this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
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Privacy
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I use FOSS applications as much as I can and try to avoid all samsung and google apps. In addition to that I'm always on pi-hole network to block background network requests by Samsung/Google
Some apps I use:
Don't think I'd actually recommend Brave to anyone, it's definitely not as privacy focused as they claim.
Problems with Brave
I pasted here the post by u/foamed [https://libreddit.oxymagnesium.com/u/foamed] at https://www.reddit.com/r/FoamList/comments/q4z5js/brave_browser_controversies/ [https://www.reddit.com/r/FoamList/comments/q4z5js/brave_browser_controversies/]
Some information about the co-founder & CEO of Brave, Brandon Eich [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Eich].
Controversial past and opinions:
Anti-vaxxer:
Eich pushed an anti-vaxx conspiracy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrendanEich/status/1538253982845399040 [https://twitter.com/BrendanEich/status/1538253982845399040] - If you look at the "source" it's from a nutritionist who's also a conspiracy nut. There are no verifiable and trusted sources.
Here are some controversies surrounding Brave and their browser over the past couple of years:
Privacy related:
Brave automatically redirected searches to affiliate version of URL's which Brave profits from:
Brave collected donations on content creators behalf without consent:
Brave leaked Tor/Onion service requests through DNS:
And this to some degree where they temporarily whitelisted certain Facebook and Twitter trackers without telling their users:
Sending unsolicited marketing mail to users, though Brave claim its all anonymous:
And if you want more, here's some more. https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/v44vut/brave_browser_sending_unsolicited_marketing_mail/ [https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/v44vut/brave_browser_sending_unsolicited_marketing_mail/] that links this Twitter interaction: https://nitter.net/sebmck/status/1531740563900448769 [https://nitter.net/sebmck/status/1531740563900448769]
Thankfully firefox is open source and has amazing community forks and configs like librewolf, mullvad, and arkenfox user.js. I personally don't like to support the chromium monopoly, and firefox hardened is better on desktop hands down. Brave also shills crypto so much and makes money off ads so not a great look for a privacy browser.
I do agree on many of your points and I used to use Brave before certain deal breakers. I personally have in addition mulch, cromite, and Privacy Browser for mobile so i can try different options. On desktop, gecko browser are much more comfortable, but i have the ungoogled chromium flatpak browser with ublock. Mozilla has a better track record than google for privacy and is big enough to have good security and updates, and often disallow features that would compromise privacy, that otherwise chromium accepts iirc.
...if you really have trouble finding stuff on how Brave is terrible for privacy, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you have trouble reading. It's known by most people that it's a scam. They sold private user data to machine learning companies, they are predominantly a crypto company who has a browser, they are chromium based, etc
look up controversies surrounding brave search.
I mean, the company and the browser is one in the same.
Next level mental gymnastics
Google play services constantly send information to google, the only functional and degoogled rom Ive found is Grapheneos.
Samsung locks their bootloader, so flashing is neigh impossible on them as of late.
Good to know, although I'm unsure how a custom boot would handle the folding display
Or LineageOS without GSF
The real downside of brave is the cryptocrap. It is still optional. However the fact that it support the chromium monopoly is also a bad point.
What about supporting anti-lgbtq causes
If you don't install software made from people that are not align with your ethics there are probably more than just brave.
That's quite a list, thank you. I'll try to implement them ๐