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Brave’s browser has been autocompleting websites with referral codes


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Privacy-focused browser Brave was found to autocomplete several websites and keywords in its address bar with an affiliate code.

Shortly after a user published his findings, Brave CEO and co-founder Brendan Eich addressed the incident and called it “a mistake we’re correcting.” Eich said that while Brave is a Binance affiliate, the browser's autocompleting feature should not have added any new affiliate codes.

“The autocomplete default was inspired by search query clientid attribution that all browsers do, but unlike keyword queries, a typed-in URL should go to the domain named, without any additions,” Eich wrote in the thread. “Sorry for this mistake — we are clearly not perfect, but we correct course quickly,” he added.

Brave's Github repositories show the browser also does the same thing for websites owned by Ledger, Trezor, and Coinbase. Eich responded to this by saying Brave would remove all affiliate-code autocomplete defaults.

Eich did not specify when an update would be released, and Brave didn’t immediately respond for comment.

The open-source web browser was launched in 2016 with the aim of protecting users' privacy by blocking ads and website trackers. In June, the firm announced that it has over 15 million monthly active users, adding 1.5 million in April and May 2020.

In March, Brave partnered with crypto exchange Binance to enable users to trade cryptocurrencies on its new tab page. The partnership gave users the ability to trade cryptocurrencies, view their balance and get deposit addresses.

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brave-browser-autocompleting-websites-referral-191422067.html

I never had a good feeling about them. I tried the browser a couple of times but their whole replacing ads with their ads seemed a bit much.

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Brave's business method is dirty enough for me to never want to try it. Seriously, block ads from which content creators can eke a minuscule reward so you can insert your own ads to make money from? Puleeeeeze! 🙄

I'm not too worried about hackers getting into my PC to steal my funny cat pics. I run Linux behind NAT so that cuts the odds enormously. I did do a recent Firefox password dump to .csv using FF-Password-Exporter and must remember to encrypt that soon. My IP address (obfuscated) if you want to test my security is 6861686120666F6F6C656420796F7500.

I reckon Firefox is still the best browser with a balance of security vs convenience and can be even better after following a decent tweak guide. 😎👍

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I was only willing to try Brave on android, never Windows. When I saw they were putting in their ads. I removed it.

I wish to browse ad-free, particularly when I have to view on a 5" screen.

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