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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

#331

Post by matsemann »

Sevaris wrote: post #298
me_smith wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm considering trying FF on mobile and I am curious what QoL features are missing? Thanks!

One of the things that annoys me on a daily basis is how FF handles the address bar. In Brave, if I click on the address bar. It gives me a button to copy the link. If I have a link copied, there's a paste button. If I use FF, I have to go through the whole monkey dance of clicking on the address bar, tap holding the address until the copy menu shows up, then I can copy. Then there's absolutely infuriating stuff like…

Just longclick the address bar without clicking it first, it then gives you the choice to copy, and even paste&go in one click.

You could always make it not to hide when scrolling. I btw use gestures to switch tabs via an extension, works great.

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

#332

Post by foob4r »

KennethSRoberts wrote: post #239

I use and love Brave (since beta). As usual HN making a bigger deal out of nothing. They gotta make money, and it's not like they are stealing from anyone else (replacing ref links). Chill out.

This. HN is so entitled - I want the perfect thing, then complain about them trying to be sustainable.

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

#333

Post by mthoms »

fault_lines wrote: post #236
mthoms wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know I'm not supposed to reference downvotes on HN. But I would like to kindly ask downvoters to explain why what I've written is incorrect.

Regardless of whether the terminology is technically correct, it's easily understood what the meaning is. Modifying links and modifying typed URLs are equally bad, so your claim that it is sensationalist doesn't make sense. Your post is pure pedantry that does not make any substantive contribution.

>Modifying links and modifying typed URLs are equally bad

Sorry, but you're plainly wrong.

"Modifying links" implies another victim in the scheme: The party who authored the link in the first place. It implies that a third party is being deprived of their affiliate revenue because the link they wrote was "hijacked".

That's not what happened. No one is having anything stolen. If that distinction is not important to you.... then I don't know what to say.

Words matter. Never more so than when making serious accusations.

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

#334

Post by plerpin »

davidgerard wrote: post #305
plerpin wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brave and Binance have a preexisting business relationship. Brave uses its own crypto funny-money and I think they even integrated a Binance-monitoring widget into the browser.

This is how much Binance stuff is already built into Brave: https://github.com/brave/brave-core/search?q=binance&unscope...

Yikessssssssssssssssssssssssssss

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

#335

Post by onyva »

gruez wrote: post #325
nnf wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attempting to deny rights to an entire class of human beings should not be classified as simply “personal views legitimately expressed.”

I still fail to see how it's any different than any other moral disagreement. eg. If I were a evangelical christian, and he supported abortion rights for women, I can claim that he's literally trying to kill babies.

Right to happiness is not a moral question that needs to be debated every time someone on Fox News needs to generate mass hysteria for profit. I think the average person can differentiate between what’s moral and what’s immoral and where are the boundaries between the two. The USA is in a complete meltdown because some still insist on staying blind.

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

#336

Post by [deleted] »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #150
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…

Nothing I've read about Brave has ever made me want to use it instead of any other browser with a basic ad blocker, and this whole "we will save the web by substituting other people's ads with our own and making them all party to our business model whether they want to be or not, also something something cryptocurrency woo" shtick was the main reason. It continues to be the main reason.

[deleted]

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

#337

Post by ketamine__ »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #150
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…

Nothing I've read about Brave has ever made me want to use it instead of any other browser with a basic ad blocker, and this whole "we will save the web by substituting other people's ads with our own and making them all party to our business model whether they want to be or not, also something something cryptocurrency woo" shtick was the main reason. It continues to be the main reason.

They don't substitute on page ads and viewing ads that are notifications is optin. There are also ads on new tabs. That's another chance to earn BAT. The user decides if they want to donate to a site. If the owner doesn't sign up the tips remain with the user. I have donated $10 to my favorite open source developer after convincing him to sign up. All I had to do was visit his GitHub profile and click a few times.

That Brave uses cryptocurrency is not a reason to dismiss it. There is a lot of hand waving but the hand wavers have no idea how Brave works. At least be familiar with the object of your criticism. Even the author of the blog post doesn't know the difference between a link and auto complete. How is that helpful?

A legitimate criticism of Brave is that competitors like Scroll have amassed quite a few publishers for their micropayments platform. Can Brave catch up?

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

#338

Post by mukuz »

RandomBacon wrote: post #170
Nightshaxx wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um Firefox not only has uBlock origin, it's way better than Chrome's version. FF is definitely way better.

Apple doesn't let it's users have the freedom to install add-ons.

You can install Firefox Focus[1] on iOS and enable it as a content blocker in safari settings. It works really well as an ad-blocker.

[1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/firefox-focus-privacy-browser/...

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

#339

Post by LordDragonfang »

gruez wrote: post #325
nnf wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attempting to deny rights to an entire class of human beings should not be classified as simply “personal views legitimately expressed.”

I still fail to see how it's any different than any other moral disagreement. eg. If I were a evangelical christian, and he supported abortion rights for women, I can claim that he's literally trying to kill babies.

But you're describing what a large subset of evangelicals actually do, so that doesn't really help your point.

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

#340

Post by jeremygaither »

gruez wrote: post #189
mmcru wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use it on iOS because its an easy solution for ad-blocking. Is there a good ad-blocker for Safari on iOS?

adguard - free and open source content blocker. you need to pay premium to add custom lists, but their built-in lists are good enough that I don't need it. manually entered filters are also supported. if you use apps, it might also make sense to get a VPN based adblocker.

AdGuard Pro adds DNS-based blocking via VPN, in addition to browser content blocking. It also logs tracker requests. The DNS-based blocking works on all apps, afaik.
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