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Welcome to the Brave blog. You’ve reached the front page for news on ad blocking, features, performance, privacy and Basic Attention Token related announcements.
New data shows publisher revenue impact of cutting 3rd party trackers
This note shares new data on publisher revenue impact from switching off 3rd party ad tracking.
THEMIS: Towards a Decentralized Ad Platform with Reporting Integrity (Part 1)
The whitepaper introducing the Basic Attention Token (BAT) [1] was released mid 2017 and, since then, BAT has been used by millions of users, advertisers, and publishers, each using and earning BAT through the Brave Browser (Figure 1) [2]. It has been a long ride...
California Privacy Rights Act to define and limit “cross-context behavioral advertising”
Following a court decision on Friday, it is now highly likely that California will introduce legislation that curtails adtech tracking.
Johnny Ryan’s privacy keynote for P&G
Procter & Gamble invited Dr Johnny Ryan of Brave to give a (remote) keynote about how advertisers should adapt to the privacy-first future.
Important changes to the Brave Referral Program
Since Brave’s beginnings, our community has been a key engine to our worldwide growth. We are privileged to have such a passionate and dedicated user base that actively endorses and recommends Brave. The Brave Referral Program has been an essential part of that...
On Partner Referral Codes in Brave Suggested Sites
Over the weekend, one of our users noticed that typing “binance.us” into Brave’s address bar added an affiliate code to the end of the address (commonly called a URL) that was typed in. The bad news is that we made a mistake when adding affiliate codes and logic using...
Brave passes 15 million monthly active users and 5 million daily active users, showing 2.25x MAU growth in the past year
Over 1,500 ad campaigns delivered since Brave Ads launched one year ago This May, Brave saw its monthly active users pass the 15 million mark with 15.4 million users, a growth of 50% since the Brave 1.0 launch this past November, and of 125% or 2.25x over the past...
Industry discussion on the GDPR at 2 years old, and future EU regulatory development
Senior representatives of advertisers, publishers, and intermediaries discuss two years of the the GDPR in a discussion hosted by Brave.
Guest AMA with Kindhumans
Welcome to the next installment in our series of BAT Community-run AMAs. The ongoing AMA series on Reddit features various guests from the Brave and BAT teams, and now, guests from projects and causes that Brave collaborates with. The most recent AMA took place on...
What’s Brave Done For My Privacy Lately? Episode #4: Fingerprinting Defenses 2.0
Brave is redesigning its browser fingerprinting defenses to build on the randomization-based techniques discussed in the previous post. These new defenses provide stronger and more web-compatible protections by default…
Mjolnir: Tooling for BAT Apollo
This blog was written by Samuel Dare, Blockchain Engineer at Brave Marching towards Brave’s mission to create a decentralised ecosystem for digital advertising that respects user’s privacy, we aim to incrementally decentralize components of our architecture as they...
Brave Launches Ad and Rewards Campaigns to Support Non-Profit Organizations Fighting COVID-19 Pandemic
Related Articles Continue reading for news on ad blocking, features, performance, privacy and Basic Attention Token related announcements.Resources F.A.Q. Brave Store Help Center Community Brave Branding Media Assets Status Transparency ReportPrivacy Policy Brave...
Binance widget now available to all Brave desktop browser users, enabling seamless cryptocurrency trading and management
Today’s Brave desktop browser update (version 1.8) features the Binance widget, the first exchange-browser integration of its kind. Brave and Binance announced their integration on March 24, and until today a preview version of the widget was featured in Brave’s...
New data on GDPR enforcement agencies reveal why the GDPR is failing
New data from Brave reveals that European governments have not equipped their national authorities to enforce the GDPR. Brave has called on the European Commission to launch an infringement procedure against 27 European governments.
Browser First-Run: iOS Edition
The following review was conducted by Sampson, Senior Developer Relations Specialist at Brave. Last year I did a review of several popular desktop browsers, focusing exclusively on what they do when you launch the browser for the first time. Months later, an...
Guest AMA with Matthew Liu & Nick Poulden of Origin
Welcome to the next installment in our series of BAT Community-run AMAs. The ongoing AMA series on Reddit features various guests from the Brave and BAT teams, and now, guests from projects and causes that Brave collaborates with. The most recent AMA took place on...
New fully rebuilt Brave for Android boosts performance across the board compared to prior versions: 5% battery savings along with 3% of both data and CPU savings
Brave now has 13.5 million monthly active users and 4.3 million daily active users Results from the experimental evaluation in this blogpost were produced by Dr. Matteo Varvello, performance researcher at Brave. The new Brave app for Android (version 1.5.120) is now...
Brave Launches New Swag Store Powered by Origin
Brave unveils new Brave Swag Store, the official source for Brave and Basic Attention Token-branded merchandise. Powered by Origin Protocol’s new decentralized e-commerce platform, Dshop.San Francisco - March 24, 2020 - Today, we are pleased to announce the launch of...
Brave and Binance Partner to Bring Cryptocurrency Trading Directly Into the Browser
Binance widget integrated into the Brave browser puts cryptocurrency management and trading at users’ fingertips in first exchange-browser integration of its kindBinance widget integrated into the Brave browser puts cryptocurrency management and trading at users’...
Formal GDPR complaint against Google’s internal data free-for-all
Brave has filed a GDPR complaint v Google for infringing the GDPR “purpose limitation” principle. Enforcement would be tantamount to a functional separation of Google’s business.
Brave and TAP Network Partnership Connects Consumers and Brands via Blockchain
Brave Users Can Now Redeem BAT for Real-World Rewards from Top Brands in the TAP Network SAN FRANCISCO – March 10th, 2020 – Brave Software, makers of the innovative Brave browser which combines privacy with a blockchain-based digital advertising platform, and TAP...
What’s Brave Done For My Privacy Lately? Episode #3: Fingerprint Randomization
Brave now protects users from being fingerprinted by making them appear subtly different to each website. Browser fingerprinting protection is available today in our Nightly version. These new protections both provide the strongest fingerprinting protections of any popular browser, and work without introducing bothersome permission prompts or breaking websites.
What’s Brave Done For My Privacy Lately? Episode #2: Third-Party Cosmetic Filtering
Problem: Blocking Trackers Sometimes Breaks Sites. One of many ways Brave protects your privacy on the Web is by blocking requests to trackers. By blocking these requests, Brave prevents you from being followed around the Web, and from ad companies, data brokers, and other privacy-harming parties from recording your online activity.
Failure to enforce the GDPR enables Google’s monopoly
Brave’s submission to the UK Competition & Markets Authority shows how to fix the RTB market and end Google’s advertising monopoly.
Sponsored Images now available on all Brave platforms, rewarding users who opt into Brave Rewards with 70 percent of the ad revenue
Brave users will notice that their new tab page features a Sponsored Image, which is shown in every fourth new tab and alternates with Brave’s regular background images for new tabs.
OK Google, don’t delay real browser privacy until 2022
Google recently announced that their Chrome Web browser will — with luck, and if a bunch of other conditions come to pass — probably start blocking third-party cookies.
Brave uncovers widespread surveillance of UK citizens by private companies embedded on UK council websites
Brave has uncovered widespread surveillance of UK citizens by private companies embedded on UK council websites. “Surveillance on UK council websites”, a new report from Brave, reveals the extent of private companies’ surveillance of UK citizens when they seek help for addiction, disability, and poverty from their local government authorities.
What’s Brave Done For My Privacy Lately-Episode #1: Web Resource Replacements (replacing tracking code with privacy-preserving code that keeps sites working well)
Problem: Blocking Trackers Sometimes Breaks Sites. One of many ways Brave protects your privacy on the Web is by blocking requests to trackers. By blocking these requests, Brave prevents you from being followed around the Web, and from ad companies, data brokers, and other privacy-harming parties from recording your online activity.
Brave 1.0 Performance: Methodology and Results
Brave reached a major milestone with the release of the 1.0 version. As ever, web browsing performance is a key priority for Brave, so we set out to evaluate in detail how it stacks up against the competition and devised a methodology for doing so. In our “1.0 reviewer guide”, we summarized the significant savings Brave users can expect. In the spirit of transparency, we here present our methodology and detailed results.
Google and IAB’s inadequate proposals to reform RTB
This note highlights the inadequacies of Google and IAB proposals to reform RTB, and rebuts the argument for inaction.
The ICO’s failure to act on RTB, the largest data breach ever recorded in the UK
The ICO has today announced that it will be taking no substantive action to fix “RTB”, the largest data breach ever recorded in the UK. Regulatory ambivalence cannot continue. We are considering all options to put an end to the systemic breach, including direct challenges to the controllers and judicial oversight of the ICO.
Introducing Sponsored Images in Brave
Today we’d like to introduce “Sponsored Images”, the latest addition to Brave’s private advertising platform. These branded images will appear in the form of large, beautiful background images within our new tab page. Sponsored Images will bring additional revenue to support Brave’s mission, and give users a new reason to turn on Brave Rewards so they can get compensated for their attention. These images will begin to appear across our mobile and desktop browsers over the next few months. As always with Brave, Sponsored Images are private.
Brave selected as the official browser for the 2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship (Soccer tournament) in South Korea
San Francisco – December 9, 2019 – Brave Software, makers of the innovative Brave browser which combines privacy with a blockchain-based digital advertising platform, today announced that the Brave browser was selected as the official browser for the 2019 E-1...
Brave Passes 10 Million Monthly Active Users, and Sees 19% Growth since 1.0 Launch
Brave 1.0 was released on November 13th and received very positive press reviews, and also saw a surge in user adoption. Brave went from 8.7 million monthly active users in October to 10.4 million MAU at the end of November, a 19% increase across all platforms.
Brave warns US Senate & Congress: foreign state actors can use targeted ads to run code on US government computers, exploiting conventional browsers
Brave warns US Senate & Congress: foreign state actors can use targeted ads to run code on US government computers, exploiting conventional browsers
Brave Launches Next-Generation Browser that Puts Users in Charge of Their Internet Experience with Unmatched Privacy and Rewards
The Industry’s Most Advanced Browser Offers 3-6x Faster Browsing and Ends Surveillance Capitalism with a Private Ads and Payment Platform that Benefits Users, Advertisers, and Publishers Brave Rewards Now Available on iOS, Completing Cross-Platform Availability San...
Brave Software Finds 82% of People Wish the Web Were More Privacy-Oriented
Brave exposes an inflection point in the online ecosystem, with more users feeling increasingly concerned with protecting their online privacy and fed up with big tech.
The road to Brave 1.0
Over the past 4 ½ years I’ve been helping to build a “big” new startup named Brave. It’s been a wild ride, far exceeding anything I could have imagined. The company has grown from a team of 2, to over 100 passionate mission-driven teammates. Our user base has grown to 8.7 million monthly active users. Our users help support over 300,000 registered content creators via micropayments. And our community is growing and thriving more every day.
Ryan’s testimony at International Grand Chamber: RTB data breach enables disinformation. Enforcers can be sued.
Ryan’s testimony at International Grand Chamber: RTB data breach enables disinformation. Enforcers can be sued.
Brave, Fingerprinting, and Privacy Budgets
This work was written by Peter Snyder, Privacy researcher at Brave, and Dr. Ben Livshits, Brave's Chief Scientist. One of Brave’s core goals is to protect peoples’ privacy online, and to prevent online trackers from following you around the Web. Brave protects users...
In Partnership with The Giving Block, Brave Selects The Tor Project as the Latest Grant Recipient of Brave Ads
In the first two weeks, the campaign has resulted in 344,555 views and 30,995 clicks.The Tor Project became a Brave Ads Grants recipient on October 17th. As part of the program, Tor is receiving approximately $10,000 in free advertisements per month to engage with...
Everipedia and Brave Announce Partnership
Brave to be Featured on Everipedia Homepage, Everipedia Ads to be Featured within Brave GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands – October 30, 2019: Everipedia, the world’s largest blockchain-based encyclopedia, and Brave, a privacy browser combined with a blockchain-based...
Brave input to California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)
Brave input to California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act (CPERA)
Accurately Predicting Ad Blocker Savings
Estimating the slow road not taken
We have written before on Brave’s performance, energy and bandwidth benefits for the user. Brave Shields is our primary mechanism for protecting user privacy, but many users know by now that ad and tracker blocking (or just ad blocking for short) makes the web faster and generally better for them. So far Brave’s estimates of the users’ time saved have been very conservative and somewhat naive: we take the total number of ads and trackers blocked, and multiply that by 50 milliseconds. Why this specific number? It is at the low end of what others have estimated to be third-party JavaScript execution overheads, but in fact both in the third-party impact study and in our measurements in this study, the average and median impact of an ad or tracker is more than 10 times higher. Clearly, it is time for an update.
Brave reaches 8 million monthly active users and delivers nearly 400 privacy-preserving ad campaigns
High platform engagement persists with 14% click-through rate, compared to 2% industry average Brave is growing on the user front, with daily active users passing the 2.8 million mark recently, and monthly active users now at 8 million. There are also over 290,000...
Brave highlights critical CCPA omission in letter to the Attorney General of California
Brave has written to the Attorney General of California to highlight a critical omission in the CCPA regulations proposed last week.
Brave writes to all European governments to press for strong ePrivacy protections
Brave has written to EU Member States to urge the prohibition of cookie walls, and the inclusion of privacy by default, in the ePrivacy Regulation.
Competition issues in digital markets
This note presents a submission from Dr Johnny Ryan of Brave, and Dr Orla Lynskey of the London School of Economics, to the UK Competition & Markets Authority.
zkSENSE: a privacy-preserving mechanism for bot detection in mobile devices
This research was conducted by Stan (Jiexin) Zhang, a research intern at Brave and a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, Dr. Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Security Researcher at Brave, and Dr. Ben Livshits, Chief Scientist at Brave. We gratefully acknowledge the...
Brave Partners with Uphold to Launch Wallet That Rewards Users for Browsing
BAT Rewards can now be transferred into users’ Uphold accounts With today’s updated Brave browser for desktop (0.69), Brave users can choose to transfer Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) out of their Brave Rewards wallet and convert the tokens to many digital assets and...
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