Mastodawn

@[email protected]

reminder for everyone who may have missed it the last few times

the only reason that brave browser exists is because its ceo was kicked from mozilla for being a homophobe & transphobe

by contuing to use that software you are activity supporting and promoting a company that not only hates lgbtqia+ people but was born out of that bigotry

brave browser is also filled with many not very cool things everything from cryptocurrency scams to link redirection to so much more

there are tones of other chromium , webkit , or firefox based browsers that do can do most everything that brave browser can do or more in terms of "privacy" and just as much or more on terms of useability

please i urge anyone who cares enough about these things to have installed brave in the first place to migrate form brave to something better

heres some good alternatives to try

firefox , chromium , librewolf , ungoogled-chromium , gnone web, kde falkon , qutebrowser , tor browser, thats just a few tho id mostly suggest one of either ff, ch, lw, unch

@julia_ what are some good alternatives for android?

epicEaston197 Jul 24, 2023

@Wicycool @julia_
there's also Kiwi browser that I've been using I don't know the back story of its development or anything or who develops it all that I know is that it works well

although it's only for mobile and i don't know if there's an I OS client but yeah it's a really good client for mobile

IAG Jul 24, 2023

@epicEaston197 @Wicycool @julia_ Kiwi is shady. I used to use it but I think it's gotten pretty bad. I switched to Bromite for a while and it worked okay, but I'm now using Fennec (feel free to try Mull, it has saner defaults for privacy but refresh rate is stuck at 60 and I don't know how to change it)

epicEaston197 Jul 24, 2023

@iagondiscord @Wicycool
huh that's the first I'm hearing about Kiwi being shady can I inquire for more details?

IAG Jul 24, 2023

@epicEaston197 @Wicycool For one, their Discover feature. It's like Google News, and it connects to Google servers which can be used to track you. The feature is opt out. Not the worst thing, but still.
Secondly, some search engine options pass requests TO KIWI'S SERVERS (Bing is the biggest one), because apparently that's the only way they can get paid as referrers. That was at least two years ago and I think it remains unchanged. Users are not made informed about this.
That's really it. Second one is the big point of contention.

epicEaston197 Jul 24, 2023

@iagondiscord @Wicycool
that is really strange

@[email protected]

🐢Jul 24, 2023

@Wicycool fennic or bromite
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/
https://www.bromite.org/fdroid

Fennec F-Droid | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

Browse the web

@julia_ @Wicycool +1 for Bromite. Was my go-to when on Android

aerique Jul 24, 2023

@Wicycool @julia_ Firefox

Crystals Jul 23, 2023

@[email protected] I sadly use brave on my phone as I find it's the best mobile browser ATM sadly.
I would use bromite but it is abandonware 😭

IAG Jul 24, 2023

@Crystals @julia_ why not Firefox? I'm using it right now and it's okay

Crystals Jul 24, 2023

@iagondiscord @[email protected] I was using it but scrolling just felt off from.chromium browsers and ye

IAG Jul 24, 2023

@Crystals @julia_ Are you using Mull? It's locked to 60hz I think. Fennec is able to use my phone's full 120hz.

Crystals Jul 24, 2023

@iagondiscord @[email protected]
Was default Firefox mobile
Using pixel 5a so refresh rate doesn't matter (60hz display)
I mean the limits for like how much of an angle you could have when scrolling (I have incredibly goofy scrolling)

IAG Jul 24, 2023

@Crystals @julia_ ohhhhh

@Crystals @julia_ Brave really is blazingly good in terms of actual end user performance once all the crypto bollcoks is turned off.

Matteꙮ Italia Jul 24, 2023

@Crystals @julia_ is it? I use it everyday and it gets regular updates; you even get a warning when the version you are using is behind the released Chromium, which usually lasts just a few days at most. From what I gather they "just" rebase their patches over updated Chromium, but that's pretty much the project scope AFAICT.

Flame Soulis Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ @julia_ Okay, just stop.

I don't even use Brave, and the amount of BS regarding this kind of stuff is getting out of hand.

First off, a simple Google search shows he wasn't kicked at all from Mozilla: they wanted to keep him, but due to the controversy with a donation from 2008 (6 years before he left), he stepped down himself and ignored Mozilla's pleas to remain on. Bear in mind, half the board also left in response. Take that as you will.

(1/3)

Flame Soulis Jul 24, 2023

@julia_
Second, if you want to go down that rabbit hole of "If you use X, you support Y," don't even get started with how half the crap you have most likely makes human rights seem like a secondary thought. We've seen enough stuff go on with businesses that people continue to use, despite how many lives are being run to the ground as a result. (2/3)

Flame Soulis Jul 24, 2023

@julia_
As for the crypto part, I hope you aren't using PayPal, because it has the same integrations. If it's regarding their BAT thing, I don't know enough about it to comment. It sounds like how they get funding for their other services... I honestly can't give an immediate answer.

I'm just so tired of hearing people be so quick triggered to just hate on everything with minimal research and assuming everything is just terrible. This kind of anger rallying needs to stop.
(3/3)

Flame Soulis Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ As another alternative: Waterfox.

I remember it being more known for being a 64-bit Firefox before that was official, and it seems to be an in between of Librewolf and Firefox in the security and privacy handling. It's actually pretty nice.

Psittacus cafeina Jul 24, 2023

@flamesoulis @julia_

How much of that is a function of staying alive in the fascist hellscape of modernity? Versus using a web browser. A web browser in direct competition with ones that haven't funded a harassment-platform-cum-dox-exchange, to be specific.

Tobey 🦊Jul 24, 2023

@flamesoulis @julia_ yes the donation was in 2008 but he was given the option to apologize for it, to say his views had evolved. All he had to do was issue some boring statement "I'm sorry I hurt people. I was wrong. I will do better" instead he doubled down and implied that because Mozilla was a global organization and because homophobia was still widely accepted in countries such as Indonesia that it was good for Mozilla that he was homophobic.

More recently he insisted on adding some right wing conspiracy site to the default brave search providers and when people pushed to get it removed he doubled down.

We all use all sorts of shitty products and services made by shitty people who contribute to shitty systems. That's just part of living in the modern world, and if Brave's the best solution for you that's fine. I still buy things from Amazon for instance despite all my moral qualms about it. But I think it's pretty clear that Brandon Eich is a shitty person.

Federico Damián Schonborn Jul 24, 2023

@TobeyFox @flamesoulis @julia_ do you have a link for the news feed thing?

Tobey 🦊Jul 24, 2023

@FedericoSchonborn @flamesoulis @julia_

I misremembered! It was adding an option available for Brave search not news feed

https://github.com/brave/browser-laptop/issues/5475

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Infogalactic

Add infogalactic.com to Search prefs · Issue #5475 · brave/browser-laptop

This URL seems like the straightforward basis or template: http://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?search=&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go (from a blank search box on infogalactic.com => click on the magn...

GitHub

Federico Damián Schonborn Jul 24, 2023

@TobeyFox @flamesoulis @julia_ thanks

Jovica Popovic Jul 24, 2023

@TobeyFox
You failed to mention the biggest source of misfortune and despair he foisted on the world: JavaScript. Now, that's a crime.
@flamesoulis @julia_

Flame Soulis Jul 24, 2023

@jpop32 @TobeyFox @julia_ That's his contribution?

Where's the pitchforks...

Psittacus cafeina Jul 24, 2023

@flamesoulis @julia_

And at Brave he was part of keeping KiwiFarms afloat long after it otherwise would've been sunk.

Do you not see how there's a difference between the organization that he (and the rest of the homophobic trash, seems, but that part of your spiel doesn't appear to be accurate, regardless) left a decade ago vs. the organization the fascist is at right now?

Flame Soulis Jul 24, 2023

@caffetiel ...how? I'm looking around and not finding any articles to support that claim. Granted, I did find a mention regarding him saying some bad comments about Covid-19 in Dec 2020, and that's pretty bad, but nothing with KiwiFarms.

As for whatever 'claims' I had? I went to DuckDuckGo, typed in his name, and read the Wiki article and the sources.

If we're going to brand based on organizations and their leaders, then most people are in the wrong, at no fault of their own.

Flame Soulis Jul 24, 2023

@caffetiel I'm all for calling people out when they do something wrong. Based on articles I did find, he is no saint by any definition.

I'm just so tired of people twisting the bad to 'worse' and then claiming they have all the right because it's justifiable to them. If it's REALLY justifiable, it can be done on its own merit. Cut it out with stretching truths to make your narrative seem better. That's all I ask.

Ted Mielczarek Jul 24, 2023

@flamesoulis @julia_ I worked at Mozilla during those events and you're wrong: he was given the option to resign by the board, but if he hadn't they would have fired him.

flere-imsaho 🇺🇦Jul 24, 2023

@flamesoulis it's fascinating that in this time and age they're are still gobshites who think that brendan eich needs to be defended.

Flame Soulis Jul 24, 2023

@mawhrin I'm not defending him specifically. I mean, let's be real: the donations done were a real thing, and looking into it made me question some of Mozilla's own leadership when half the board walked with them.

But at the same notion, it was a petty amount compared to others and if you are going to call someone out, try calling them out the right way and not twist the narrative.

I'm just so tired of seeing these anger rally posts on birdsite. Can we keep them there, please?

flere-imsaho 🇺🇦Jul 24, 2023

@flamesoulis he was always a scoundrel, yes, but he wasn't ceo, there's a different optics when you're the face of the company; when he was named ceo, scrutiny was applied, pressure followed, and he stopped being ceo, which was a good. (he should have been fired earlier, but that's a separate story.)

and brave's approach to crypto and other practices are definitely shady (the tokens were one thing, there was another case when brave was caught hi-jacking links and inserting their own affiliate codes); similarly, their search bot cannot be identified by user-agent (and they decline to change this behaviour), and there's this latest ai-related shadiness.

frankly, i'd recommend anything over brave at this stage.

The shady world of Brave selling copyrighted data for AI training

I'm fairly certain that I was not the only person in the world who thought to himself, "Did they just yoink the entire Internet and bundle it together into a

Stack Diary

Flame Soulis Jul 24, 2023

@mawhrin Ooof. Reminds me back when many Youtube channels got sponsored by Brave.

Had no idea about the affiliate code thing, and I can easily see that being a bigger issue when they were trying to push their tokens as an alternative to avoiding ads. Guess that's how they gave them some value... thanks for clearing that up.

Weird they have the gall to call Google out, when their own provided services are equally questionable.

rugk Aug 5, 2023

@flamesoulis @mawhrin but if you read your sources than do that correctly please. You say half the board stepped with him (brave CEO). Well no they stepped down *against* him as a protest: “The Wall Street Journal initially reported that, in protest against his coming appointment, half of Mozilla's board (Gary Kovacs, John Lilly, and Ellen Siminoff) stepped down”.

rugk Aug 5, 2023

@flamesoulis @mawhrin and no they apparently did not pledge to stay him on board. They tried to keep him in the company, in a different role, that different role matters.

All from wikipedia en.

Flame Soulis Aug 5, 2023

@rugk @mawhrin I'm not going to argue semantics. If anything, that means the Wikipedia article might need to better specify some details. I dont' care about the topic, but I am tired of "Let's begin hating on X because of Y."

The larger point was against rallying a anger mob over petty things like SOFTWARE. It's not going to threaten you or harm your safety (under normal conditions). We have greater concerns of this world, and that isn't one of them.

rugk Aug 5, 2023

@flamesoulis @mawhrin you quoted wikipedia as your source and I cited wikipedia to say you may have misunderstand sth. If "let's change the wikipedia entry" is your answer you'd have to provide a new source.

flere-imsaho 🇺🇦Aug 5, 2023

@flamesoulis @rugk this wasn't “rallying a mob over petty things like SOFTWARE”, this was protesting the fact that a person who wanted to harm other people enough to pay their personal monies for the politicians to do it became a public face of a social software company producing an application platform for communication.

Flame Soulis Aug 5, 2023

I went ahead and re-read the article again, as in actually read it instead of quick drafting. I remembered the "Appointment to CEO and resignation" segment to be shorter, and I can see I misread that part regarding the protest half the board did.

Also, "an application platform for communication." It's a WEB BROWSER. It has no social features, no direct communication features other than handling a TCP stream. What kind of stretch are you trying?

rugk Aug 5, 2023

@flamesoulis @mawhrin thanks for rereading and honestly noticing/admitting a mistake! So rare nowadays… 🤝

flere-imsaho 🇺🇦Aug 5, 2023

@flamesoulis @rugk web browser is the application platform of our times, with access to the most intimate details of people lives. the trust is important.

IAG Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ didn't Brave have a deal with Google at some point? I'm pretty sure Google was Brave's default search engine before Brave Search... Maybe I ended up changing it from DDG or Bing though? I forgor.

I used to use it and just ignored all the crypto stuff. Ditched it when I realized I could install uBlock Origin on Firefox, much better experience all around imo. Some sites I have to use are broken for no good reason but I have an Ungoogled Chromium install just for them.

@[email protected] more than that brave is just bad, like there's literally ungoogled-chromium if you're into blink and Firefox for whatever else, also qutebrowser, surf and other things if you're into spending a lot of time configuring the browser

Aranjedeath Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ he always gives really disingenuous answers about this too. deferring to the idea that his organizational leadership and personal beliefs (spent $$$ on!) are separate, so no issue here. But if these are deeply held beliefs he derives from his faith, that faith requires him put those ideas into practice. It cannot be both ways. Famously, if controversially, one primary contention between catholicism and protestantism was about good works and good faith vs good faith alone (respectively).

🔴 I don't know where we should go.. 🟡Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ The only one thing literally nothing but any browser with uBlock can do tho, so all mobile browsers besides Firefox/Tor/Mull on Android with uBlock.. is stop those damn JS redirects entirely. And everything that has that shit, you disable JS, and the website is completely broken.

That is what's so infuriating which um.. I thought all Chromium browsers were supposed to be blocking that now from what was mentioned years back? Yet it still doesn't.

I've gotten away from Brave myself finally, predominantly use Mull myself and for over a year now I've been predominantly using Orion on my MacBook (Safari fork by Kagi that supports Chrome and Firefox plugins), and when I need an alternative browser, Vivaldi, such as if on Linux.

But yea it's frustrating as f that well on iOS you have literally no other option. Though well there is a third option I've had experience with. Web Video Caster. Which doesn't fall short here. Though it inserts it's own ads which you gotta do in app purchase to remove which is annoying af. As well for what the app is worth, for most folks that see value in the app, probably have no problems paying for a great app, but that in app ads is just being insulting. Could of had say trial on features to try them, and then you pay, or don't pay if don't need.

Beyond shameful that Brave still just beats others in the one area that none should he falling behind on, just like the pop up blocker. Not at all an endorsement or excuse to still use Brave, but as a call out for EVERY DAMN thing that should be on par but are not, in regards to this, that's frustrating as heck.

Why Not Zoidberg? 🦑Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ Louder for the ones in the back. (Oh and he's also committer of sexual harassment, which is one reason he got fired).

Unfortunately a lot of the people using the browser are "Privacy fanatics", who also happens to be Libertarians / "Freeze Peach absolutists".
The number of times I have listed this and either got the response "It's worth it because Mozilla has a woke agenda and hates free speech" or "but crypto is COOL and gay people always make everything about politics"...

Harry Davies ✅️Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ lgbtq kinda scares me tho

MJ Ray Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ seems plausible from what's written on Brendan Eich - Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Eich

Brendan Eich - Wikipedia

Happosai 八宝斎 Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ want to boost but need citation, claim is challenging to reframe into search terms 😮

Many thanks Julia!

de VK5ZSH 🇦🇺 🐧 🏳️‍🌈Jul 24, 2023

#LibreWolf works good for me

iconnorclast Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ thanks for this! I'll uninstall it tonight

iconnorclast Jul 28, 2023

@julia_ sorry for the delay, I uninstalled it last night!

Derek Vandivere Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ Thanks. I had no idea this was the case.

toxtethogrady Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ For me to continue to use it, I'd have to start using it...

Hali Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ I've never even heard of it... Thanks for the warning

Bryan Swift Jul 24, 2023

@julia_ @alex I did not know the history of this browser. Thanks for sharing and boosting. I’ll be migrating to an alternative today.