Brave browser blocks Windows feature that takes screenshots of everything you do on your PC
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I think it's a compounding issue, primarily of Google products just kind of being the "default."
Google pays to be the primary search engine in Firefox, on iOS, and sets themselves as the default on their operating systems. They, wherever possible also set their browser as default. Yes, Chromium is open source, but they have the ultimate final say, and no one seems to have the interest in forking it. This puts Google in a similar position that Microsoft was in in the 90s and early 00s, where they can essentially hijack the web and force their ideas through whether others want to or not.
We saw this with Google forcing Manifest v3, all Chromium-based browsers essentially just had to follow suit. That was just Manifest v3 however, who's to say what else they'll do?
Then there's my tinfoil hat worry that Google essentially being the window to the web for so many people, on an OS, browser, and discoverability level is just overall a cause for worry. That's not even considering their communications and media platforms.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I'm pretty sure if Firefox/Mozilla decides to change their policy on something, most forks of firefox will have no choice but follow the same path
afaik all firefox forks are really small, just like chromium forks
Mozilla might not have as much conflicting interests though, I admit it
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Good for you. I actively refuse to use it or any of its derivatives to avoid endorsing Mozilla by giving them market share. Additionally, I find that Brave just performs better (and needs one extension less to be functional).
I care a lot about rendering engine diversity, and Firefox is the largest non-chromium browser, so I use it. It's fast enough for me, and my handful of extensions gives me what I need.
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"Just like Mozilla".
Let's compare.
Mozilla: installed a closed-source plugin once, and then apologised for it.
Brave CEO: actively supports homophobic organisations, donates money to them, injects affiliate links to stores, whenever given a microphone will say something bigoted and homophobic.
Yeah, it's totally the same exact issue with both browsers!
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Brave: injected affiliate links once, then apologised for it too. Developped a search engine to be less dependent on big companies
Mozilla is spending money like crazy, just like Wikipedia, has little to no democratic system which makes people fork the stuff they make, and prefer to use the money from donation to buy trips all over the world to educate about privacy and shit while they proceed to keep adding more telemetry and BS in firefox
They also make it close to impossible to install plugins outside their plugins website, which I've heard has some strict rules and take a lot of time to approve stuff. Closed garden bullshit again
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Do you consider any form of telemetry "spyware"?
Honestly it largely is.
Personally I like sharing crash reports, but even then, the user should be able to turn that off if you like.
Telemetry should be 100% opt-in.
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I mean Mozilla's Firefox is 🤮 too... there's no perfect browser
nothing is perfect, except the horseshoe crab. however both librewolf and cromite are great with ublock, and ltsc windows has no copilot since companies use that edition.
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Do you consider any form of telemetry "spyware"?
how the hell do you not?
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All I have to say is I hope this catches on with other browsers.
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Switching to Linux made me like computers again. Switching to Hyprland made me love computers again.
Hyprland made me suicidal again but we are all different
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I care a lot about rendering engine diversity, and Firefox is the largest non-chromium browser, so I use it. It's fast enough for me, and my handful of extensions gives me what I need.
Again, good for you.
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What feature? Recall?? That's Windows 11-specific and hasn't even launched yet??
The joke is that Linux blocks this by not doing it at all. Which is why people should switch to Linux. Which is a good idea. But that's up to the people.
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Sure, so? It's still opt-in, and by default it sends the generated crypto money to creators and websites you visit
If you don't like it, don't enable it? They're pretty transparent about how it works overall
They have pretty much abandoned this feature anyways
wrote on last edited by [email protected]It's opt-in for now, how many times do we have to play this game?
I'll keep using Firefox with uBo to actually block ads instead of a browser that's running its own ad delivery system.
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Do you consider any form of telemetry "spyware"?
I don't think taking screenshots of everything you do every few seconds is telemetry.
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It's opt-in for now, how many times do we have to play this game?
I'll keep using Firefox with uBo to actually block ads instead of a browser that's running its own ad delivery system.
Brave has a built in ad blocker
at this point you're just hating on brave for nothing
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nothing is perfect, except the horseshoe crab. however both librewolf and cromite are great with ublock, and ltsc windows has no copilot since companies use that edition.
Librewolf is too restrictive and not suitable for everyday browsing. I hate it.
never tested cromite
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It doesn't tick #3, hence why I use a Firefox browser as my main. If they had their own rendering engine, I would consider it as my main. But for now, it's my backup in case I need a website that doesn't work on Firefox (i.e. they use something Chrome-specific).
Valid point then. We need compatibility with gecko, I always found it better looking than chromium
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I don't think taking screenshots of everything you do every few seconds is telemetry.
It's not, but it's also not spyware - it's local, encrypted, AND optional.
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Holy shit, what a comment!
This is about the Smart App Control
It's not, it's about Recall.
that takes screenshots periodically to check for “malicious activity”
It doesn't. Smar App Control does code validation and reputation check. Recall makes screenshots, OCR's them and keeps them in an encrypted vault for the user to interact with.
built into the OS
It's not, you can turn both off at any time.
its basically a glorified keylogger
It's not, it fundamentally is NOT, because it doesn't log any keystrokes. SAC isn't even in the picture here, while Recall literally only makes screenshots, runs OCR and encrypts that.
Fuck me, where do you people get this bullshit from? It used to be "oh no, Microsoft will be making screenshots of your activity and sending them to their servers" not so long ago which, while still bullshit, was at least in the same ballpark as what Recall does.
Now you're throwing SAC into the mix somehow?
I worry that the prevalence of ill-informed hot-takes dilutes the validity of complaints, and I appreciate your work here
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Honestly it largely is.
Personally I like sharing crash reports, but even then, the user should be able to turn that off if you like.
Telemetry should be 100% opt-in.
Honestly it largely is.
I mean, by definition, it isn't.
It's anonymous and not malicious in nature. It's a diagnostic and engagement measuring tool.
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how the hell do you not?
I don't know, maybe because I understand the definition of "spyware" and "telemetry"?
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It's not, but it's also not spyware - it's local, encrypted, AND optional.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Microsoft is known for making things “optional” at first then eventually forcing it down everyone’s throats. Removing offline accounts is one of them.
It’s not so much the technology itself is malware, but its behavior replicates that of malware.
