Have you read the article? They install their VPN before the user decides to use that service, when they could simply install it when the user decides to subscribe to their VPN.
I’m going to be downvoted for this but it’s recommended on privacy guides because they generally lack strict criteria with browsers. Both Firefox and Brave make automatic connections that shouldn’t be allowed.
@governorkeagan@throws_lemy Privacy Guides has a set of objective criteria to judge a browser's security and privacy. People tend to hate Brave for reasons unrelated to security and privacy. Like the CEO's politics, crypto (and recently AI) integration in the browser, some shady history about injecting referral codes, etc.
Personally, I wish I could find an alternative that is as good as Brave. Until then, I'll keep using it as it is perfect for my needs.
I originally started using brave because at the time it was the most feature complete alternative to chrome. Now I would like to switch but I would still use chrome cast for music streaming (I have quite a few of them).
Last time I checked casting audio was missing as a feature in most deGooogled versions of chrome. Does anyone have any suggestions for browsers that allow me to stream audio from my browser to Google Chromecast?
I agree it is people looking for reasons to criticize. However, I do think VPN or anything that modifies your route tables should be subjected to more scrutiny than other app features due to potential for abuse. I wish browsers wouldn't bundle them at all, or install them as part of their base.
Especially considering they were injecting affiliate links/replacing affiliate links with their own, everything they do should be seen through that lens. They literally thought it was either OK to do which means that behavior like this is going to happen and keep happening with them, OR they thought they could get away with it which ends up with the same result.
I’ve discovered a new browser to use as a secondary one to Firefox in case I needed a chromium based one. Thorium. This thing is insanely fast. Brave what?
Well, there's a way to frame this as malicious. I'm not a fan of Brave, but it also installs, say, a spell checker without consent, or a Tor client. Sure, the code is there even if you don't use it, but... What's the actual harm?
The harm is that it’s installed. There is no reason for doing this. It can be done on demand in one second if the user subscribes to their VPN.
It also shows once once again that they keep on doing their shady shit and still cannot be trusted (or at least that they are a bunch of incompetent developers).
Firefox also installs telemetry and data reporting functions like most browsers, also libraries like libwebp, which are prone to critical vulnerabilities (as seen), encryption systems like Encrypted Client Hello, and software like Pocket, which some users never use, but it's still there.
Any browser will install many features that probably won't be used. Saying that a browser that installs a feature like Tor or VPN (which aren't even hidden, Brave publicly present those features) is automatically bad doesn't sound reasonable to me.
The point I'm making is that it's not like Brave installed the VPN in secret, hidden away to it's own devices. The code is there and a service is installed, sure, but it's dormant until the user activates it.
I mean, yes, it could've been differently, and as I understand it they're going to. But as a user, how is your life worse with this than without this? What's the impact of something being installed but not running?
The same company that was modifying the content of the pages as an opt-out feature deeply hidden in the setting? (e.g. bitcoin stuff on every Reddit link)
Surely you trust them with all of your traffic, though? They sound like good stewards and of course you’d want their VPN installed without your consent and you can definitely trust it’s not doing anything bad, right?
Yeah, weirdly it shows up as a cross-post to the same community but not every client shows them both at once. I’ve seen it before and I think it was to do with cross-instance syncing then as well.
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