Can Brave prevent Google from seeing what you do within Google apps?

Does Brave shield you from Google’s ability to spy on what you do in web-based Google apps?

For example, if you’re using Google Docs/Spreadsheets, or YouTube, does Brave keep Google from observing what you do in those apps?

Or do you have to be using non-Google apps to keep Google away?

With any application that connects to a Google “ecosystem” website, there is some probability that Google records, what you can see at the following website:

https://ipleak.net/

And, if using G-mail, or being a Google “ecosystem” user who is signed in to that “ecosystem,” then Google can record a larger amount of information about your content and what you are doing.

If you take the time to learn how to use an Internet browser’s Developer Tools, you may see what traffic occurs between the browser and the webservers. When connecting to many websites that use some kind of Google application, Google feature, Google process . . . you may find in the Developer Tools window (Network, Console tabs), evidence of Google domains:

  • [*.]firebaseapp.com
  • [*.]firebaseio.com
  • [*.]gmail.com
  • [*.]google.com
  • [*.]googleapis.com
  • [*.]googleusercontent.com
  • [*.]gstatic.com
  • [*.]youtube.com

“Who knows” what contract relations and obligations exist between a website and Google, that would allow, permit, provide for reports on what traffic has transpired . . . being sent to Google, or from Google to the website?

Regarding only content - such as words that you type in an e-mail message - of an e-mail message that goes to or is sent from a G-mail account, yeah, Google can read the messages - UNLESS you take the time and make the effort to properly encrypt such e-mail messages. You would have to keep up on the latest technical requirements for ensuring such encrypted traffic.

Otherwise, Google probably has a lot of documentation about, what it will say, about what it can or cannot see of your personal content.


Other than Developer Tools, for network monitoring:

Mac OS users - tools: Wireshark and Little Snitch.

Windows OS users - tools: NetLimiter and Security Task Manager.



An encyclopedia of what Brave had done, in order to make Brave Browser more secure:

Brave Browser Development

About Chromium - somewhere online, a few years ago, I found:

“Intrinsically, Chromium is a Google project maintained by many authors (developers, engineers, graphic designers, security researchers … ) from Google, Adobe, Amazon, ARM, Brave, Cloudflare, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Igalia, Intel, Logitech, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nvidia, Opera, Samsung, Vivaldi, Xiaomi, Yandex … and external contributors.”

Chromium is not only a web browser. It is a blend of different important open-source projects:

Deviations from Chromium (features Brave disables or removes)

Chromium source is fetched

Brave code is fetched

Hooks are run

What Chromium features are removed for privacy/security reasons?

Services & Features We Disable Entirely:



Advanced Privacy - A long list of Brave’s behind-the-scenes protections and commitments.

https://brave.com/privacy-features/


Brave’s advanced protections. Built right into the browser.

https://brave.com/privacy-features/#advanced-expanded-accordion


Brave’s policy, compliance, and research commitments.

https://brave.com/privacy-features/#policies-expanded-accordion


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No. Google is going to see anything you are doing while you’re using Google products and services. There’s no way to use Google stuff like their Sheets and all without them knowing about it.

What Brave does is prevents them from tracking you when you leave the website. So often websites will inject cookies and when you exit their site and visit another, the cookies follow you and know where you’re going. Brave helps stop that from happening.

Again though, that’s only when you’re using their own products.

If you want to have nothing to do with Google, then you have to make sure to stay away from all of their products and services overall. So no YouTube, Google Docs, Google Search, etc.

1 Like

@289wk…Thanks! That’s a lot to go through and I’m going through it but I can see that a lot of it is over my head.

The second paragraph of your reply relates directly to what I was asking about, which is whether Brave prevents any of that ecosystem ‘leakage’ from getting to Google.

IOW, is one at any advantage to using GMail, GDocs, etc. in Brave rather than in another browser that lacks Brave’s privacy features – in terms of what Google can see of a user’s use of a Google app – or has Google ‘wired’ its apps so that any attempt by a browser (any browser, Brave included) to keep Google from seeing a user’s use of its apps is moot?

Thanks, @Saoiray

OK, didn’t see your reply before I answered @289wk’s.
I guess that says it. Brave can’t keep Google away if you’re using any Google product in Brave.

However, as far as alternatives to Google go:

It’s hard to avoid YouTube unless an account cross-posts to other video platforms. Most don’t.

I haven’t found a real alternative to GDocs. The ProtonMail developers are supposedly developing one that also encrypts, but as of the current date its offering is so barebones that it’s less useful than most modern ‘plain text’ document apps, and I haven’t seen any further development since last summer (except for ‘collaboration’ features).