5 ms·

Peter Theil was an angel investor in Brave. That alone is all the reason privacy-minded users need to avoid it.

fragmede 1mo ago
Because Peter Thiel gave them some money, there's some secret backdoor code that's sending all your information to Palantir?
- rwz 1mo ago
  It's quite likely that Brave itself collects data on your usage and shares at least some of it with Palantir. This isn't such an outrageous assumption to make here.
  - shooly 1mo ago
    Firefox also collects and sells data to no one really knows who. https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/commit/d459addab846d8144b61939b7f4310eb80c5470e#diff-efc9fde0375fb98aa4918364737cb420fe33c44a52465ed89deb02db8cfe6c0a https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/commit/d459addab846d8144b... https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/update-on-terms-of-use/ https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/update-on-terms-of-use/
    - rwz 1mo ago
      I mean sure, but there's a bit of a difference between "sells data to no one really knows who" and "sells data to no one really knows who AND PALANTIR" which the original commenter seem to be flagging as a problem.
      - inigyou 1mo ago
        "no one really knows who" is probably also Palantir or someone who resells to Palantir.
        AstralSerenity 1mo ago
        From what I know personally, Firefox truly is responsible with user data. Though -- to steel man your point -- all the data Firefox sells is through their subsidiary Anonym, which goes through great lengths to anonymize all user data that can't be tied to any individual. Example: selling market preferences of a town rather than the individual people in it.
        deleted 1mo ago
        [deleted]
      - shooly 1mo ago
        Well Thiel investing in Brave once at the beginning doesn't necessarily mean that Palantir is getting any data now (even though it's presented as if it was a fact in other comments here). It's probable, but really it's just speculation, just like anyone can speculate about who's getting data from Firefox. But at least with Brave, the initial funding information was made public, so there's already more information available to users in comparison with Mozilla. Mozilla just said: "there are a number of places where we collect and share some data with our partners" - that could mean literally anyone.
  - tredre3 1mo ago
    Telemetry can be disabled in Brave. Any kind of history/bookmark syncing is opt-in. You're just spreading FUD unless you have evidence that Brave funnels usage data in secret.
  - EbNar 1mo ago
    There's no need to make assumptions. The source code is out there. Please, show us the relevant commits which do what you said.
- downrightmike 1mo ago
  That is their MO
- AstralSerenity 1mo ago
  Sometimes you make decisions based on principle and future risk. Brave Software is a for-profit company that funded its start through Peter Thiel. Even if fine in the present, you cannot guarantee me the future of a Thiel-funded, VC-owned firm. Mozilla, in comparison, is a mature, non-profit with substantial goodwill and operational transparency. Everything past these details are just noise.
  - niutech 1mo ago
    Mozilla has also a for-profit corporation.
    - AstralSerenity 1mo ago
      No, Mozilla is a non-profit -- you may just misunderstand charitable structure optimization. It has a for-profit public-benefit subsidiary called Mozilla Corporation (Firefox). This is common in non-profits for a number of reasons: protects the foundations assets, allows for engaging in commercial operations (Mozilla VPN, Anonym), greater flexibility, etc. It is not a true for-profit company. All "profit" flows up to the non-profit and the non-profit parent retains complete, absolute control while being tied to the Mozilla mission.
deleted 1mo ago
[deleted]
TiredOfLife 1mo ago
As someone who lives in a country bordering russia, I will certainly switch to Brave now.
al_borland 1mo ago
Wasn't Brave also founded on the back of a bunch of Web3 nonsense? That's always what kept me away. I'm actually surprised how many fans it has. There was something else they did that was shocking a couple years ago that made me glad I never used it. I went to wikipedia to jog my memory and found this... > In 2020, the company was found to be appending affiliate referral codes to the end of certain cryptocurrency exchange URLs typed into the browser's address bar. The practice applied to exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase, and was later discovered to extend to suggested search queries for terms like "bitcoin" and "ethereum". I'm not sure why anyone would trust a browser that does this kind of thing. Some could claim it's a harmless way to make some extra cash, but it's very similar to what Honey was caught doing.
- niutech 1mo ago
  Come on, it was 6 years ago, they have apologized since then. Firefox also had slip-ups like pop-up ads in 2023: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36073619 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36073619 and ToS backlash: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43251762 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43251762. Give Brave another try!
  - al_borland 1mo ago
    At this point, I won’t use any Chromium based browser. I don’t want Google having full control of the future of the web. I don’t trust an advertising company with that power.
  - AstralSerenity 1mo ago
    Everyone properly informed on the topic now understands the Mozilla ToS debacle was a complete nothing burger and simply a result of California law, miscommunication, and Mozilla being careful. Not one thing changed in actuality. Brave is a Thiel-funded, VC-owned private company with far more egregious monetization efforts. Ultimately I know everything at Mozilla is completely controlled by the mission-driven non-profit parent -- something they've recently double-downed on. Brave does not have those same assurances and cannot be trusted.

Because Peter Thiel gave them some money, there's some secret backdoor code that's sending all your information to Palantir?

rwz 1mo ago
It's quite likely that Brave itself collects data on your usage and shares at least some of it with Palantir. This isn't such an outrageous assumption to make here.
- shooly 1mo ago
  Firefox also collects and sells data to no one really knows who. https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/commit/d459addab846d8144b61939b7f4310eb80c5470e#diff-efc9fde0375fb98aa4918364737cb420fe33c44a52465ed89deb02db8cfe6c0a https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/commit/d459addab846d8144b... https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/update-on-terms-of-use/ https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/update-on-terms-of-use/
  - rwz 1mo ago
    I mean sure, but there's a bit of a difference between "sells data to no one really knows who" and "sells data to no one really knows who AND PALANTIR" which the original commenter seem to be flagging as a problem.
    - inigyou 1mo ago
      "no one really knows who" is probably also Palantir or someone who resells to Palantir.
      - AstralSerenity 1mo ago
        From what I know personally, Firefox truly is responsible with user data. Though -- to steel man your point -- all the data Firefox sells is through their subsidiary Anonym, which goes through great lengths to anonymize all user data that can't be tied to any individual. Example: selling market preferences of a town rather than the individual people in it.
      - deleted 1mo ago
        [deleted]
    - shooly 1mo ago
      Well Thiel investing in Brave once at the beginning doesn't necessarily mean that Palantir is getting any data now (even though it's presented as if it was a fact in other comments here). It's probable, but really it's just speculation, just like anyone can speculate about who's getting data from Firefox. But at least with Brave, the initial funding information was made public, so there's already more information available to users in comparison with Mozilla. Mozilla just said: "there are a number of places where we collect and share some data with our partners" - that could mean literally anyone.
- tredre3 1mo ago
  Telemetry can be disabled in Brave. Any kind of history/bookmark syncing is opt-in. You're just spreading FUD unless you have evidence that Brave funnels usage data in secret.
- EbNar 1mo ago
  There's no need to make assumptions. The source code is out there. Please, show us the relevant commits which do what you said.
downrightmike 1mo ago
That is their MO
AstralSerenity 1mo ago
Sometimes you make decisions based on principle and future risk. Brave Software is a for-profit company that funded its start through Peter Thiel. Even if fine in the present, you cannot guarantee me the future of a Thiel-funded, VC-owned firm. Mozilla, in comparison, is a mature, non-profit with substantial goodwill and operational transparency. Everything past these details are just noise.
- niutech 1mo ago
  Mozilla has also a for-profit corporation.
  - AstralSerenity 1mo ago
    No, Mozilla is a non-profit -- you may just misunderstand charitable structure optimization. It has a for-profit public-benefit subsidiary called Mozilla Corporation (Firefox). This is common in non-profits for a number of reasons: protects the foundations assets, allows for engaging in commercial operations (Mozilla VPN, Anonym), greater flexibility, etc. It is not a true for-profit company. All "profit" flows up to the non-profit and the non-profit parent retains complete, absolute control while being tied to the Mozilla mission.

deleted 1mo ago

[deleted]

TiredOfLife 1mo ago

As someone who lives in a country bordering russia, I will certainly switch to Brave now.

al_borland 1mo ago

Wasn't Brave also founded on the back of a bunch of Web3 nonsense? That's always what kept me away. I'm actually surprised how many fans it has. There was something else they did that was shocking a couple years ago that made me glad I never used it. I went to wikipedia to jog my memory and found this... > In 2020, the company was found to be appending affiliate referral codes to the end of certain cryptocurrency exchange URLs typed into the browser's address bar. The practice applied to exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase, and was later discovered to extend to suggested search queries for terms like "bitcoin" and "ethereum". I'm not sure why anyone would trust a browser that does this kind of thing. Some could claim it's a harmless way to make some extra cash, but it's very similar to what Honey was caught doing.

niutech 1mo ago
Come on, it was 6 years ago, they have apologized since then. Firefox also had slip-ups like pop-up ads in 2023: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36073619 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36073619 and ToS backlash: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43251762 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43251762. Give Brave another try!
- al_borland 1mo ago
  At this point, I won’t use any Chromium based browser. I don’t want Google having full control of the future of the web. I don’t trust an advertising company with that power.
- AstralSerenity 1mo ago
  Everyone properly informed on the topic now understands the Mozilla ToS debacle was a complete nothing burger and simply a result of California law, miscommunication, and Mozilla being careful. Not one thing changed in actuality. Brave is a Thiel-funded, VC-owned private company with far more egregious monetization efforts. Ultimately I know everything at Mozilla is completely controlled by the mission-driven non-profit parent -- something they've recently double-downed on. Brave does not have those same assurances and cannot be trusted.