NYT: 'If You Care About Privacy, It's Time to Try a New Web Browser'

[DEAD7]

NYT: 'If You Care About Privacy, It's Time to Try a New Web Browser'


Firefox Focus, available only for mobile devices like iPhones and Android smartphones, is bare-bones. You punch in a web address and, when done browsing, hit the trash icon to erase the session. Quitting the app automatically purges the history. When you load a website, the browser relies on a database of trackers to determine which to block.

The DuckDuckGo browser, also available only for mobile devices, is more like a traditional browser. That means you can bookmark your favorite sites and open multiple browser tabs. When you use the search bar, the browser returns results from the DuckDuckGo search engine, which the company says is more focused on privacy because its ads do not track people's online behavior. DuckDuckGo also prevents ad trackers from loading. When done browsing, you can hit the flame icon at the bottom to erase the session.

Brave is also more like a traditional web browser, with anti-tracking technology and features like bookmarks and tabs. It includes a private mode that must be turned on if you don't want people scrutinizing your web history. Brave is also so aggressive about blocking trackers that in the process, it almost always blocks ads entirely. The other private browsers blocked ads less frequently....

In the end, though, you probably would be happy using any of the private browsers... For me, Brave won by a hair. My favorite websites loaded flawlessly, and I enjoyed the clean look of ad-free sites, along with the flexibility of opting in to see ads whenever I felt like it. Brendan Eich, the chief executive of Brave, said the company's browser blocked tracking cookies "without mercy."

"If everybody used Brave, it would wipe out the tracking-based ad economy," he said.

 

[Paper Boi]

i need to make the switch to brave, but i'm lazy

 

[FromBillionsCameOne]

i need to make the switch to brave, but i'm lazy

just download it and start your life anew. Fuk all your bookmarks and shyt.

 

[Cheesy]

I'm on Brave for about a year now on all my devices, the amount of ads I see when I watch other people visit the same sites
Never going back

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

This site made me switch to brave. Occasionally I fukk up and open it in safari and am amazed at all the stuff brave is working overtime to block

 

[Cynic]

Privacy doesn't exist. This is just a marketing myth to stare paranoia and increase marketshare for these other browsers.

The internet without ads would mean paying subscription fees for content.

 

[mc_brew]

i use brave on my cellphone and tablet.... i'm never going back to any other browser.... i admit, on my laptop i use firefox paired with ad block plus... i don't see any of the ads on this site... my goodness, when i look at this site on another browser, it is horrific... there are far more ads than content.....

 

[Mr Rager]

i use brave on my cellphone and tablet.... i'm never going back to any other browser.... i admit, on my laptop i use firefox paired with ad block plus... i don't see any of the ads on this site... my goodness, when i look at this site on another browser, it is horrific... there are far more ads than content.....

I'll make the switch today. The ads on here are unbearable

 

[TheAlbionist]

Privacy doesn't exist. This is just a marketing myth to stare paranoia and increase marketshare for these other browsers.

The internet without ads would mean paying subscription fees for content.

There's always going to be a free layer to the Internet... but just because we got used to all content being free, doesn't mean free content is what was best for us. We used to spend more on journalism - most households bought at least one paper, people subscribed to multiple magazines - quality investigative journalism happened because it got properly funded. It had to fight against establishment-led bullshyt, but it was something approaching a fair fight. Scandals were broken. Resignations were forced. Presidents were toppled. It doesn't take hundreds of billions, either. A dollar or less daily from every reader used to cover most organisations.

Somehow we need to keep the democratisation of viewpoint and access that the ad-driven Internet brought but maintain some standard of media diet for society... the model of clicks = ads = revenue is leading us further and further down the path of fast-food news where fact and hard work is less important than immediate emotional impact and there's shrinking reward for dedicated, investigative journalism. Where fact-based journalism still exists, it's sober and boring logic can easily be drowned out by fast-written whataboutery and distraction - a triggering "alternative fact" that earns more revenue spreads quicker and ultimately becomes a de-facto truth.

The ad model seemed great in '98, but it's KILLING the ability of democracies to function properly. It's what led directly to Facebook and Google's dominance of our personal data. We've got to find a better way somehow - if it means going back to paying for a newspaper with my morning coffee that seems a small price to pay.

 

[BK The Great]

How about Google Chrome? or Safari on Iphones?

 

[Payday23]

Brave has worked wonders. Blocks ads and Nap. The best of both worlds

 

[Cynic]

O

There's always going to be a free layer to the Internet... but just because we got used to all content being free, doesn't mean free content is what was best for us. We used to spend more on journalism - most households bought at least one paper, people subscribed to multiple magazines - quality investigative journalism happened because it got properly funded. It had to fight against establishment-led bullshyt, but it was something approaching a fair fight. Scandals were broken. Resignations were forced. Presidents were toppled. It doesn't take hundreds of billions, either. A dollar or less daily from every reader used to cover most organisations.

Somehow we need to keep the democratisation of viewpoint and access that the ad-driven Internet brought but maintain some standard of media diet for society... the model of clicks = ads = revenue is leading us further and further down the path of fast-food news where fact and hard work is less important than immediate emotional impact and there's shrinking reward for dedicated, investigative journalism. Where fact-based journalism still exists, it's sober and boring logic can easily be drowned out by fast-written whataboutery and distraction - a triggering "alternative fact" that earns more revenue spreads quicker and ultimately becomes a de-facto truth.

The ad model seemed great in '98, but it's KILLING the ability of democracies to function properly. It's what led directly to Facebook and Google's dominance of our personal data. We've got to find a better way somehow - if it means going back to paying for a newspaper with my morning coffee that seems a small price to pay.

The internet still relies on profit motives like the grander economy outside of it. So the ad model
will continue to be the default because publishers ultimately need to generate revenue to pay for
servers and personnel. Your regular self indulgent consumer rarely takes this into account though

90% of the US media is owned by 6 firms and controlled by less than 10 white men.
Quality investigative journalism is tied to whatever motive these people dictate.

The UK isn't any better - go look at what the BBC and Reuters are doing in promoting "attitudinal change"
and "british values" in the baltic states. Literally accepting contracts from intelligence agencies and not one
peep is being said about it.

The ad model is exposing the flaws of democracy itself. The same bipartisan system which only
serves the interest of well-funded industrialists by using charismatic figures to garner votes.
The representatives manipulate their voters [to vote for them by providing false, biased info;
appealing to unnecessary needs; exploiting mass media ] This isn't new or novel.

 

[bnew]

I got like 5 different browsers on android and I use "Better open with" to choose which browser i want to open links with from external apps.

Bromite
it's a chomium fork with ad blocking but i primarily use it for the always-incognito mode.

Privacy Browser – Stoutner
as the name implies it's a privacy focues browser but I use it for it mostly for untrustworthy/unfamiliar sites i want to visit without javascript on since javascript is disabled in the browser by default and all it takes is one button to enable it.

I also use chromium, duckduckgo, firefox and brave browser with duckduckgo as my default search engine on all of them.

 

[null]

NYT: 'If You Care About Privacy, It's Time to Try a New Web Browser'

Firefox Focus, available only for mobile devices like iPhones and Android smartphones, is bare-bones. You punch in a web address and, when done browsing, hit the trash icon to erase the session. Quitting the app automatically purges the history. When you load a website, the browser relies on a database of trackers to determine which to block.

The DuckDuckGo browser, also available only for mobile devices, is more like a traditional browser. That means you can bookmark your favorite sites and open multiple browser tabs. When you use the search bar, the browser returns results from the DuckDuckGo search engine, which the company says is more focused on privacy because its ads do not track people's online behavior. DuckDuckGo also prevents ad trackers from loading. When done browsing, you can hit the flame icon at the bottom to erase the session.

Brave is also more like a traditional web browser, with anti-tracking technology and features like bookmarks and tabs. It includes a private mode that must be turned on if you don't want people scrutinizing your web history. Brave is also so aggressive about blocking trackers that in the process, it almost always blocks ads entirely. The other private browsers blocked ads less frequently....

In the end, though, you probably would be happy using any of the private browsers... For me, Brave won by a hair. My favorite websites loaded flawlessly, and I enjoyed the clean look of ad-free sites, along with the flexibility of opting in to see ads whenever I felt like it. Brendan Eich, the chief executive of Brave, said the company's browser blocked tracking cookies "without mercy."

Add a VPN and also install Tor Browser (set highest security with NO javascript).

I have Brave and TorBrowser and use a VPN on my phone.

Remove everything google (ex. current authenticator if you need it).

VPN on iPhone sometimes stops working and there is nothing to stop parts of the OS (or lower) ignoring the VPN settings and communicating with a known IP.

"If everybody used Brave, it would wipe out the tracking-based ad economy," he said.

And he would be wrong ...

But it would stop 3rd party cookies if setup correctly (which google pledge to stop using anyway).

Google is done with cookies, but that doesn’t mean it’s done tracking you

Other tracking could still continue.

-


TL;DR - Get rid of everything Facebook and Google from your phone Browse default no cookies, no javascript - avoid websites which set google cookies - especially sites with new software.

 

[Liu Kang]

Surprised none of you use Firefox. You can add extensions easily like U Block Origin whether you're on mobile or on your pc. Ive been using Brave on mobile too but FF is my go to browser.