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Brave Improves Its Ad-Blocker Performance with New Engine in Rust

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Re: Brave Improves Its Ad-Blocker Performance with New Engine in Rust

#31

Post by Meekro »

dymk wrote: post #6
muckrakerz wrote: post #4

Brave is doing some of the best anti-Corporatist work in the community right now.

They replace other ad network ads with their own ~ads~ crypto currency . They monetize the content of others and don't tell them. If you have a youtube channel, they will swap out ads and collect the ad revenue without telling the channel that they're doing so. I'm not particularly impressed with their business. In fact I'm pretty disgusted with it.

The majority of ad revenue goes to the site, not to Brave[1]. The user gets a cut for having to see the ad, and Brave gets a cut as well.

But even if you're right, why is it unethical for me to install software on my own computer to render websites differently than the creator intended? For example, by removing ads? Or replacing ads with different ads? Or rendering all ads upside down?

[1] https://brave.com/how-brave-works-for-you/

Re: Brave Improves Its Ad-Blocker Performance with New Engine in Rust

#32

Post by muckrakerz »

dymk wrote: post #20
mintplant wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is untrue, as far as I'm aware. Brave blocks ads and trackers by default, and you can opt into a separate "Brave Rewards" program which pays you in crypto-currency tokens in exchange for receiving ads via push notifications and the New Tab page (not inline with web content). https://brave.com/brave-ads-launch/ Users can then choose to contribute some or all of those funds back to the publishers/creators they vis…

No, the Brave browser does not try to verify that the page that it's replacing ads on has opted into Brave's "rewards" thing. They'll s/page_ads/brave_ads/ and collect a check regardless of if that revenue is going to the page owner or not. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18734999

Why would they have to? The user has opted in. From your link: "Starting today, users of Brave’s latest release of the desktop browser for macOS, Windows, and Linux can choose to view privacy-preserving Brave Ads by opting into Brave Rewards" [emphasis mine]

Stop spreading FUD.

Re: Brave Improves Its Ad-Blocker Performance with New Engine in Rust

#33

Post by [deleted] »

dymk wrote: post #20
mintplant wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is untrue, as far as I'm aware. Brave blocks ads and trackers by default, and you can opt into a separate "Brave Rewards" program which pays you in crypto-currency tokens in exchange for receiving ads via push notifications and the New Tab page (not inline with web content). https://brave.com/brave-ads-launch/ Users can then choose to contribute some or all of those funds back to the publishers/creators they vis…

No, the Brave browser does not try to verify that the page that it's replacing ads on has opted into Brave's "rewards" thing. They'll s/page_ads/brave_ads/ and collect a check regardless of if that revenue is going to the page owner or not. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18734999

[deleted]

Re: Brave Improves Its Ad-Blocker Performance with New Engine in Rust

#34

Post by muckrakerz »

muckrakerz wrote: post #17
dymk wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They replace other ad network ads with their own ~ads~ crypto currency . They monetize the content of others and don't tell them. If you have a youtube channel, they will swap out ads and collect the ad revenue without telling the channel that they're doing so. I'm not particularly impressed with their business. In fact I'm pretty disgusted with it.

Yes. I want a citation for this. As far as I'm aware this is completely untrue.

That isn't what he is claiming though. He's claiming that they do this without the users consent. If I want a page re-skinned in purple to hell with what the content provider wants. It is also reasonable, as Eich pointed out, to act as a mediator for unrequested donations. Which is what Brave does.

Would it be nice to reject these donations? Sure. But we don't demand that with any other transmission service. If Eich and the user concede to the terms and if you accept the money, what is the problem moral or otherwise?

Re: Brave Improves Its Ad-Blocker Performance with New Engine in Rust

#35

Post by mintplant »

dymk wrote: post #20
mintplant wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is untrue, as far as I'm aware. Brave blocks ads and trackers by default, and you can opt into a separate "Brave Rewards" program which pays you in crypto-currency tokens in exchange for receiving ads via push notifications and the New Tab page (not inline with web content). https://brave.com/brave-ads-launch/ Users can then choose to contribute some or all of those funds back to the publishers/creators they vis…

No, the Brave browser does not try to verify that the page that it's replacing ads on has opted into Brave's "rewards" thing. They'll s/page_ads/brave_ads/ and collect a check regardless of if that revenue is going to the page owner or not. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18734999

> replacing ads

> They'll s/page_ads/brave_ads/

My point was that this literally does not happen. Brave does not insert ads into pages, ever, it only removes them. I'll admit I'm skeptical of the whole cryto-currency model, too, but I try to keep my points factually accurate.

Re: Brave Improves Its Ad-Blocker Performance with New Engine in Rust

#36

Post by user17843 »

dymk wrote: post #20
mintplant wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is untrue, as far as I'm aware. Brave blocks ads and trackers by default, and you can opt into a separate "Brave Rewards" program which pays you in crypto-currency tokens in exchange for receiving ads via push notifications and the New Tab page (not inline with web content). https://brave.com/brave-ads-launch/ Users can then choose to contribute some or all of those funds back to the publishers/creators they vis…

No, the Brave browser does not try to verify that the page that it's replacing ads on has opted into Brave's "rewards" thing. They'll s/page_ads/brave_ads/ and collect a check regardless of if that revenue is going to the page owner or not. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18734999

That has long been resolved, and you probably know that. Your own link contains evidence that it has been resolved, so this is kind of absurd.

Re: Brave Improves Its Ad-Blocker Performance with New Engine in Rust

#37

Post by ForHackernews »

dymk wrote: post #6
muckrakerz wrote: post #4

Brave is doing some of the best anti-Corporatist work in the community right now.

They replace other ad network ads with their own ~ads~ crypto currency . They monetize the content of others and don't tell them. If you have a youtube channel, they will swap out ads and collect the ad revenue without telling the channel that they're doing so. I'm not particularly impressed with their business. In fact I'm pretty disgusted with it.

How is that any different from Google? They're both monetizing the content others placed on the internet.

Re: Brave Improves Its Ad-Blocker Performance with New Engine in Rust

#39

Post by sprafa »

colordrops wrote: post #28
dymk wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They replace other ad network ads with their own ~ads~ crypto currency . They monetize the content of others and don't tell them. If you have a youtube channel, they will swap out ads and collect the ad revenue without telling the channel that they're doing so. I'm not particularly impressed with their business. In fact I'm pretty disgusted with it.

There is always tons of venom of this exact sort thrown at Brave on HN, yet I've used Brave and have not seen any ads that have been spoken of. Even if they did replace, to be frank, the advertising industry already is disgusting and I'd have no problem with it (well at least no more problem than I already do) In any case it's a great browser, at least better than Chrome when it comes to privacy, and I personally won…

What’s wrong with Firefox?

Re: Brave Improves Its Ad-Blocker Performance with New Engine in Rust

#40

Post by hirundo »

dymk wrote: post #6
muckrakerz wrote: post #4

Brave is doing some of the best anti-Corporatist work in the community right now.

They replace other ad network ads with their own ~ads~ crypto currency . They monetize the content of others and don't tell them. If you have a youtube channel, they will swap out ads and collect the ad revenue without telling the channel that they're doing so. I'm not particularly impressed with their business. In fact I'm pretty disgusted with it.

See https://brave.com/faq/#unclaimed-funds for a description of their current and past policy. Currently:

"If a publisher has not verified ownership, then a user’s contributions will be held in reserve inside the browser for 90 days. The browser routinely updates an internal list of all verified publishers to determine whether a property can receive contributions. At the end of the 90 day period, any contributions marked for unverified publishers will be released back to the wallet. No funds leave the browser except to go to verified creators."

Previously:

"Previous versions ... would then hold contributed funds for those publishers in escrow until they’d verified. [And] Funds that were contributed from user-funded wallets will be held indefinitely, until the publisher verifies and transfers them to their own wallet."

That sounds like they had a suboptimal policy, realized it, and fixed it. If they _keep_ their 5% cut, or the interest on it, from contributions to unverified creators, I'll share your criticism.

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