What new features? I've been using it for years and it's been very steady, I've switched off their wallet and that's it.

Automatically inserting affiliate links into URLs when users visit certain e-commerce websites.

Integration of Web3 features, including cryptocurrency wallets and NFT support.

Inclusion of Brave News and sponsored images on the new tab page.

Addition of a VPN service within the browser.

Feels very scammy and grifty for a project that's supposedly about user privacy.

1. Sleazy

2. Weird but not evil

3. 100% acceptable

4. Good, maybe. What vpn?

4. No, it is not good. "Brave appears to install VPN Services without user consent" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37932754

It was always just a crypto grift.

#1 existed for literally 24 hours and was clearly a stupid idea.

#2 opt-in only.

#3 agreed. annoying. can opt out.

#4 opt-in only.

#5 disagreed.

Broken trust, even if only 24h.

opt-in but afaik they still show up in places unless you disable them

Has Brave advertised those opt-in features on first launch forcing a choice? Cause that is scammy if they did.

Not a Brave user but I have managed it at a workplace before. Far as I recall they show a wallet button at the top right near the extensions button and show crypto trading rates alongside the weather on the default new tab page. Disabling the wallet icon could be done with a right click and a left click, and the new tab page could be customized in settings to show less stuff pretty easily. Might be different now.

> Automatically inserting affiliate links into URLs when users visit certain e-commerce websites.

Happened before I even started using it, and I've been using it for a long while now. Probably time to let this one go?

> Integration of Web3 features, including cryptocurrency wallets and NFT support.

That's not a new feature, it's been in there since I started using it, and it's off by default and then easily hidden. It didn't turn up one day turned on.

> Inclusion of Brave News and sponsored images on the new tab page.

Yeah I'll give you this one. I've turned this off... I mean they're developing free to use software, so I feel bad about it. I'd probably pay for Brave at this point, but I don't want to see ads ever. At least it's easy to turn off.

> Addition of a VPN service within the browser.

I think this one is fine? I used it once when I was staying at a hotel, it was easy to use, other than that it's just hidden.

I never see ads with default Brave. I was under the impression that uBlock was obviated by Brave.

Have been using it for a long time. I am very happy with it.

Brave does not need ublock origin, and brave adblock is independent of manifest v2/3.

They implement compatible features in the browser itself.

Can you create your own filters, or subscribe to filter lists with Brave's ad blocker? If not then it's in no way a replacement for uBlock.

No fan of Brave here, but you can, yeah.

Are you sure? I just installed it on Android and can't find anything about lists in the settings.

Tried searching and I can't find anything about subscribing to lists on desktop either, only a few discussions about the default set of lists they use.

Assuming it's the same as on desktop, go to settings->shields->content filters. They have a bunch of default filter lists you can subscribe to or you can add your own. You can also create your own custom filter rules. You can also do it semi-automatically by right clicking (no idea the equivalent on mobile) on an element in a page and there will be a "Block Elements" option that does a pretty decent job of wildcard blocking the element group you selected, and can be configured pretty easily with the popup.

Oh it works! That's great, thank you.

Settings -> Brave Shields and privacy -> Content Filtering.

I'm gonna be honest with you, the giant orange un-hideable brave logo might be the biggest reason I don't use Brave. It's like I can feel it burning into my phone's OLED.

Lol, understandable.

I actually like kiwi browser quite a lot on mobile. Extensions, Devtools(!!!) make it especially great. Try that if you want (it's on top of chromium android).

I use brave most of the time though, because I use their sync service across all my devices.

With Brave you can enable manifest v2 ublock origin if you prefer anyway.

How long will Firefox take to fall? Until Google tells the lawyer who runs Mozilla that they'll stop sponsoring her if she doesn't fall in line?

Firefox has such a small slice of the browser market, that I doubt Google will bother.

It has long been argued that the reason Google pay to support Firefox (by being default browser) is to keep it around and so avoid being treated as a monopoly. That seems reasonable.

Though now a bribe to Trump/Musk should be enough so maybe they don't need FF anymore.

You mean Google won't bother paying them anymore?

You don't think Google is spending all that money for nothing, do you?

Google make up a significant part of Mozilla's income, but Firefox development doesn't make up a similarly significant part of Mozilla's expenses. They could keep browser development going without issue even if Google ditches them.

I stopped trusting Brave after they launched a crypto token and started replacing affiliate codes in URLs.

that sounds as illegal as wiretapping

I mean, I initially installed it on mobile to get rid of the ads, and then eventually deleted it, after it started showing me ads on the main page. I also think that their whole original "ad replacement" scheme (https://archive.is/W0k4j) is complete BS and pretty telling.

But sure, let us do 5 minutes of research! So, this referral code injection was a mistake (that their CEO had to apologize for https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-aff...)

Then there was the "donations for content creators" debacle, where they started gathering donations for various YouTubers, without.. actually talking to those YouTubers. But using their names and faces to promote the whole thing: https://web.archive.org/web/20181224011529/https://twitter.c...

Apparently, the original idea was that you could "contribute to any website you visit. The idea was that once a site reached a threshold, the potential owner would be notified. They could then authenticate (prove ownership, etc) and claim the donations." (https://old.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/1e9i5ls/how_...), which is mind boggling to me that somebody actually thought it's a good idea.

Anyway, they had to apologize for it, after hearing "important feedback": https://brave.com/blog/rewards-update/

They have also installed VPNs onto users machines without asking: https://www.ghacks.net/2023/10/18/brave-is-installing-vpn-se... I don't think they apologized for that one... But they did revert the decision.

Then there's Brave News, Brave Wallet, Brave Rewards, which is just completely unnecessary bloat IMO. You _can_ turn some of it off, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth though.

A lot of "mistakes" and "oopsies" if you ask me

> I wonder how long they’ll maintain manifest v2 compatibility.

https://brave.com/blog/brave-shields-manifest-v3/

They are going to keep it enabled until google removes the code from chromium in June. Then it sounds like they are going to try to use other means to offer "limited MV2 support" but there are some issues, including the fact that they don't have their own extension store (and presumably the chrome one won't allow mv2 extensions to be updated) so I'm not sure to what degree that will actually work.

Also maintaining a browser fork is not work to be taken lightly specially if it touches such core and security critical functionality like extensions.

The massive amount of online features Brave has (just have a look at all the toggles in settings) makes me wonder whether this has been exploited in the wild at all.