Technology

TL;DR : The Brave web browser has gained attention as an alternative to mainstream browsers, marketed for privacy and backed by cryptocurrency enthusiasts. However, it’s been criticized for its association with Brendan Eich, who faced backlash for supporting a proposition against same-sex marriage. Brave’s attempts at a privacy-centric approach included plans for a unique advertising model, which faced legal challenges. The browser’s cryptocurrency, BAT, faced volatility and its ad replacement system didn’t provide substantial rewards. Additionally, Brave collaborated with controversial crypto entities. Privacy concerns were raised when the browser added affiliate codes to URLs, and its complexity and associations have led critics to recommend other browsers like Firefox or Vivaldi for privacy-focused users.

It’s not a sign of intelligence to choose to ban a technology because of the opinions of its creator

What‘s the best alternative for iOS and macOS? The first articles that come up, rank Brave as one of the best for iOS.

I liked that it blocked all YT ads by default and had tab management.

Okay, first and foremost: I do not use brave. I have used it years back (long before the URL-Rewrite-thing) and thought it felt weirdly bloated with stuff I didn't use (a little like Opera). I would not recommend Brave to anyone at this point, because it's... weird. I was out when they started to wave at you with their strange pseudo-currency-wallet that had to be set up and all. I would not recommend such a browser to someone who might then just ask me questions about the weird things the browser I told them to install does. No way, Jose!

Now for the but: The article is bad. Like... baaaad.
Let's have a look, shall we?

"Some higher-up of the company did something that is not moral"

You do not become CEO of a company íf your moral compass is a high priority for you. Period. We still need to keep the perspective here: the donation shows views I really dislike, yes. But given how much many of those suited-up nutjobs in upper managements give to really shitty causes... these 1000 dollars were peanuts. Besides: How does a CEO with indefensible political views make the product bad?

The Peter Thiel bonus fact:

Can we stop to attribute any investments by large funds as a morally motivated thing? There was a guy at Peter Thiel's fund who saw the project and went "Eyyy that's gonna get us some Dollary-doos". That's it. That's how business works. Those funds constantly shift tuckloads of money into truckloads of projects.

There was a super stupid idea in the initial plans for the browser

Yeah... thing is: They didn't do it. You'd be surprised how many really "scummy" ideas get pitched in companies every day and how often some management-guy just kinda runs with them. That's just business as usual really.

BAT

It is kinda weird, yes, but remember: At the time they started this, crypto was everywhere and it made the company money. I don't see why the mere addition of this stuff is a reason that "Brave Browser is irredeemable". It doesn't interfere with the browser's functionality, it just adds bloat. The article doesn't distill that though. It just says "It has crypto in it", goes on with something else and then concludes that "therefore bad" out of nowhere. What about the BAT thing makes the browser bad? Tell me, author!

Brave had FTX-Partnership-stuff and didn't apologize

The apologize part is what baffles me.
They some (probably paid) partnership with a company that tricked lots and lots of people. Why do they need to apologize for (unknowingly, naively perhaps) working with a firm that turned out to be fraudulent? Does your ISP have to apologize for every scammer who did scams over their landlines?

Random listing of crypto stuff

What is bad about this? Tell me, author! They went into the booming crypto sphere and got some users that way. I dislike the crypto-bubble as much as the next guy but why does that make the browser bad? My bank sponsored a local motocross-event. I do not like motocross. Is my bank account now bad, too?

Please tell me why the product is bad if you want me to think that the product is bad.

Affiliate scandal

finally something of substance. Yeah, that one was a shitshow.

But as much as I try to resist, I have to be nerdy here:
This is not an argument now, I just could let this one slide.

I’m not aware of another browser ever rewriting what the user types in the address bar.

aren't you now? So how does "does this browser rewrite stuff in the adress bar?" typed into my adress bar become
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=does+this+browser+rewrite+stuff+in+the+adress+bar%3F&atb=v388-6__&ia=web ? I didn't type that.

Again, not part of the argument, the affiliate-thing was bonkers and justifies scolding, just that one phrase ground me gears, as they say.

Ultimately, Brave Browser is the apparatus of an advertising company

hey, another real reason to dislike the product, to the point. See, author? you can do it! No need to ramble on for pages over pages without any point or conclusion! Just a few words do the trick!

Brave Browser is irredeemable, and you should not use it under any circumstances.

\ Tell me why!
No really, that's my main issue with the article: It lists a bunch of stuff and leaves it to the reader to assume that the listed stuff is devaluing the product of this company, basically because the tone of the article is "Brave bad", but the article never reasons why the things brought forth makes the browser bad. it never concludes any point, just rambles on to the next like a slightly tipsy Thomas the Tank Engine between stops.

I feel like it's got to be Google putting all these hit pieces out on Brave right? They know they have to deal with Firefox but they also need to get the other stragglers out of the way first.

If we're gonna start talking about how shitty CEOs are then there's a lot of other companies we need to talk about before this one..

I dont use brave now, but I have quite a bit, never for crypto/BAT, just for the ad blocking etc and it was a great browser. Idk what kind of installation people are having where they say it feels bloated Etc but it certainly wasn't my experience.

I'm not ashamed to say that I switched to Firefox when I heard about all this chrome nonsense, because I figured Braves time was limited since they're a fork of Chrome. That's really the only reason. Idgaf about CEO contributions, especially that small.

I sometimes need it because of its functionality to connect to the Tor network. The Tor browser itself is just too slow for what I need. Yes, I am aware that using Tor like that is significantly less secure than it would be with the Tor browser. I just NEED the speed increase it provides over the Tor browser.

Does anyone know of a way to do the same thing in another browser? Preferably Firefox? I would love to be able to use something else.