PM (#22656311)
This guy seems to be on a crusade against Brave. Huge drama in the comments, all from one account. Incendiary title and tone, was doomed never to be constructive. Now it's on HN to get what, more views? A mob?

TLDR: Brave advertises for eToro. Is that ethical?

The way it's framed: brave scams its users.

There is probably a good discussion to be had about the ethics of advertising for a trading platform by Brave, but you won't find it here.

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by kome on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:42PM (#22656291)
brave is a terrible business model. terrible. yet another private - walled garden - solution to a common problem.

why people can't just understand what the internet is and how it works?

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by fourstar on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:44PM (#22656306)
If anyone “understands the internet and how it works” — it’s Brendan Eich.
Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by armitron on Sunday March 22, 2020 @12:58PM (#22656446)
If he understands the Internet and how it works (I doubt it), he's chosen to pervert it. Read "Where Wizards Stay Up Late" to get a better history of the real geniuses behind the Internet.

Look to people like Alan Kay to remind you of how far we've moved from the potential that was inherent in the medium. A platform designed for decentralized robustness and rapid information exchange perverted into a delivery medium for ads, surveillance and centralized control.

Re:Brave is promoting etoro affiliate program and scamming i... by huffmsa on Sunday March 22, 2020 @01:08PM (#22656546)
Yeah that first noble idea was running on free academic and government research money.

Things change when you don't have a patron.