Brave browser gets private tab with Tor option
The makers of the Brave web browser announced a new feature today that introduces an option to open private browsing tabs with Tor for that added bit of privacy.
You cannot really say that Brave is just like any other browser out there. While it is based on Chromium code and supports pretty much all the web standards that Google Chrome supports because of it, it is different in several key areas.
Probably the biggest is the attempt to disrupt the advertising industry and one of the main revenue streams for web publishers. Brave includes ad-blocking technology by default and uses an electronic currency called BAT.
BAT is given to websites by users who get the currency either by viewing privacy-focused advertisement or by purchasing currency from BAT. So, users earn the currency for browsing the web and they may reward websites or cash out instead.
Private Tab with Tor
The most recent version of Brave, download it here and released earlier today, introduces the new Private Tabs with Tor feature. Tor is a free software project that protects its users from traffic analysis and network surveillance.
Brave's private tabs feature is another useful feature that most other browsers don't support natively.
The integration of native Tor functionality in Brave gives Brave users an option to improve privacy and security when using private tabs. Firefox users could install the Private Tabs extension in pre-Firefox 57 versions of the browser but the extension is not compatible with Firefox 57 or newer versions, and there is no alternative.
Private browsing blocks certain data locally so that it is not recorded by the browser. What private browsing does not do is block data that is recorded remotely or protect user privacy by hiding the IP address or through other means. That's where Brave's new feature steps in.
Private Tabs with Tor help protect Brave users from ISPs (Internet Service Providers), guest Wi-Fi providers, and visited sites that may be watching their Internet connection or even tracking and collecting IP addresses, a device’s Internet identifier.
Brave users can select the new Private Tabs with Tor option from the main menu. The tab that opens highlights that it is a private tab and that Tor is enabled.
It includes a description that explains what Tor does in case users selected the option without really knowing what Tor does and what effect using Tor has on the browsing.
While Tor does hide the IP address and protects your browsing from snooping ISPs, employeers, hackers, or even state actors, it may also slow down the browsing or result in some sites working differently or not at all.
It is a good thing that Brave describes the good and the issues that users may experience on the page. It is easy enough to disable Tor just by flipping the Toggle.
The tab highlights the Tor session as well so that you know that this particular session is connected to Tor. The connection process is dead simple as it is fully automated. The feature is in beta right now and there are no options right now to modify the Tor configuration. The developers plan to add options that let users choose exit node geolocations.
Private Tabs with Tor uses the DuckDuckGo search engine by default but users may switch to other search engines easily.
You can read Brave's announcement here.
Brave announced that it contributes back to the Tor network by running Tor relays
Closing Words
Brave is always good for a surprise and the integration of Tor should increase the browser's attractiveness further. The company started opt-in ad trials recently.
Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?
Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.
I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
http://www.google.com/saved
@Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!
@Martin
The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/
Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.
Omg a badge!!!
Some tangible reward lmao.
It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.
With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.
This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)
Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.
And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.
First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[
Yes. Please. Fix the comments.
With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.
Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.
The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.
If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.
And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.
When will you put an end to the mess in the comments?
Ghacks comments have been broken for too long. What article did you see this comment on? Reply below. If we get to 20 different articles we should all stop using the site in protest.
I posted this on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/] so please reply if you see it on a different article.
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Article Title: Reddit enforces user activity tracking on site to push advertising revenue
Article URL: https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
No surprises here. This is just the beginning really. I cannot see a valid reason as to why anyone would continue to use the platform anymore when there are enough alternatives fill that void.
I’m not sure if there is a point in commenting given that comments seem to appear under random posts now, but I’ll try… this comment is for https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
My temporary “solution”, if you can call it that, is to use a VPN (Mullvad in my case) to sign up for and access Reddit via a European connection. I’m doing that with pretty much everything now, at least until the rest of the world catches up with GDPR. I don’t think GDPR is a magical privacy solution but it’s at least a first step.