Brave Browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

[enaph]

One more thing: Avast was caught red handed selling users data but this doesn't stop people over here from suggesting it to other users.
Now Brave puts 100% clean and secure affiliate links in search suggestions and everyone is loosing their minds.
Such a double standards huh?

 

[blackice]

What is so terrifying?


Thank you for restoring some sanity to this thread.

Brave users can choose which features they like to use and leave the rest. Rewards? BitCoin? I don't need it.

The privacy movement has made everybody a paranoid these days.

Stay private, not paranoid.

 

[oldschool]

Stay private, not paranoid.

Now you've got a new tag line!

 

[bayasdev]

I bet somebody will try to sue Brave for misleading marketing

 

[blackice]

To be fair they really should just be more upfront about why they do this, and the fact that it helps them afford to offer a browser without monetizing user data.

 

[Marko :)]

Guys, why such a drama? It is only affiliate link which is harmless and your security and privacy weren't compromised.
You expect company like Brave to deliver such high quality product and don't pay their employees?
They need to make money to stay in business and continuously improve while fully respect users privacy by not selling their data to 3rd party advertisers.
If they can make money by serving privacy respecting ads, sponsored images and affiliate links, then I am OK with it.

I've been reading about this case on the internet and it seems like drama isn't really about hijacking links, but about their business practice. Users are mad because Brave didn't disclose what are they doing. I more mind blown that everyone was recommending that browser everywhere and no one bothered to check the code.

One more thing: Avast was caught red handed selling users data but this doesn't stop people over here from suggesting it to other users.
Now Brave puts 100% clean and secure affiliate links in search suggestions and everyone is loosing their minds.
Such a double standards huh?

Keep in mind Avast did ask users for consent, for collecting data, yet it was still major debacle. I'm not sure if Brave asked users for sponsored links and disclosed that somewhere, but looking at what are people writing now, it didn't.

 

[blacksheep]

Guys, why such a drama? It is only affiliate link which is harmless and your security and privacy weren't compromised.
You expect company like Brave to deliver such high quality product and don't pay their employees?
They need to make money to stay in business and continuously improve while fully respect users privacy by not selling their data to 3rd party advertisers.
If they can make money by serving privacy respecting ads, sponsored images and affiliate links, then I am OK with it.

Then they should not label them as a "privacy browser". This is why Mozilla being a non-profit is a big deal....

1. Brave suggested sites for crypto wallets · Issue #9302 · brave/brave-browser : Brave suggested sites for crypto wallets #9302
CTO of brave commented : > Similar to top site suggestions, we'd like to add Crypto Widgets and Binance related suggestions based on what a user types in the URL bar. This is mostly an experiment to see if it's useful. It could be expanded in the future to involve BAT or even be used if the user has Brave ads turned on.

Then they tested, verified and added that in.

2. [Android] Add top site and brave suggested site suggestion settings on Android · Issue #9782 · brave/brave-browser : Add top site and brave suggested site suggestion settings on Android #9782
> It is needed for 1.9.x, Basically there are some new suggestions that we populate for brave suggested sites like "Bitcoin" to give a link to buy bitcoin on Binance with a referral code.

This is where it was added to Android.

3. Added new autocomplete options to privacy settings by samartnik · Pull Request #5567 · brave/brave-core : Added new autocomplete options to privacy settings #5567
This is where the toggle was added to settings. Note that it was left enabled by default.

It searches for the following terms and suggests the referral link for those terms as seen here : Add Brave suggested sites · brave/brave-core@e8fdde7

More speficially this file. It's more than just binance links : brave/brave-core

 

[enaph]

I'm not sure if Brave asked users for sponsored links and disclosed that somewhere, but looking at what are people writing now, it didn't.

You are absolutely right - they should add it into EULA and there will be no issue, but they didn't and that was their biggest mistake.
Still I think it was blown out of proportion and people whining about compromised privacy while it is not the case.
One more thing: they could delete comments from their Reddit, silently fix it and act like nothing happened but they didn't - they acknowledged their mistake and they are working on it - that says enough about them as a company.

 

[Marko :)]

You are absolutely right - they should add it into EULA and there will be no issue, but they didn't and that was their biggest mistake.

Not just that. They should ask users during or before installation, or at least, explain user how everything works and how they are financed.

One more thing: they could delete comments from their Reddit, silently fix it and act like nothing happened but they didn't - they acknowledged their mistake and they are working on it - that says enough about them as a company.

Apparently, they were deleting posts on Reddit. That too made users really mad. Though, they couldn't act as nothing happened because project itself is open source so everyone can see the code.

 

[blacksheep]

Remember to put 1 start on AppStore/PlayStore and review it. They totally deserve it.

 

[SeriousHoax]

To be fair they really should just be more upfront about why they do this, and the fact that it helps them afford to offer a browser without monetizing user data.

That's the main issue here. It's ok to do what they did to earn some money but they should've been upfront about it. They should've notified the users/make a blog post/add it to their changelog. But they did neither of these. So the I think the criticism is valid.
Brave may lose some users because of this but like every such things people will forget it very soon. Also hopefully Brave won't do the same mistake again.

 

[HarborFront]

I wouldn't even include Ungoogled Chromium to the list because it's not updated regularly, meaning it's less secure than other web browsers.

Regarding Firefox, I said it many times; the only issue keeping me away from Firefox is their terrible font rendering. I don't mind the UI, heck, I'd even give up integrated translation service (which I use a lot in Chrome), just to fix their font rendering.

Actually, the Ungoogled Chromium version at woolyss releases pretty fast like one or two days after Chrome release

Download latest stable Chromium binaries (64-bit and 32-bit)

Download latest stable Chromium binaries for Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and Android (64-bit and 32-bit)

chromium.woolyss.com

 

[blackice]

That's the main issue here. It's ok to do what they did to earn some money but they should've been upfront about it. They should've notified the users/make a blog post/add it to their changelog. But they did neither of these. So the I think the criticism is valid.
Brave may lose some users because of this but like every such things people will forget it very soon. Also hopefully Brave won't do the same mistake again.

The part I take issue with is labeling it as a privacy concern. Ads aren’t a privacy concern unless your data is being sold or used to get the ad. It’s a bad business decision, but not a privacy violation. And I agree, they probably learned a lesson on this one. The privacy community is not one you can mess with.

Stay private not paranoid.

 

[SumTingWong]

Waiting for someone to expose DuckDuckGo too. I believe company nowadays use the term "privacy friendly" as a marketing term to hook users into their service/product like how VPN providers use "NO LOGS" marketing term, but getting caught that some of VPN providers don't uphold NO LOGS at all.

 

[blackice]

Waiting for someone to expose DuckDuckGo too. I believe company nowadays use the term "privacy friendly" as a marketing term to hook users into their service/product like how VPN providers use "NO LOGS" marketing term, but getting caught that some of VPN providers don't uphold NO LOGS at all.

The reality is google might actually be the safest.

 

[SumTingWong]

The reality is google might actually be the safest.

Safer than CCP spying on my data and company heavily advertise privacy friendly getting caught . Everyone now know Google will spy on us when we use their services/products so no surprise here.

 

[Mountainking]

I have been using Kiwi (for the best night mode), lack of tracking and Bromite (de-googled chromium). Unfortunately, Kiwi is not being updated and I'm still looking for a privacy respecting browser as replacement (mostly the night mode).

 

[HarborFront]

I have been using Kiwi (for the best night mode), lack of tracking and Bromite (de-googled chromium). Unfortunately, Kiwi is not being updated and I'm still looking for a privacy respecting browser as replacement (mostly the night mode).

FYI, Bromite is not 100% de-googled. The developer also admits that. Too bad it doesn't supports extensions.

Ungoogled Chromium for android at github coming soon

wchen342/ungoogled-chromium-android

Android build for ungoogled-chromium. Contribute to wchen342/ungoogled-chromium-android development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

There's another Ungoogled Chromium for android version at woolyss. Scroll all the way down

Download latest stable Chromium binaries (64-bit and 32-bit)

Download latest stable Chromium binaries for Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and Android (64-bit and 32-bit)

chromium.woolyss.com

 

[Marko :)]

Actually, the Ungoogled Chromium version at woolyss releases pretty fast like one or two days after Chrome release

Download latest stable Chromium binaries (64-bit and 32-bit)

Download latest stable Chromium binaries for Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and Android (64-bit and 32-bit)

chromium.woolyss.com

Are you sure? I mean, latest Chromium version is 83 while Ungoogled Chromium is at 81.

 

[Arequire]

Are you sure? I mean, latest Chromium version is 83 while Ungoogled Chromium is at 81.

Think we're seeing something different from you:

Waiting for someone to expose DuckDuckGo too. I believe company nowadays use the term "privacy friendly" as a marketing term to hook users into their service/product like how VPN providers use "NO LOGS" marketing term, but getting caught that some of VPN providers don't uphold NO LOGS at all.

DDG admit they save searches though:

We also save searches, but again, not in a personally identifiable way, as we do not store IP addresses or unique User agent strings. We use aggregate, non-personal search data to improve things like misspellings.