this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
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Privacy

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I've been using Brave for the past three or so years but I do know that Linux/privacy enthusiasts tend to swear by Firefox. Wanted to get people's thoughts on this topic to see if I should be making a potential switch. Thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

By default? I think so.

https://privacytests.org/

(these test are done with browsers at their defaults). Librewolf is on par with Brave, but I vehemently hate its interface and refuse to unfuck it wasting my time on CSS.

I'm on Brave as well since 2021, after almost 20 years of being an avid FF user and supporter. I don't like how FF is evolving and what Mozilla is doing and I don't buy the "Chromium domination" argument. If the sole reason to use FF is that "it is not Chromium", well, the developers aren't doing a great job.

However, let's be real: privacy on a browser matters until you go to whatever website that track you on the server side (Google/Facebook/Youtube/Whatever), or when you write an email from from you Gmail account, or when you buy stuff on Amazon... And so on. Just use the browser that works best for you and don't be paranoid.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don't forget that https://privacytests.org/ is run by a Brave employee!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That hasn't do anything with the results. You can test everything yourself. Techlore also made a interview with him.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As I said in another comment, if you work for Brave you're probably going to write tests that play to Brave's strengths

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is enough evidwnce that this is wrong. I would recommend to watch Techlores Interview too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you telling me that you don't think a Brave employee would write tests based on the areas of expertise they have, that they may well already have implemented fixes for? Or, on a more sinister level, do you think Brave would allow their employee to have a web page up that made their browser look bad?

I'm not trying to be agro here, I'm just pointing out that you can't really consider this an unbiased source even if you are happy with all the tests!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I would suggest checking the Interview that Techlore made, he ask the owner of the site similar questions.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It discloses that on the front page, below the test table. Anyway, the tests are open source and they check pretty common stuff. I can't see the problem there if Firefox comes out having actually worse defaults.

It is how it is, there isn't much more to say. As a matter of fact, Librewolf gets a lot more green ticks, same or more than Brave. Thus, I can hardly see bad faith on what the website does.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not necessarily bad, and I assume all the tests are legit, it's just that someone working for Brave will have a bias towards writing tests for things that Brave does well (and on the flip side, Brave will make them take the site down if it makes them look bad)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I understand that, and what you say is entirely possible, in theory. On the other hand, I see that the tests performed there are pretty standard. I mean, there is nothing exotic that only Brave does well there and Librewolf shines as well. Then, c'mon, Brave surely had missteps in the past, but is generally know to be a solid choice with regard to privacy.

That said, there's an open issue with the same concerns. Even if I'd say that nobody would complain about the employer of the author if Firefox came out with better score from those test...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@Engywuck do you mind expanding on this? Genuinely curious: “I don’t like how FF is evolving and what Mozilla is doing”