If you鈥檙e like most users, you spend more time using a browser than any other program on your computer or smartphone.
You probably don鈥檛 think about what browser you鈥檙e using; the focus is on getting to a website, not what got you there.
Google Chrome is by far the most popular browser, but because it鈥檚 a Google product integrated with all their tracking and advertising networks, a lot of people are looking for an alternative.
A 鈥楤rave鈥� new approach
The creator of Brave, Brendan Eich, also created JavaScript and co-founded the Mozilla Project, which led to the development of the Firefox browser.
Brave is based on the open-source Chromium browser, which is also the basis for Google鈥檚 Chrome, Opera and, most recently, Microsoft鈥檚 Chromium Edge browser.
Open-source means that anyone can take the source code and build whatever they鈥檇 like out of it, but it does not mean that all the browsers are the same.
In the case of Brave, they chose to focus on user privacy by blocking trackers, scripts and ads by default.
The natural by-product of blocking all this activity, which usually goes unnoticed by the average user, is faster load times.
Brave can also make use of the wide variety of extensions for Chromium-based browsers via the .
A different way with ads
Ad- and script-blocking options exist for other browsers, but the user has to opt to install or turn on those features, while Brave makes them the default.
Understandably, this has ruffled some feathers across the internet, which is currently paid for largely through display advertisements. You鈥檙e reading this very article on a website that does not charge you because it uses ads to cover the costs.
By default, when you use the Brave browser, the areas of a website that would normally display ads appear as blank spaces. This can actually make the pages look like they haven鈥檛 finished loading at first.
In some cases, the page won鈥檛 load properly, which will require you to either choose a different browser, or flip the 鈥淪hields Up鈥� setting to 鈥淪hields Down,鈥� which turns off the privacy and security protection.
If everyone used Brave in its default setup, the entire economy of the “free” internet could collapse.
As an alternative, Brave created its Reward system 鈥� essentially, its own ad network 鈥� which takes a different approach.
First of all, the user has to opt in to the Brave Rewards program, which will start displaying 鈥減rivacy-respected ads鈥� based on browsing behavior, which is stored only on your device.
You鈥檒l also accumulate rewards that you can potentially 鈥渟pend鈥� on websites that you want to .
It鈥檚 an ambitious attempt to disrupt the status quo in online advertising.
Is it safe?
There鈥檚 nothing to suggest that anything nefarious is going on, so there鈥檚 no reason you should be concerned about downloading it and giving it a try.
If you decide to use Brave to eliminate tracking, make sure you choose a default search engine that also does not use tracking, such as StartPage or DuckDuckGo, instead of Google.
Ken Colburn is founder and CEO of . Ask any tech question on or .
