Why I don’t trust the Brave browser

This will be a rather controversial technology take, especially from someone who has been working on privacy and security for so long, but I do not trust the Brave browser or their search engine.

This isn’t to say they aren’t “private” or make any actual accusations, but privacy is to a degree about trust. You have to trust the software companies that they will always do the right thing, and I don’t trust that Brave will.

First, they had a rocky start.

In 2020, it was found that Brave was injecting affiliate links into code to profit off crypto sites.

Later, it was running a donations program for creators, except they were collecting donations for creators who had not even signed up for the program and keepint it.

And it’s also not really browser focused, it’s just a “privacy Google” in the sense that is essentially an ad company selling its own ads and displaying them, and selling its own crypto, BAT.

They use privacy as a gimmic to get you in and then profit the crap out of you.

Lastly, I don’t trust their CEO, Brendan Eich. Not even a little. Politically he’s a slimy anti-LGBTQ bigot who donated to try and marriage equality in California, he’s also an anti-vaccine lunatic.

Look, most CEOs are bad, but when it comes to browsers, I have options and I chose not to use Brave because I don’t trust their CEO and I sure as hell don’t trust their business practices.