What browser are you using to read this article? Chrome? Firefox? Opera? Internet Explorer? Hopefully, you’re using Brave. Brave, created by Mozilla founder Brendan Eich and funded through an ICO, is rapidly claiming a significant market share as entrenched browser giants such as Google Chrome shred their privacy policies. This is just yet another example of real world use of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology ready for mass adoption.
The quiet, yet blatant, attack on user privacy by Chrome forces users to sign the browser into their account the next time they login to a Google service such as Gmail. This automatically allows Chrome to ship your local browsing data to Google, enabling you to “sync” it across all your devices, something you had to previously opt-in and allow Google to do with your consent.
This policy change was identified by cryptographer and professor at Johns Hopkins University Matthew Green, who also works as a scientist with the Zcash project. He also wrote in a blog post that the change was sufficiently problematic towards user security and privacy. He further stated that he would no longer be using the Chrome browser.
Matthew even noted that the policy change could have “serious” privacy implications even if sync is turned off. He wrote: “In short, Google has transformed the question of consenting to data upload from something affirmative that I actually had to put effort into – entering my Google credentials and signing into Chrome – into something I can now do with a single accidental click. This is a dark pattern. Whether intentional or not, it has the effect of making it easy for people to activate sync without knowing it, or to think they’re already syncing and thus there’s no additional cost to increasing Google’s access to their data.”
Google’s decision to further attack data protection and user privacy presents a unique opportunity for privacy-focused companies like Brave. The Brave browser aims to “reset the web” by blocking advertisements by default and instead giving users the ability to opt-in to unobtrusive ads that are native to the user’s browser. They do not track users as they search the web, and, according to Brave, provides publishers and content creators with a greater revenue share than they currently receive.
Payments are made with Basic Attention Token (BAT), an ERC-20 token issued through the Brave ICO. Recognizing that one of the biggest barriers of commercial adoption is that most users don’t want to bother holding and converting cryptocurrency themselves, the service works together with a trading platform (Uphold) to automatically convert tokens into the publisher’s local fiat currency.
Last week, Brave announced a partnership with blockchain identity startup Civic to allow verified publishers to accept their monthly BAT payments in an external ERC-20 compliant wallet. Through the partnership, publishers will be able to do private KYC (Know your customer) service to authorize the payments.
Brave has also been earning accolades and surpassing expectations of their own. It’s no longer a niche piece of software. Brave’s Android app has more than 10 million downloads. The browser claims that it currently has 4 million monthly active users across all devices. Plus, the browser has earned praise from professional reviewers, including Popular Science.
From Popular Science: “Developers built this browser on Chromium, an open-source project that also serves as the basis of Chrome, so you might notice some similarities with the look and feel of that app. In addition to stellar security, it includes all the usual features you would expect from a mobile browser, including incognito browsing, browser bookmarks, and password management.”
Brave is also actively taking a stand against Google. They recently dumped Google as the browser’s default search engine in France and Germany, replacing it with privacy-focused search enginge Qwant.
No doubt this surge in privacy-focused development for mass adoption and consumption will lead to an increase of developers of blockchain technology. What do you think? Do you think Brave will succeed? Do you think they’ll see massive growth in the coming years? What are some other projects that you like that focus on the internet and privacy? Let us know on our Facebook page.
