Brave, the so called "privacy" browser now requires KYC!

[BrewMaster]

i just found out about it but apparently this has been the plan for some time now. it seems like it was first for publishers to gather BAT tokens and now it is to be enforcd for anybody who wants to use the wallet (Brave Rewards).




it is worth noting that KYC is not requires if you use it as a browser but the question rises, why would you want to use it after this and when there are good browsers like Firefox available which is the original code of this project?

[1714776531]

1714776531

[AB de Royse777]

why would you want to use it after this and when there are good browsers like Firefox available which is the original code of this project?

I would not.
Lately I was considering to try Brave browser since I was hearing about it a lot but this came out of nowhere LOL

Normally I use Firefox which use tor connection. But these days it is really hard to protect your privacy.

[bitmover]

I always loved bat and brave browser. I just can't believe. I had to go the original website to be sure.

And yes, for content creators this is necessary (not for simple users). even if there is no fiat involved...
But even so, I would not support a Browser doig that. We don't need brave browser, I would support it of it ideology is compatible with mine, about a free and open internet. Which is not. Firefox is

And this is quite old , from November 2018 I saw people complaining in Reddit.

Lots of problems come from this. What about journalism in repressive countries? What's about people who write about cypherpunk moviment and want to stay anonymous?

[o_e_l_e_o]

Really disappointing. I had Brave installed - it's not my main browser, and I don't use it that often, but I certainly had high hopes for its future and was impressed by some of the development that was ongoing. This, however, nullifies all of that. KYC for a company which was pushing their strong focus on privacy is ridiculous and unforgivable. I have already uninstalled.

For anyone thinking of switching away from Brave now (which you should, unfortunately), don't think about switching to Google Chrome. Even if you don't have a Google account, Google use Chrome to track literally everything you do online, and probably have enough data to link it to your real world identity, particularly if you've ever (even once) logged in to Facebook or any other account bearing your real name.

Firefox and Tor should remain your browsers of choice.

why would you want to use it after this and when there are good browsers like Firefox available which is the original code of this project?

Brave is based on Chromium, not Firefox.

[STFU!]

i just found out about it but apparently this has been the plan for some time now. it seems like it was first for publishers to gather BAT tokens and now it is to be enforcd for anybody who wants to use the wallet (Brave Rewards).




it is worth noting that KYC is not requires if you use it as a browser but the question rises, why would you want to use it after this and when there are good browsers like Firefox available which is the original code of this project?

i had uninstal my Brave Browser since they asking me doing KYC when using Uphold wallet. i had nothing to hide and honestly KYC needed to prevent someone from committing a crime , but bad news is when your Data being Sold? that's not a wise option.

[Mahanton]

One of my browsers that do seldom use.I have chrome,firefox,microsoft edge,IE,Opera and this one Brave.I have installed this one yet its getting been known and now they are asking KYC? Directly uninstalled when i do read up this thread.

[PassThePopcorn]

So tldr of this thread is everyone doesn't want to provide kyc for virtual currency, they never required it unless you want to be paid.

[1miau]

A very disappointing move of Brave, I thought (hoped) it's an April fool  

Seriously, I don't get it why they require KYC out of nowhere... the amount of coins earned there is tiny and at least Brave can set a withdrawal limit per month / year where you can only withdraw that limit. Such a decision would be much better for a browser advertising for its privacy...
Are terrorists using brave Browser to fund their attacks? Or a criminals laundering money with Brave browser? Really?!


https://brave.com/
How could I enjoy private browsing with KYC?!  
Big joke, nah!

A Browser advertising with privacy and then requiring KYC, isn't it a contradiction?  


Looks like I'm going to keep using Firefox...

[TryNinja]

Where did you see that? I'm using Brave right now and I don't see them asking for KYC anywhere. Actually, I just opened the rewards tab and they gave me free 4 BAT.

edit: all I could find is KYC for publishers[1] (owners of websites that want to receive BATs)

[1] https://community.brave.com/t/uphold-kyc-know-your-customer-verification-is-now-required-in-order-to-receive-bat-publisher-payouts/42035

[tomahawk9]

it is worth noting that KYC is not requires if you use it as a browser

But the subject of this topic is: "browser now requires KYC!"  

But these days it is really hard to protect your privacy.

Not really, it all depends on your threat model and how high it's set.

Where did you see that? I'm using Brave right now and I don't see them asking for KYC anywhere. Actually, I just opened the rewards tab and they gave me free 4 BAT.

Found this on the 'community.brave' main page: https://community.brave.com/t/brave-rewards-user-wallets-a-significant-update/72340

[mk4]

I mean, it's not enforced. You just need KYC if you need to accept the payments. We can still freely use Brave with it's great privacy features without submitting KYC. A very slightly misleading title if you ask me.

While I think this is unfortunate and I don't like KYC as well, but in my understanding, as a registered and regulated company, they really have no choice as they're currently using UpHold. Hopefully this is just a "bandage solution" just to keep the system running right now. Not sure if they're allowed(by law) to distribute the BAT peer-to-peer, but I hope they would be in the future.

why would you want to use it after this and when there are good browsers like Firefox available which is the original code of this project?

Afaik the original codebase is from Chromium not Firefox.

[BrewMaster]

it is worth noting that KYC is not requires if you use it as a browser

But the subject of this topic is: "browser now requires KYC!" 

well, i've already mentioned the problem in the last part but let me expand on it more.
the first time i heard about Brave browser in 2016 it was before it was even released. this browser was introduced as a way you could use bitcoin to both make payments to websites and get paid by them, first one to support them to run ad free and the second to see ads and earn money.

basically it focuses on 3 things:
- the privacy part (like Firefox, and since the dev is Mozilla co-founder which is also why i though the code is the same)
- ad blocking part (like popular ad-ons for Firefox,... like uBlock)
- the bitcoin (and then other cryptocurrency and then the BAT thing in 2018) integration part
people are already using the first 2 in other browsers, so the only reason why they choose Brave is the third option and if they enforece KYC on that then in my view they are practically enforcing it on all their users.

[AB de Royse777]

~snip~
Not really, it all depends on your threat model and how high it's set.

How?
You will ask me to use duckduckgo.com for my search engine? I have no problem to use tor browser in fact I do use firefox with tor connection but asking me to use duckduckgo.com is boring.

I do not like it. The annoying part is that everytime when you are going to search for anything you are starting it from the scratch since the browser does not know anything about your interest, preference. I know that's the goal but these days we are so much addicted with technology that if you ask someone to add 122 + 123 (just picked some random number) then they will look for a calculator.

[eternalgloom]

~snip~
Not really, it all depends on your threat model and how high it's set.

How?
You will ask me to use duckduckgo.com for my search engine? I have no problem to use tor browser in fact I do use firefox with tor connection but asking me to use duckduckgo.com is boring.

I do not like it. The annoying part is that everytime when you are going to search for anything you are starting it from the scratch since the browser does not know anything about your interest, preference. I know that's the goal but these days we are so much addicted with technology that if you ask someone to add 122 + 123 (just picked some random number) then they will look for a calculator.

This is completely off-topic, but I'll respond anyway.
Sure, if you don't mind being tracked by Google and have your data on display for hundreds of advertisers, do use Google.

Though if you care about such things, then you might want to opt for Duckduckgo.

Now, I actually use Duckduckgo myself and it's definitely not quite as good as Google, but also not that bad that you can't use it.

[TryNinja]

How?
You will ask me to use duckduckgo.com for my search engine? I have no problem to use tor browser in fact I do use firefox with tor connection but asking me to use duckduckgo.com is boring.

I do not like it. The annoying part is that everytime when you are going to search for anything you are starting it from the scratch since the browser does not know anything about your interest, preference. I know that's the goal but these days we are so much addicted with technology that if you ask someone to add 122 + 123 (just picked some random number) then they will look for a calculator.

You can choose: either have your privacy or more convenience.

If you let Google track your location 24/7, they will give you cool custom alerts, suggestions, timelines, custom searches, etc... But they need to keep tracking you for that. If you don't mind, sure. But some people prefer to do a hard search on DuckDuckGo than having Google know what you like, think and even the porn you watch. What else do they even do with that data?

About Brave, as long as they don't track me, sell my data or some shady stuff like this, I don't care about what KYC they implement *for publishers only*; If they need to do that in the eyes of the law/government, they will obviously do.

[o_e_l_e_o]

You can choose: either have your privacy or more convenience.

This principle applies to so many things in modern life. A bunch of my friends use various smart home devices - Google, Amazon, whatever. They say it's super convenient: "Add x to my shopping list" or "What's the weather like tomorrow". I say I'd rather spend 10 seconds doing these things myself than having every single word that is every said inside my house being sent to and recorded on who knows how many servers around the world. You like the convenience of connecting with friends on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.? Then you are giving away all your data to these companies to use anyway they want and sell to anyone they want.

About Brave, as long as they don't track me, sell my data or some shady stuff like this, I don't care about what KYC they implement *for publishers only*; If they need to do that in the eyes of the law/government, they will obviously do.

I disagree with you here. Even if it doesn't affect me directly, I no longer want to support a browser which advertises itself as having a strong privacy focus, whilst simultaneously mandating KYC for part of their userbase. KYC is completely antithetical to everything they should be standing for.

[TryNinja]

I disagree with you here. Even if it doesn't affect me directly, I no longer want to support a browser which advertises itself as having a strong privacy focus, whilst simultaneously mandating KYC for part of their userbase. KYC is completely antithetical to everything they should be standing for.

I know that. But just like centralized exchanges NEED to implement KYC at some point (due to their government laws) or they will get shutdown, I think Brave actually needs to do that if they want to keep going with their idea of giving BAT tokens to publishers. What else should they do? Just give up on their idea or go against their law enforcement agencies? As long as they have good intentions and only ask for KYC when needed (for publishers in this case) I'm cool with that. But that's me (I also hate KYC btw).

[mk4]

I disagree with you here. Even if it doesn't affect me directly, I no longer want to support a browser which advertises itself as having a strong privacy focus, whilst simultaneously mandating KYC for part of their userbase. KYC is completely antithetical to everything they should be standing for.

As much as I agree with you, I don't think they just have any choice besides going full à la Binance and head over to Malta instead to run away from laws. It's simply just a regulatory requirement for them to let some of their users accept and send BAT tokens in a legal matter. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do it in the first place if it wasn't enforced. Ultimately, hey, it's optional! We non-BAT users can just freely use the browser freely without any KYC at all.

Again, I hope this KYC thing with Uphold is just mandatory. Hopefully they could let their users accept and send BAT in a protocol level. Though I'm not sure how that's going to work in terms of regulations.

[harizen]

Just installed this Brave browser because of the rewards. Not expecting at all but it's good to have a slight bit of rewards for my browsing experience. Not reading the whole terms yet but obviously, internal transactions involving BAT payments and rewards would be affected by the KYC but still, people can freely use the browser. So for those who earned up rewards decently up to now, no choice but to comply with the KYC or just give up their earned rewards.

I don't want the idea of KYC but will just consider it if I found it necessary to do.

[shield132]

Btw why are governments so quiet? I understood companies want to know their customers and get rid of illegal things without knowing who did that. Maybe it's not related to this topic but just think, why are they in silent? This company operates from USA, almost all of USA exchanges, social networks and etc steal and get our data, so in overall huge data is under control of USA government. Isn't this dangerous for other governments? Especially when one government owns ID documents of your citizens?