this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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[–] LinkOpensChest_wav 194 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't trust homophobes or cryptobros, especially not those with a history of selling users out like Brendan Eich

[–] ours@lemmy.film 41 points 1 year ago

Especially when there is Firefox and Firefox-based, privacy-focused alternative with great add-blocking and privacy extensions.

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[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 147 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Very strongly worded, but yes.

Brave have had a history of controversy since their inception. Every time something happens, the CEO went on a marketing campaign across social media and drummed up enough new users to drown it out. However the attitude of the business is clear: it would take a very small sack of money for Brave to sell out its users.

If you're going to use a Chromium web browser, there are non-commercial open source projects that don't have a history of shady shit. However Firefox forks are better.

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[–] charonn0@startrek.website 113 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Why was appointing Eich as CEO so controversial? It's because he donated $1,000 in support of California's Proposition 8 in 2008, which was a proposed amendment to California's state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Which is all the reason I need.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 year ago

If he had changed his tune since then and done something to offset that, I might be willing to cut him some slack.

But, instead, he seems to have doubled down...

[–] foo@programming.dev 26 points 1 year ago

They had me at invented JavaScript

[–] falsem@kbin.social 113 points 1 year ago (12 children)

People that use Brave always remind of the people pushing crypto.

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[–] people_are_cute@lemmy.sdf.org 72 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (16 children)

Not a single solid reason given in this unhinged rent except a mention of that affiliate link fiasco, which even they themselves agree was a major fuckup.

All BAT and crypto stuff are completely opt-in and it barely takes a few clicks to set the browser to never let you see that side of it again. As for Brendan's political affiliations, most users couldn't care less. He might as well be a ~~furry~~ flat-earther but if the product is good, it is good. Stop acting like you're sure all the things you use throughout the day aren't made by people with doubtful leanings.

I personally don't use Brave on desktop, Firefox is good enough; but it is the best option on Android currently since Bromite is almost always a Chromium version behind whatever is current.

Edit: Just learnt that I was wrong in my perception of what "furry" meant. Reading the replies objecting to that reference made me dig a bit deeper and realise that it's just a type of fandom, and not some sex-deviant cult that pop media made me believe. Sorry for the wrong example.

[–] wifienyabledcat 136 points 1 year ago (3 children)

mf really conflated being a homophobe to being a furry 💀

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[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 82 points 1 year ago

Not a single solid reason given in this unhinged rent except a mention of that affiliate link fiasco, which even they themselves agree was a major fuckup.

That's pretty dismissive of a feature that could only have been added intentionally. It's not like there was some accidental glitch that was adding affiliate suffixes on the end of links.

What we have here is a business poking and prodding and seeing what they can get away with. You've said that there's only one thing they did that's truly out of line, while glossing over the fact that most of what they do is borderline. Their intent is clear.

[–] borlax@lemmy.borlax.com 45 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Imagine comparing furries to homophobes lol. Sit down you goofball.

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[–] beefcat 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

The very first reason seems valid to me. No way anyone should be supporting a hateful asshole like that. Anybody going around saying homosexuality is any less valid than heterosexuality has no place in our society anymore.

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[–] Alto@kbin.social 40 points 1 year ago

If directly funding homophobic policies isn't a good enough reason for you, you need to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself why that is

[–] sarsaparilyptus 27 points 1 year ago

Not a single solid reason given

Well not to you, but that doesn't mean much considering you think spyware is fine as long as it's opt-in (and that being a furry is equivalent in severity to being homophobic, wtf). The fact that you think this article is bad is basically a ringing endorsement.

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[–] drcouzelis@lemmy.zip 66 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To anyone reading this article, only the first quarter of it is about the beliefs and political stance of the developers. The rest of the article after that goes into more technical reasons.

[–] IHeartBadCode@kbin.social 41 points 1 year ago (6 children)

All I needed to read was in the first paragraph.

Brave Software, the company behind the browser of the same name, was founded by Brendan Eich. He's best known as the creator of JavaScript from his days at Netscape Communications

I mean, JS is his baby that's all there needs to be said about the person's motivations.

[–] ericflo@lemmy.ml 60 points 1 year ago (11 children)

I love Brave, use it daily, and this article didn't convince me at all. Vaguely motioning at the founder's ancient political donations or the optional crypto features, doesn't make a strong case.

[–] charonn0@startrek.website 95 points 1 year ago (3 children)

2008 is not ancient. Nor is same-sex marriage some minor technical legal point.

Nor has he repented.

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 40 points 1 year ago

Nor has he repented.

That's the important point for me.

People can change after 20 years. But he prefers to double-down instead.

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[–] Scary_le_Poo 60 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Chromium should be enough of a reason to get rid of it.

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[–] Naatan@lemmy.one 46 points 1 year ago (6 children)

You see, when someone is known to make bad choices it makes sense to approach what they do with apprehension. This guy not only has a history of bad choices, he's also the CEO.

You're free to do as you like of course, but I'd say it's hardly fair to say the article is unconvincing.

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[–] Gsus4@feddit.nl 53 points 1 year ago

The moment my cryptofan buddy started talking up brave, I knew it was time to uninstall.

[–] regalia@literature.cafe 51 points 1 year ago (5 children)

It should've been as simple as stop using any chromium-based browser, but the CEO is also super bigoted, doing ad theft, and pushing crypto scams.

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[–] Steeve@lemmy.ca 45 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Stop telling me what to do

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[–] ulkesh 44 points 1 year ago

Now it makes sense why some of the Fox News-parroting, right wing people I know use Brave. I had no idea about what the author mentioned about the browser, I just know it is based on Chromium which I will not use. Thus, I am on Firefox. And for many reasons, including those the author laid out, I'm happy I chose wisely.

[–] emptyother@programming.dev 42 points 1 year ago

Don't need to tell me twice. I've distrusted Brave since I saw their advertisement for it. It just feels like they sell the browser in same mood as pyramid schemers does their products.

But its just my gut feeling. Got no good reason why people should avoid the browser. And because the CEO is an ass isn't a good enough reason for most people.

[–] Janis@feddit.de 38 points 1 year ago (19 children)

if you useanything alphabet like chromium, then YOU are the problem.

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[–] RobotToaster@infosec.pub 33 points 1 year ago

Isn't this like the fourth time this has been posted? the conversation always goes around in circles with nobody changing their mind.

[–] retronautickz 31 points 1 year ago

I never used brave. I wasn't interested in it since I learned it was chromium and all the crypto stuff.

[–] sculd 26 points 1 year ago

I used to think Brave was good until I found out they are into crypto.

Nope Nope and Nope! Not using that thing again. Firefox is my friend now.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 24 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I don't use Brave, won't use Brave, and have my reasons for it.

  • Brave is Chromium based; a project which is slave to the whim of Google.
  • Brave integrates an unnecessary cryptocurrency.
    I hate shitcoinsI don't trust small crypto projects, and I doubly do not want this to be integrated into my browser. It's a good way to lose your stable crypto-holdings if you have them. (I don't; but I've seen lots of anecdotes about catching malware that subsequently stole their crypto wallets, including any BAT tokens they owned)
  • Brave does not block ads! It does not 'enhance' your privacy. It just absorbs some ads, replaces some, and blatantly lets first-party advertisements through the filter. That's not ad-blocking
  • Brave does not protect your privacy. As per my previous point; it does not block ads, it injects it's own right into browser chrome! That's worse than plain Chrome! Your privacy is automatically violated when you watch/view even a single ad.
  • Brave does not have many benefits above "Ungoogled Chromium" or other competing projects. It just doesn't. Unless you like marketing fluff.
  • Brave is NOT BETTER THAN Firefox. It's worse; because it's Chromium; which is enslaved to Google whims. Don't believe me? Try to contribute something to Chromium that goes contrary to Google's stated goals and watch how fast you get shot down.

But sometimes...Yes, Sometimes a programmer does succeed. But only sometimes; and this is usually because they have the clout, coding skills, chops and public reach to embarrass the fuck out of the Google PMs. This will never be you, unless you put an extraordinary amount of effort into becoming a very well known and respected contributor in the OSS space. If you already are a respected contributor in the OSS space, Congrats! You're still likely to be forced to fight a long and protracted battle against the Google nerds to get "Google-Hostile" code changes approved.

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