Page 26 - Issue 26

Vol.1 Issue 26, December 2020 ELITE

Brave is Your New Browser Keeping You From

Google Chrome Surveillance.

Yasmin Tarek, 4th level, Economics

Google Chrome has cornered the market with billions of Brave is a user-centric model, by default, concentr ate on
users around the world, reigning unchallenged as th e king user ’s privacy by banning third-party ads, ad trackers,
of internet browsers for the last decade with nearl y four auto-playing videos, and device fingerprinting. In addition
billion users worldwide. Google held 88 percent of the to the privacy feature, it boosts performance, as i t can load
market shares among the worldwide engine provider, up to three times faster than Chrome, Safari, and F irefox
according to last statistics conducted by STATA in on mobile and desktop.
October 2019. Brave swaps ads and ad tracking sites, then substit ute
Chrome's competitors, like Safari, Microsoft Edge, a nd them with its own ads, which won't be targeted
Firefox, have indeed struggled to persuade users to step individually, but rather directed at an anonymous
away from Google; nevertheless, millions have been aggregate of the user base of the browser. Brave wi ll not
tempted by an increasing desire for privacy. only make an ad exchange, but it will also create a
Google can generate more personal data than you wou ld monetary mechanism that will eventually compensate
ever realize. Google Maps, for ex., tracks you ever ywhere; those websites, causing no harm to publishers who r ely on
the route you use, and how long you stay. Even if y ou've advert income. That ’s it, “Brave Reward system ”.
never opened the app, it still can track you by usi ng Wi-Fi Rather than tempting you to click on ads, Brave
information and other wireless signals captured nea r your anonymously measures the amount of attention you gi ve
phone. The company documents every search you do, a nd to websites you visit. Once a month, the Rewards pr ogram
you don't even need to be signed in to be tracked. will compensate those sites. You can also tip those site
Google gathered data to create virtual profiles of users ’ creators as thanks or remove any sites you do not w ant to
web browsing habits to learn information about them , support. A cryptocurrency called BAT (Basic Attenti on
since advertising needs to be targeted to be effect ive. Token) is used in this system, which relies on bloc kchain.
Google benefited from delivering the right ad to th e right By watching Brave Ads, you can receive tokens that reach
user, this is the channel to generate its revenue, with 70% of the ad revenue. The ads are shown as inferre d
$134.81 billion out of 160.7 billion company ’s revenue in from your browsing actions but rather based on your
2019. interests. However, this time the browser never lea ves any
Internet users were fed up with these invasive trac king personal data or browsing history.
techniques, searching for a non-parasites browsing Brave currently boasts 20.5 million active users mo nthly
experience, which they found in Brave browser. Brav e is a compared to 8.7 million in November 2019, and 7 mil lion
regular browser that allows users to visit websites , run active users per day, up from 3 million in just a y ear. The
web applications, and view content online. Brave number of confirmed content creators on Brave has a lso
Software is a relatively new. It previewed for the first time risen from 300,000 last year to nearly 1 million. B rave
in January 2016 by Brendan Eich, the co-founder of raised $35 million last year by selling the BAT
Brave, also the developer of JavaScript and a co-fo under cryptocurrency to investors.
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of Mozilla.