New stupid/greedy move from Brave Browser

[NeuroticFish]

Yep, the wonderful privacy browser even myself started using it, have done it again.
When you want to go to binance.us, Brave redirects you to a REF LINK: binance[.]us/en?ref=35089877
And it's not the only site where it uses ref links:



See more (and cry) :
https://twitter.com/fluffypony/status/1269286972805255169
https://twitter.com/cryptonator1337/status/1269201480105578496

Just to make it clear, I didn't find this myself, I've seen the info in the linked tweets.

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[Saisher]

Damn you are right when I tried to type Binance.us a referral link shows up and I though it was cached when using the search engine for Binance I clean my computer regularly and haven't made a visit to Binance lately but sure is embedded in the browser.

Wow they are exposed, good job for exposing them, I wonder are they doing this since we installed the browser, such cheap trick.

[ChuckBuck]

When you want to go to binance.us, Brave redirects you to a REF LINK: binance[.]us/en?ref=35089877

Oh wow, an astonishing finding! Damn browsers! It is like the virus that works in the background of your computer  And now, the price to pay for privacy is being taken advantage  I don't use it, but I feel resentful when the people who develop them make them a damn virus. It really made me feel uncomfortable  Jitney referral links!

[bL4nkcode]

Great find, even typing the .com domain redirects to their referral link as well.  

After asking its publishers for KYC to move their rewards and now this. So this is something what they called privacy browser  

Although, while typing the url you can choose the binance.us on the recommendation instead of the one with ref link and it will redirect you to the url without their ref.link.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I suspected Brave would continue down this path after they accepted money from Binance to have their widget embedded in to every instance of Brave browser. Now they are getting paid by force re-directing their users to URLs they did not enter.

Brave gets worse and worse with every update. Every time there is a hint of some profit to be made, another piece of their users' privacy falls by the wayside. No ads (except from those companies who pay us). No tracking (except from Facebook, and Twitter, and anyone else who pays us). No privacy invasion (except full KYC). No third party code (except from Binance, and anyone else who pays us). If a three letter agency offered to pay to place a unique identifier in every browser instance, Brave would jump at the chance. But you can earn a few hundred sats a day (that you can't withdraw without KYC), so that makes it OK?

The response from Brave seems to be "We are going to keep doing it, but we will do it in a way that you don't notice". Fully expect this kind of behavior to expand to other sites.

Such a shame that such a promising project sold out their users for profit, just like the centralized exchange they partnered with.

[tomahawk9]

I've never liked Brave Browser, but this should be the final nail in the coffin for most users (crypto users at least). Fuck Brave Browser!

Yep, the wonderful privacy browser even myself started using it, have done it again.

Well? You are going to stop using Brave after this, right?

Everyone, please, don't fall for the Brave browser astroturfers and shills, if you want a to use a web browser for privacy reasons, just use Firefox + some addons and optimal "about:config" configurations (this is important, the out-of-the-box FF isn't that secure without these features). Not enough? Use Tor browser. Still want more? Whonix or Tails.

EDIT* here are some "about:config" that everyone should use in FF: https://www.privacytools.io/browsers/#about_config

[cabron]

Making money would be easy for them that way so I guess its going to be its normal behavior after all they partner up with binance. But it shouldn't be this bold though.
They could have been transparent to it. Possibly letting people know that registering through them could receive more benefits or so.

I'm not a Brave user but as far as I know, hackforum.net participated in developing the browser.  Just so you know too.

[ChuckBuck]

The response from Brave seems to be "We are going to keep doing it, but we will do it in a way that you don't notice". Fully expect this kind of behavior to expand to other sites.

Thanks o_e_l_e_o, you helped me to better understand this situation  It seems I have judged subjectively, ignorance when reading the OP. In terms of users, no one likes being controlled when accessing any website, they have acted without consent from users. But if you stand on the perspective of a business, profit is required to continue operating and maintaining. It is understandable that they will continue to do it. What interests me is "Have they get any other profits if they don't do it?" It will say their greed, yes or no, very clearly 

For me, it is better if they ask the previous user and such links only occur when the user has agreed.

In another case, if they continue to do it without the user's consent, I still don't think it's too bad when using their browser. At least, users lose part of their privacy (may lose more in the future), but it's still better than losing all personal data when using other browsers, right?

[o_e_l_e_o]

EDIT* here are some "about:config" that everyone should use in FF: https://www.privacytools.io/browsers/#about_config

Here is another good source regarding about:config tweaks for Firefox: https://gist.github.com/0XDE57/fbd302cef7693e62c769
And if you really want to delve in to hardening up your Firefox, look here: https://12bytes.org/articles/tech/firefox/the-firefox-privacy-guide-for-dummies/

At least, users lose part of their privacy (may lose more in the future), but it's still better than losing all personal data when using other browsers, right?

Just because Brave isn't as bad as something like Google Chrome, which is literal spyware, doesn't mean it is a good choice of browser. As tomahawk9 has said above, if you want privacy, you should be using Firefox as your browser (Tor is obviously superior, but most people will refuse to use Tor as their daily browser and only use it when the specific need arises).

[JeromeTash]

As soon as they started their KYC bullshit, I stopped using the browser. Binance acquiring them was like the last nail on the coffin to the once promising privacy based browser for me. I uninstalled it sometime back and even forgot about it.

Nice discovery OP. I guess my instincts were somehow right.

[enhu]

They wasted the project by selling Brave to binance, they could have created their own exchange for bigger profits if that is what they want. Not this ref link as they are just dust from BNB.

As soon as they started their KYC bullshit, I stopped using the browser. Binance acquiring them was like the last nail on the coffin to the once promising privacy based browser for me. I uninstalled it sometime back and even forgot about it.

Nice discovery OP. I guess my instincts were somehow right.

That is not the case for some users since they more got into it since they tried earning BAT while they keep browsing the internet. The lockdown also locks them up in using Brave browser while browsing facebook.

[shield132]

The most curious thing is that Brave Browser states:

Get unmatched speed, security and privacy by blocking trackers.

When the browser itself redirects me to their referrals, how is my privacy protected? They already track me when I use their ref link.
This browser isn't different from others for privacy, sadly, marketing purposes everywhere. How can browser show me "relevant" ads and at the same time offer anonymity?

Also, don't forget that this browser received $7 Million from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. To make it more clear, Peter Thiel is the chairman of Palantir Technologies, a company that specializes in big data analysis. And for me, it sounds illogical.

[NeuroticFish]

I've never liked Brave Browser, but this should be the final nail in the coffin for most users (crypto users at least). Fuck Brave Browser!

I did like its speed and in-built ad blocker.
I did hate the fact its sync doesn't work and I was almost getting back to Chrome (actually I did get back on my phone).

Yep, the wonderful privacy browser even myself started using it, have done it again.

Well? You are going to stop using Brave after this, right?

I am coming from Chrome, so Brave is not worse   at least not yet.
But most probably I'll give another chance to Firefox, although I stopped liking it after it has disappointed me many many years ago.


Edit: Yup, I'm going for Firefox again. Bye-bye Brave.

[carlfebz2]

Such a shame that such a promising project sold out their users for profit, just like the centralized exchange they partnered with.

All things do have corresponding price and a good project that we do believe on would turn out to the other side since they do have been paid up well.

They would be willing to ruin up its users trust because of it.Im not really that surprise though and actually this is a good find and im trying on other

exchange links but i didnt find any ref-code aside from Binance and same as you said that this one wont be the last.

[ChuckBuck]

Just because Brave isn't as bad as something like Google Chrome, which is literal spyware, doesn't mean it is a good choice of browser. As tomahawk9 has said above, if you want privacy, you should be using Firefox as your browser (Tor is obviously superior, but most people will refuse to use Tor as their daily browser and only use it when the specific need arises).

Myself also a regular Tor user, but I only use it at work, with daily activities or forum activities. Tor doesn't seem necessary, and I believe a lot of people think the same way I do, so not many people use Tor every day 

[aioc]

Such a shame that such a promising project sold out their users for profit, just like the centralized exchange they partnered with.

All things do have corresponding price and a good project that we do believe on would turn out to the other side since they do have been paid up well.

They would be willing to ruin up its users trust because of it.Im not really that surprise though and actually this is a good find and im trying on other

exchange links but i didnt find any ref-code aside from Binance and same as you said that this one wont be the last.

Maybe they are experimenting, they can make big money from those referrals, is their coin not enough for them to make money that they are resorting to this, soon we will have all links with their referral links on them, there are other browsers, I'm using Becent, Opera and Edge but they are not implementing this, this can ruin their reputation.

[julerz12]

I tried it out myself just now. Typing Binance.com, it doesn't really "redirect" you to the Binance referral link. The ref link only shows up in autofill.
But I guess that wasn't really the point. The fact that they've added this into their code without telling anybody about it is fishy.
This is indeed such a stupid and "cowardly" move from Brave. LMAO. Back to Firefox. 

[Maus0728]

I am an avid fan of using Brave browser from my laptop and Android phone but it seems they broke their stated mission at the very first place.

Found some ironic comment from Brave:

We're making changes here, but just to clarify, this feature was inline with similar behaviors in browsers for quite some time. Default search deals and more; 10 years ago Stack Overflow experimented with affiliate link-rewriting (we didn't go that far). But, we're reverting.

They also manage to put referrals from ledger, coinbase and trezor:
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/9302

[o_e_l_e_o]

When the browser itself redirects me to their referrals, how is my privacy protected

Yeah, it isn't. Their advertised headlines of being "privacy respecting" and "having no trackers" are demonstrably false.

How can browser show me "relevant" ads and at the same time offer anonymity?

It can't. At the end of the day, Brave is an ad company. To serve you relevant ads, they must track and monitor your activity. This is antithetical to the entire concept of anonymity.

They also manage to put referrals from ledger, coinbase and trezor:
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/9302

Wow. You can't even type in "btc" without Brave trying to redirect you to their affiliate link. This feels like it has been designed by the kind of spammers you see on social media who write "review" articles or "guides" solely to spam their referral links.

Unless the website is functionally broken when i use Firefox, i wouldn't use Brave (it's still far better than Google Chrome if you opt-out).

I use Tor or my custom hardened Firefox for most things, a clean Firefox install for the odd occasion my hardened Firefox totally breaks a site, and Ungoogle Chromium for the very rare occasion I need to use a Chromium based browser.

[tomahawk9]

@ o_e_l_e_o  i'll look into those links, thanks.

I did like its speed and in-built ad blocker.

Their ad blocker is decent, but not as good as uBlock Origin which gives you more customization. You can also get uBlock on Brave Browser, but if you're gonna install uBlock on Brave, you might as well get rid of Brave and install ublock on FF.

But most probably I'll give another chance to Firefox, although I stopped liking it after it has disappointed me many many years ago.

I'm genuinely curious to know why exactly FF has disappointed you.

Looks like they given up with their idealism (privacy and freedom).

To me it seems like the Brave Team wanted to use the privacy thing and the BAT reward system as a way to attract ppl from niche markets (privacy community and the crypto communty), but it didn't work so now they're selling out and doing some shady stuff. People thought Brave was going to disrupt the browser market and revolutionize the industry but at the of the day their top priority was the same as any other company: profits, and the privacy and crypto related features were secondary. That's not a bad thing (any company needs money), but like you said, the idealism, the "we care about your privacy & security" but then you go and do this "referral links" thing behind the scenes? That's just shitty behaviour.

IMO it's a matter of time before a big company buys Brave Software Inc. And I'm expecting a chinese company to be the one to purchase this browser, just like it happened to Opera^[1]...Heh, that takeover certainly didn't work out for Opera^[2].

1. https://www.engadget.com/2016-07-18-opera-browser-sold-to-a-chinese-consortium-for-600-million.html
2. https://www.extremetech.com/internet/305149-opera-accused-of-operating-predatory-loan-apps-on-android