Brave Browser Discussion & Update Thread

Brave browser first to nix CNAME deception, the sneaky DNS trick used by marketers to duck privacy controls
Next release will block third-party trackers posing as first-party resources
October 28, 2020
https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/28/brave_cname_block/

Brave: What’s Brave Done For My Privacy Lately? Episode #6: Fighting CNAME Trickery

 

Brave Passes 20 Million Monthly Active Users and 7 Million Daily Active Users
November 2, 2020
https://brave.com/20m-mau/

 

Brave Browser v1.16.72 Released (November 3, 2020)
Download / Download (Github)

 

Brave browser acts quickly to resolve Tor session confidentiality bug
Feature did not sufficiently anonymize private browsing sessions
November 5, 2020
https://portswigger.net/daily-swig/...ly-to-resolve-tor-session-confidentiality-bug

 

Brave Browser v1.16.75 Released (November 10, 2020)
Download / Download (Github)

Spoiler: Changes v1.16.75

Android Release Notes

• Fixed supported links not being opened in external applications. (#12330)
• Changed HTTP error code Brave uses when blocking network request to better match what other browsers and tools expect, to increase compatibility with crowdsourced filter lists. (#10063)
• Disabled Brave notification when upgrading to a new version. (#12507)
• Upgraded Chromium to 86.0.4240.193. (#12603)

Desktop Release Notes

• Changed HTTP error code Brave uses when blocking network request to better match what other browsers and tools expect, to increase compatibility with crowdsourced filter lists. (#10063)
• Upgraded Chromium to 86.0.4240.193. (#12603)

 

Bad news :-(

 

Brave Browser v1.16.76 Released (November 12, 2020)
Download / Download (Github)

 

Brave Browser v1.17.73 Released (November 20, 2020)
Download / Download (Github)

Spoiler: Changes v1.17.73

1.17.73

• Added support for CNAME adblocking. (#11712)
• Added support for including New Tab Page Sponsored Image views in "Estimated pending rewards" and "Ad notifications received this month" for Brave Ads. (#10488)
• Added Greaselion support for Twitter creators. (#11462)
• Added Greaselion support for GitHub creators. (#11463)
• Added Greaselion support for Reddit creators. (#11464)
• Added promotion for Uphold Equities Card. (#12276)
• Added P3A metrics for the New Tab Page. (#12267)
• Added setting for "Cycle through the most recently used tabs with Ctrl-Tab" under brave://settings/appearance. (#913)
• Improved user interface to make it easier to interact with ".onion" sites. (#806)
• Improved top site tiles on the New Tab Page. (#12772)
• Improved Dapp detection so that it is not triggered on web.archive.org. (#11865)
• Implemented WebGL2 fingerprint farbling protections. (#9189)
• Implemented User Agent fingerprint farbling protections. (#12097)
• Updated design for Brave Rewards tipping banners. (#11393)
• Re-enabled Safe Browsing for downloads. (#6267)
• Removed Bitcoin.com widget from the New Tab Page. (#12699)
• Removed known user tracking parameter "_openstat" from query strings. (#11579)
• Fixed Greaselion race condition which caused the content-level tip button text to not display properly. (#12264)
• Fixed favicon for verified Twitter creators not being displayed correctly under the rewards panel. (#4557)
• Fixed inability to tip a creator from the rewards panel if content-level tips were disabled. (#12090)
• Fixed content-level tip button not displaying for the selected tweet on a Twitter thread. (#6762)
• Fixed Twitter handle not displaying correctly when tweeting about a tip in certain cases. (#8265)
• Fixed issue where tipping a user's likes on Twitter would result in the incorrect Twitter handle being displayed in the tweet. (#5685)
• Fixed alignment of content-level tip button on certain GitHub pages. (#10434)
• Fixed content-level tip button not being displayed on certain GitHub pages. (#11766)
• Fixed landed confirmations being created without clicking on the Brave Ad notification. (#12155)
• Fixed issue where Brave Ad confirmations failed to migrate from older versions if Brave Ads were off in certain cases. (#12260)
• Fixed issue where WebGL shader API was incorrectly being blocked in certain cases. (#12366)
• Fixed issue where trackpad zoom on Google Maps was too sensitive. (#12310)
• Fixed certain maps not displaying properly. (#12448)
• Fixed incorrect initial display of bubble buttons from the URL bar. (#11838)
• Fixed "Customize Dashboard" tool tip text incorrectly being shown outside of the Customize Dashboard modal. (#10299)
• Fixed labels under brave://settings for consistency. (#8822)
• Upgraded Chromium to 87.0.4280.67. (#12793)

 

Android
Brave Browser v1.17.74 Released (November 27, 2020)
Download / Download (Github)

Spoiler: Changes v1.17.74

1.17.74

• Fixed only four top sites appearing under New Tab Page when background images are disabled. (#12837)
• Fixed crash when "Tab Groups" or "Conditional Tab Strip" are enabled using brave://flags. (#12809)
• Fixed crash under privacy report in certain cases. (#12834)
• Fixed Brave stats formatting error under privacy report when reaching certain values. (#12831)
• Fixed settings menu appearing on both the top and bottom when opening links using custom tabs. (#12784)
• Updated "Ad notifications received this month" text under brave://rewards to "Ads received this month". (#12719)
• Upgraded Chromium to 87.0.4280.67. (#12793)

 

Brave Browser v1.17.75 Released (December 3, 2020)
Download / Download (Github)

Spoiler: Changes v1.17.75

1.17.75
Android Release Notes

• Upgraded Chromium to 87.0.4280.88. (#13006)

Release Notes

• Added "Don't ask again" button under Crypto Wallet infobar. (#12482)
• Fixed menu items missing from bookmark context menu when using German locale. (#12844)
• Updated "Ad notifications received this month" text under brave://rewards to "Ads received this month". (#12719)
• Upgraded Chromium to 87.0.4280.88. (#13006)

 

Brave Browser v1.18.70 Released (December 9, 2020)
Download / Download (Github)

Spoiler: Changes v1.18.70

1.18.70

• Added Brave Today news feed on the New Tab Page. (#12574)
• Added support for day-parting of Brave Ads. (#5234)
• Added P3A metrics for Brave Today. (#12974)
• Added P2A metrics in Brave Ads. (#11060)
• Added Greaselion support for Vimeo creators. (#11465)
• Added setting for "New tab page shows" under brave://settings/newTab. (#2999)
• Added protection against private browsing detection. (#11543)
• [Security] Added privacy notice to Uphold wallet linking modals. (#11431)
• Implemented the ability to remove other devices in a sync chain. (#11232)
• Implemented navigator.deviceMemory farbling. (#12348)
• Implemented Brave Rewards onboarding. (#12138)
• Implemented new panel design for monthly contributions. (#11929)
• Improved the display of custom background images in the Brave Rewards tipping banner. (#12057)
• Improved heuristic for determining first/third-party-ness of ads for default cosmetic filtering. (#1998)
• Improved contrast among tabs. (#8576)
• Enabled Global Privacy Control. (#12875)
• Updated default search engine to Yandex for new installations in certain regions. (#12327)
• Updated Brave Rewards extension to be non-persistent. (#6462)
• Updated error messaging on Brave Rewards tipping banners. (#12224)
• Updated macOS dock icons to be smaller. (#8662)
• Removed redundant rewards setting to address user confusion. (#11467)
• Removed Dapp detection for nytimes.com. (#12709)
• Fixed Crypto Wallet infobar incorrectly being displayed for Google Calendar and Gmail. (#12942)
• Fixed navigator.userAgent farbling not being applied in workers. (#12230)
• Fixed Canvas farbling in disconnected iframes. (#12303)
• Upgraded Chromium to 87.0.4280.101. (#13081)

 

Brave browser-maker launches privacy-friendly news reader
December 10, 2020
https://arstechnica.com/information...-maker-launches-privacy-friendly-news-reader/

Brave:
Brave Introduces Brave Today, the Privacy-Preserving News Reader Integrated Into the Browser

Brave Private Content Delivery Network

 

Interesting stuff, has anyone tried it?

 

Brave Browser v1.18.75 Released (December 18, 2020)
Download / Download (Github)

Spoiler: Changes v1.18.75

1.18.75
Android Release Notes

• Added protection against private browsing detection. (#11543)
• Implemented the ability to remove other devices in a sync chain. (#11232)
• Implemented Brave Rewards onboarding. (#12141)
• Enabled Global Privacy Control. (#12875)
• Updated default search engine to Yandex for new installations in certain regions. (#12327)
• Removed redundant rewards setting to address user confusion. (#11467)
• Fixed issue where the number of Brave Ads delivered per day was incorrectly being limited by the ads per hour selection. (#13215)
• Fixed issue where "Hide Brave Rewards Icon" setting was not being respected. (#12533)
• Upgraded Chromium to 87.0.4280.101. (#13081)

Desktop Release Notes

• Added QR code under brave://rewards for iOS devices. (#13159)
• Fixed issue where the New Tab Page was causing persistently higher CPU and GPU usage. (#13194)
• Fixed issue where the number of Brave Ads delivered per day was incorrectly being limited by the ads per hour selection. (#13215)

 

I've seen several ppl here say they're using Sandboxie with Brave. I have the latest Brave installed on a W764 machine, and the latest Sandboxie-Plus, and Brave gives the "oh snap" error when sandboxed and cannot reach any site. This happened with the previous version of Sandboxie too (v5.33 prior to Sandboxie Plus). Are any of you Brave users that are using SBIE also on W7 machines? TIA

 

Brave Browser v1.18.77 Released (December 27, 2020)
Download / Download (Github)

 

I am getting these annoying Google ads on the top of the search results when doing a Google Search, sort of like the same ads when you install AdBlock Plus but forget to turn off the "Allow Acceptable Ads" button. Anyone knows how to get rid of them?

 

Good question, I noticed that I only got to see these ads in Vivaldi, in other browsers like Firefox and Edge I didn't see them. So I discovered that you will need to login into your Google or Gmail account and you can turn these "personalized ads" off. Now I don't see them anymore, weird that I didn't figure this out before.

 

I spoke too soon, I'm still getting to see these ads, probably because I'm not logged into my Gmail/Google account. Perhaps you can ask if Brave can somehow block this, I'm not sure if uBlock can perhaps also help.

 

Oh uBlock can block this even ABP does block it as long as you uncheck the allow acceptable ads option but no such option for Brave

 

@Rasheed187 @Spartan I don't get any ads on search results page and I'm not signed into Google anything.

 

I'm using uBlock but I still see them, which filters should I use?

It's weird, perhaps these ads are based on fingerprinting. On some of my browsers I see them, on some of them I don't.

 

I am ALWAYS logged in to Google Service BTW, I never see them: