Introducing Brave: A Web Browser with a Focus on Your Privacy
We've all read the stories about the online mafia that is Google tracking the personal information of its users in order to improve the targeting of their adverts and fill the pockets of their overbearing overlords, haven't we?
If you haven't the story goes something like this: a user uses one of Google's services to find, let's say, a new coat for their dog. They use the Chrome browser to navigate to the Google search engine and then proceed with searching for "dog coat in London".
When they complete the search a load of web pages are shown in an order which is determined by a number of factors one of which is the browsing history of that person's Google email account. They find a website they like the look of and click through. Once on the web page they are tracked by Google's monitoring system and when they ultimately decide upon which coat to buy a little digital post-it note equivalent is stuck to their account. This basically tell's Google's spiders the finer details of the jacket they bought.
From now on every time they search for a jacket, whether dog or human, they will be presented with items and websites which match the details of the dog jacket they just bought. That's not where it ends.
Now that Google knows some information about their preferences it can correlate that with the geographic/demographic information associated with their Google account and build a profile for them and others in their demographic. Google will then use this information to allow advertisers to essentially dupe people into using their service or buy whatever is they are selling.
Enter Brave Browser
If you are involved with the cryptocurrency industry you may well already be aware of the Brave browser and its many positive features which allow its users to preserve their privacy while drastically improving the load times of numerous websites. If you're not, allow me to introduce you to a browser which can improve your online experience considerably while also lowering your data consumption and monthly internet/mobile phone bill (depending on the tariff you are on).
Yes, you read that correctly, switching browser could save you money in the long term, here's how: when you browse the internet your device, be it a mobile or desktop/laptop, has to actually download all the data on any website which is loaded, this includes all the adverts, trackers and background scripts. Brave browser blocks all these scripts and unnecessary add ons as a standard which, by their account, could save you up to $276 USD per year.
Publishers may be of the opinion that the removal of ads will affect their business but the team behind the browser have thought of this and are using their native cryptocurrency, BAT, to reward verified publishers with micro-payments from users who are participating in the reward program. The basic jist of the BAT micro payment system is that the Brave browser anonymously tracks which verified sites are visited by users who participate and then splits the monthly allowance, which they have set, between the publishers they've visited.
While the monetary side of things is the area which is most likely to attract new users it should also be noted that the Brave browser is, as mentioned, up to 8 times faster than Chrome and Safari depending on the device you're using and site you are visiting. Again, this increased speed is due to the fact that the browser does not waste time downloading content which you do not want.
I personally have been using the Brave browser for a good few months now and, according to the statistics offered by it in the mobile app, it has saved my nearly an hour of download time, blocked 68k trackers and 20k ads while forcing over 4.5k websites to use their secure alternative.
If you are a cryptocurrency holder you should definitely be using it for all your crypto dealings as it works perfectly with MetaMask as a standard and it was built with blockchain in mind. If you are an average user, give it a try and see the difference for yourself.
Happiness.
Download the Brave browser
Please remember that this article is not to be taken as any form of investment advice and that you should do your own research before investing your hard earned cash into anything. We would also like to remind you that Something Decent is not in anyway responsible for the distribution of airdrops, bounties or giveaways unless it is stated that we are personally conducting them