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The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

davidgerard.co.uk

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Re: The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

#311

Post by hadrien01 »

molticrystal wrote: post #57
phnofive wrote: post #5

> However, Eich is very sorry that Brave got caught — again — and something will be changed in some manner to stop this behaviour, or at least obscure it. No surprise there. > There is no good reason to use Brave. Use Chromium — the open-source core of Chrome — with the uBlock Origin ad blocker [...] or use Firefox with uBlock Origin — ‘cos it blocks more ads than the Chromium framework will let anything block. Is th…

How is the android scene for Chromium based browsers that either have extension support or adblockers? I am aware only of Yandex & Kiwi as Chromium browsers that support extensions that allow you to install an adblocker. So perhaps Brave is trying to integrate itself there somehow by having it built in. Anybody know a better breakdown than this for mobile browser market share? https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-marke…

I use Samsung Browser with Adguard and I'm very satisfied. You also have the DuckDuckGo browser. I don't know if Edge supports extensions.

Re: The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

#312

Post by RJVB »

Interesting discussion. I'm probably not the only one who started using Brave (on the side) because it's being put forward as one of the fastest/leanest browsers around. And I need something like that for the hybrid Win10 PC I chose as a cheap tablet alternative that will also run desktop software. I can't attest to "leanest", but it is indeed the only browser that works reasonably well with something like Facebook on that tablet. Anything else becomes unbearably sluggish after a short while, an MS Edge just has a too much crippled UI (and general incapability to function with my filtering proxy, Privoxy).

I see lots of remarks about FF being slow. It's a memory hog indeed (can't use it on my tablet because of that), but so are Chromium-based browsers, and FF is the only one I know where you can trigger a GC run that actually has some effect. I combine that with "The Great Suspender" extension to keep things manageable. Funny enough it was by far the fastest a year or 2 ago on what seemed a reasonably representative HTML5 benchmark that has been taken offline since. It's also the only option to have an up-to-date browser on my Mac that I've been keeping under OS X 10.9.5. That alone earns them my support...

I do wonder why WebKit2 isn't been used more; outside of the Apple universe (where it's sadly linked to the OS version) the only "official" browser I know of that uses it is Gnome's epiphany which isn't exactly cross-platform. My tests with the rebooted QtWebkit suggest that the older (but maintained, AFAIK) WebKit codebase superior in performance and resource use to Chromium ("WebEngine") for sites that don't require newer, unsupported features (and as an embedded HTML renderer).

Re: The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

#313

Post by fredsanford »

_eht wrote: post #204
toyg wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The substance of their business model has always been "we fight advertisers because money should flow to websites through us ". They changed actual terms a few times when called up on their tactics being shady, but that's always been the end goal. In that framework, hijacking referral links is par for the course. I don't blame them - a man's gotta eat, and they're not doing anything illegal or dangerous - but I've al…

You can believe it, they are really good at advertising and marketing. They know the arena very well. Ad Ops is their biggest dept, if I had to guess. Everything they do is intentional with an end goal of getting a market share of the ad industry. It’s huge. They want a piece of it, and you’re right, who can blame them.

Vivaldi works too...

https://vivaldi.com/download/

Re: The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

#314

Post by noisem4ker »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #67
dkdk8283 wrote: post #28

Brave has to pay salaries - I suppose this is better than selling user data. Chrome is subsidized by search and Firefox gets money from Google. The revenue model for browsers is fucked up.

Ironically there’s only one browser with a sane business model and it’s Safari. You have to buy an Apple product to use it. Simple. That’s probably why it’s the only mainstream browser, outside of obscure open source browsers like Falkon and Gnome Web, that doesn’t have any built-in ties to third party services.

>there’s only one browser with a sane business model and it’s Safari.

Also consider Edge, its Microsoft counterpart.

Re: The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

#315

Post by ayoisaiah »

FillardMillmore wrote: post #26

I am an enthusiastic Brave user - but seeing stories like these make me wonder if I'd be better off configuring Firefox to be more secure/private and using that. As a privacy and transparency advocate, it disappoints me to see Brave fail to pass the test, especially considering that privacy and transparency are supposed to be the browser's MO.

Firefox is too slow for me, so I'm stuck with Brave

Re: The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

#317

Post by chippy »

this_user wrote: post #13

I'm surprised people are surprised by this. Brave have said from the beginning that this is how their business model works. What I'm even more surprised about is that Brave has gotten any traction at all, as there is really no reason to use it instead of a normal browser with regular ad blockers.

> I'm surprised people are surprised by this

I am thinking of creating a website with two lists of comment threads - the first to collate all the times users say "why are people surprised" at something which is surprising but which has some people already in the know and the second to collate comments about downvoting "why the downvotes", "not sure why you are being downvoted" etc

What other phrases do we use that we can add? I was thinking of also "free speech doesnt apply to private companies"

Re: The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

#318

Post by jedimastert »

ketamine__ wrote: post #191
egypturnash wrote: post #144

From the same browser that brought you “Hey we’ll just start taking donations for everyone whose ads we block, and we won’t put any effort into contacting anyone to tell them about this - and if they do find out, the process to start getting those donations is a giant pain in the ass!” I’m tempted to add some browser sniffing to my site just so I can block this scammy thing. I don’t even have ads on my comics any mor…

For tips Brave would keep 5 cents and give you the 95. I have seen a lot of commenters speculating about how Brave works. It is possible to look these things up before posting.

Was the affiliate link thing documented anywhere? I can't find it anywhere as and Googling I attempt is clogged by the current news cycle about it, so it might be buried somewhere (or it was much more obvious and people weren't paying attention; I know I wasn't) but if it wasn't it wouldn't be completely unreasonable that they might have other undocumented revenue streams

Re: The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

#319

Post by noisem4ker »

onyva wrote: post #245
SahAssar wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they're not doing anything illegal or dangerous The words "dishonest" and "rent-seeking" come to mind. Also, it seems that using affiliate links without disclosure might actually be illegal.

Brave is really not solving any problem. People that truly want ads removed so they don’t get tracked or bothered, should simply install Firefox. It’s a brilliant browser regardless, and being developed and supported by a non for profit with a proven track record is what makes it trustworthy. Brave can’t compete with that and Eich is not somebody anyone should rally behind in respect to ethical choices, or moral exam…

>His personal choices to support legislation that will deny basic human rights from the LGBTQ community is a BIG clue.

Personal views legitimately expressed in totally distinct political matters should absolutely not be factored in.

Re: The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes

#320

Post by notwhereyouare »

_eht wrote: post #207
noxer wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Collecting sh*tcoins is a reason for a lot of the crypto people. Also many many people put brave download ref links all other their web-presents to generate revenue. Even people who do not use it and openly admit that, still gladly collect the bucks form other downloading it. The whole ref thing is the classic ponzi and it always works for a while because people do whatever you want if the work/reward ratio is good.

To your point, they are collecting contributions for URLs that are not signed up on the platform. When I heard this I checked a few of my publishing URLs and sure enough they are accumulating ETH/BAT without me doing anything.

I know a while back, Tom Scott got pretty annoyed with them for collecting money for him without telling people that he wasn’t on their system
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