https://privacytests.org rate Brave as the best browser.
I don't run Brave because Brave runs a crypto scam right in the browser.
I don't care that you can disable it, I don't care that it might be the only way they found to make a buck out of free software: anyone who dabbles in crypto is instantly sketchy. And I don't want to run a piece of software as critical as a browser made by someone who's not 100% trustworthy.
Mullvad accepts crypto as payment; there aren't many other options for anonymous online payment methods today. What Mullvad aren't doing us creating and running their own cryptocoin in support of their advertising wing. The two are not equivalent.
Well then maybe don't call anyone who "dabbles in crypto" sketchy
I didn't; that was someone else. But you did make the false equivalency.
I'm not anti-crypto myself, incidentally..
No problem. All social media apps on mobile have this issue of obscuring the chain. It's the nature of the beast.
How did I make a false equivalency when the op literally called any project that "dabbles in crypto" a possible scam? That includes Signal as well as Mullvad. Op's comment does not in any way indicate the use of one's own currency, simply abolishing all services using crypto.
Don't you recognise a difference between creating a cryptocurrency to use it to encourage people to watch ads, and allowing people to pay with for a service with an existing cryptocurrency in the cause of anonymity? There's a fundamental difference, right? If not, then fair enough - them taking exception to Brave but supporting Mullvad is hypocracy in your eyes.
FWIW, I believe no defender of !privacy should be opposed to cryptocurrencies; for better or worse, they're the only option for online anonymous payments. But I also object to the proliferation of bespoke shitcoins, most of which are truly pyramid schemes in intention amd execution. But it's a fine line, I'll admit.
Of course I recognize the idfference. And I hate brave for somewhat abusing their users like they do. Still, that is not what op said. I won't repeat it again, but that fundamental difference you are speaking of was not highlighted by them. Possibly leading other people to believe that cryptocurrency is bad to use as a whole, which as yourself has said is not right if one repsects privacy.
The product isn't all that bad, but the company behind it have proven they're not trustworthy many times over.
That website is run by an employee of Brave, who rates the privacy of browsers based on their default settings (which Brave tends to perform best in). If browsers prompt the user to select their privacy settings on a first run, he scores them based as if the user had selected the worst privacy options.
If he actually spent a few minutes setting up each browser, as is always recommended within the privacy community, that table will look a lot different. But then Brave wouldn't stand out as much...
He’s launching a self-test tool, for anyone to use. It’s still unfinished (last time I checked), but tweaking some values doesn’t make a huge amount of difference. Where it does, he included a Browsers similar to those settings, pre applied (eg: Librewolf, Mullvad Browser). Plus by that logic you should also test Brave on Aggressive mode, which by default, is set to Standard.
The man who is CEO is a shitter who gave us the blessing/curse that is JavaScript
They're relying on a cryptocurrency for growth
They use Chromium/Blink
Judging by a default browser is also really misleading. Firefox is by far the most private with extensions, no competition.
That's just browsers with default settings. Firefox doesn't have a built in ad block, so it will always perform worse in that test. I guess FF + ublock origin + hardened settings (such as arkenfox) would perform like brave, if not better. For example, if you check android browsers, you see that Mull (a hardened fork of Firefox) performs great, even without ublock (that you can install as extension anyway).
Have a gander at the people behind Brave Software. They're all cut from the same silicon wafer as everyone else in the Silicon Valley executive biome. And the (lack of) readiness of the information about who is behind Brave is another tell in itself.
This is just plain misinformation. Brave doesn't replace in-site ads: it removes them. Brave ads are presented in system notifications, not in the sites. Also, you wouldn't even need mitm attacks to do that anyway. Fucking liar
it is not even true that "privacytests.org rate it as the best", if you look close enough, librewolf is best rated, which is an amazing browser BTW.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology
I don't use Brave simply because it's too buggy. Half the websites I visit don't load properly.
