Firefox also installs telemetry and data reporting functions like most browsers, also libraries like libwebp, which are prone to critical vulnerabilities (as seen), encryption systems like Encrypted Client Hello, and software like Pocket, which some users never use, but it’s still there.
Any browser will install many features that probably won’t be used. Saying that a browser that installs a feature like Tor or VPN (which aren’t even hidden, Brave publicly present those features) is automatically bad doesn’t sound reasonable to me.
You’re using the word “install” really loosely. Having a small chunk of code in the browser program is way different than externally adding something as a system service.
And there’s a huge difference between flipping a switch in a browser, versus hunting down the various things the installer has done to your computer.
Brave publicly present those features
Mentioning a paid feature briefly on their website doesn’t excuse them injecting system services for it, does it? Remember installers with bundled malware? They usually mentioned that stuff in the fine print too.
The point I’m making is that it’s not like Brave installed the VPN in secret, hidden away to it’s own devices. The code is there and a service is installed, sure, but it’s dormant until the user activates it.
It kind of is a secret, because there’s no logical reason anybody would expect six system services to be installed for an unused feature. The browser’s adware already promotes this product, and I suppose if they can trick the users into activating it at that point, maybe you could argue the system services could be installed. But it’s really sketchy it installs all six services at once, leaving it to the user to exit the browser and go searching elsewhere to delete the unwanted services.
I don’t care so much of it’s in the installer or just sitting on your hard drive unused (which is an annoyance, to be sure, because I don’t want to download or store a piece of separate software I don’t want to use…) but slipping it into your system services is an entirely different beast.
Firefox also installs telemetry and data reporting functions like most browsers, also libraries like libwebp, which are prone to critical vulnerabilities (as seen), encryption systems like Encrypted Client Hello, and software like Pocket, which some users never use, but it’s still there.
Any browser will install many features that probably won’t be used. Saying that a browser that installs a feature like Tor or VPN (which aren’t even hidden, Brave publicly present those features) is automatically bad doesn’t sound reasonable to me.
You’re using the word “install” really loosely. Having a small chunk of code in the browser program is way different than externally adding something as a system service.
And there’s a huge difference between flipping a switch in a browser, versus hunting down the various things the installer has done to your computer.
Mentioning a paid feature briefly on their website doesn’t excuse them injecting system services for it, does it? Remember installers with bundled malware? They usually mentioned that stuff in the fine print too.
The point I’m making is that it’s not like Brave installed the VPN in secret, hidden away to it’s own devices. The code is there and a service is installed, sure, but it’s dormant until the user activates it.
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It kind of is a secret, because there’s no logical reason anybody would expect six system services to be installed for an unused feature. The browser’s adware already promotes this product, and I suppose if they can trick the users into activating it at that point, maybe you could argue the system services could be installed. But it’s really sketchy it installs all six services at once, leaving it to the user to exit the browser and go searching elsewhere to delete the unwanted services.
I guess they place it in the installer to make it easier to update? Note, I never used Brave in my life, so I don’t really know how it works.
I don’t care so much of it’s in the installer or just sitting on your hard drive unused (which is an annoyance, to be sure, because I don’t want to download or store a piece of separate software I don’t want to use…) but slipping it into your system services is an entirely different beast.