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Former Mozilla CEO Launches Security-Centric Browser Brave

rudy_wayne writes: Former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich has launched a new Chromium-based browser called Brave. "Brave blocks everything: initial signaling/analytics scripts that start the programmatic advertising 'dirty pipe', impression-tracking pixels, and ad-click confirmation signals," Eich wrote on the Brave site. Former Mozilla CTO Andreas Gal said in a blog post that "the web is broken," with current browser vendors unwilling to tackle the dilemma of blocking ads, while looking at alternative mechanisms for funding content. Gal said it was ironic Brave was a for-profit operation that can make money from reducing advertising.

7 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Brave is an Ad Funnel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The first mention I saw of Brave was this morning on a site, I think linked from another Slashdot article, run by the advertising industry. The insiders on that page were touting Brave to one another as a new platform that will send ads only from servers it controls. "More importantly", they said, everybody will get a share of the proceeds—Mozilla and advertisers both. It's clear that users of Brave will have no option to block the ads that appear in any way. So if you're ready to let someone else decide that certain ads are okay and you ought to see them, this is your browser. I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot fucking pole.

  2. Re:No thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good thing he is not, nor ever was, intolerant.

    "There is not a scintilla of evidence that he has ever discriminated against a single gay person at Mozilla" - Dissents Of The Day. The Dish.

    The only bigotry here is the bigotry you and your ilk seem so willing to project on others.

  3. Re:And will insert its own ads... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, dude, seriously, read closer ... he's going to block the ads already there, and then put in his own ads:

    When Brave is ready, it'll replace the missing content with its own ads.

    The ad newtwork can't track you because it doesn't serve ads to you.

    And then he charges someone else to sell you ads.

    The now mysteriously missing engadget link is the source of that quote.

    Let's get a grip on reality here and at least read the site before jumping to conclusions.

    Oh, do lets.

    Because the business model is replacing existing ads with new ads under the guise of giving us less tracking and more security.

    This is about creating his own ad network, and telling us it's for our benefit.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  4. Important to note he's not using Gecko or Servo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The most important thing I see out of all of this is that he isn't using Gecko, despite his very long history with that technology.

    He's also not using Servo, the browser engine Mozilla is working on to eventually replace Gecko.

    I think this says a huge amount about the sorry state of Mozilla's offerings today.

    Users of Firefox already know what I'm talking about. They know how much slower Firefox feels than Chrome, Edge, Safari, and browsers using other engines. They know how Firefox uses more memory. They know how Firefox suffers from bugs that haven't been fixed even after many years.

    It's truly sad what has happened to Mozilla's products. They've shot themselves in the foot by going off on stupid tangents like Firefox OS, Persona, and especially Rust and Servo.

    Rust and Servo are leading Mozilla down a dead end trail. They're a twin example of software rewrites gone bad.

    Rust is basically trying to rewrite C++, but hasn't done a very good job. The syntax is no better, and sometimes much worse. Its approach to resource management is harder to understand and use practically than C++'s. There's only one Rust implementation, and it's buggy and slow. The Rust community is way too focused on social justice and censorship. They even have a moderation squad, for crying out loud! It took them ages to get a 1.0 release out, and it isn't good at all. Then there's the fact that C++ has continued to evolve and get better, along with having multiple excellent implementations.

    Servo is written in Rust, so that helps explain why it's a failure so far, too. When I tried it recently, it gave me what I'd consider an experience similar to IE 3, which dates back to 1996. Servo has a huge amount of catching up to do. The entire situation is not encouraging at all.

    Mozilla should end the Rust and Servo projects now, along with Firefox OS and their other failed initiatives. They need to get back to focusing on Gecko and Firefox. They need to restore Firefox's UI to the usable Firefox 3.6 approach. They need to migrate Gecko to C++14, and prepare for the use of C++17 instead of switching to Rust. They need to fix Gecko's performance issues. They need to fix the longstanding bugs.

    Right now there are at least a few remaining users of Firefox and Gecko, although their number is dropping. There are basically no users of Servo. Mozilla's only hope for salvation is to win back the Firefox users they've alienated over the past few years. I fear that if they don't do that, then they will slide into irrelevancy. That won't be good for them, and it won't be good for the web either.

  5. Re:Good on Brendan by naris · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really! you think replacing (NOT blocking) ads with other ads where the revenue goes to the browser maker instead of the site is a step in the right direction! How is this NOT about money?

  6. Re:No thanks by lgw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Equally bigoted are the people who couldn't handle Adolf Hitler's views.

    Adolf Hitler had every right to his views, and every right to express them, to participate in the political process. He did not have the right to use force to impose those views on others when those avenues didn't work out.

    Eich was not the one that used force on others in his story. He participated in the political process to support views he had every right to hold, and every right to express. There's no evidence he ever discriminated against a gay person at Mozilla.

    "Tolerance" means to accept the right of people you disagree with to exist in society, and to not try to kill them or force them out. Eich was tolerant - not accepting, which is a higher bar, but tolerant. His opponents were intolerant, and forced him out.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  7. Re:No thanks by Alypius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pfft, what is this "democracy" of which you speak? We lost that when people decided that shaming and silencing was a splendid little strategy. These days, calling someone a bigot merely translates into, "'Shut up or I'll harass your boss until he fires you," and when someone says they "want a conversation," they really mean, "Shut up and agree with everything I say."