Does using google search engine in Brave browser defeat the purpose?

Does it make sense to using Google search engine in Brave browser? Does it defeat the purpose? Does using google as a search engine in the Brave browser grant Google access to data such as location, preferences, etc. or allow google to direct me to sites based on past info. from browsing or YouTube or data from mobile.

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Indeed, you are correct. Please sign up for Brave Search at https://brave.com/search/ for superior privacy! :smiley:

Porridge

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@GreenBananaPorridge Looks like a great initiative. Waiting for it.
In the meanwhile, if you help me with the following, please:
I am assuming that Brave would prevent the Google search engine from using cookies, tracking location, scripts, fingerprinting etc. in the Brave browser, unlike in Chrome.
So, what sort of data would google still be able to collect on me when I use it in Brave browser.

@ankitsaurav11,
Great question.
So in short:

  1. When you use Chrome, Google uses a litany of methods to track you, both when using Google systems/services as well as while you’re not.
  2. Brave prevents Google from tracking you when you’re not using Google systems/services, and removes some of the ways Google tracks you when using their systems/services to the best of our abilities.
    • Note that when not using Google services, the Allow Google login buttons on third-party sites option should bedisabled, or some cookies/requests may be allowed.

With respect to search, cookie data is still sent along with the search request when using Google search. You can see on our Github how we deviate from Chrome/chromium code https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/wiki/Deviations-from-Chromium-(features-we-disable-or-remove)

Were we to intercept/make a call without passing through cookies, it would require an additional Chromium deviation and, further, would come with the cost of doing the work to maintain that change. This behavior may change/come to be in the future, but at this time cookie data does get passed through when searching Google.

With all that said, if you want to ensure privacy when using Google search, I would recommend doing so from a private browsing window.

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Been waiting on that list for months, when’s release

@Mattches
This is super-helpful.
Just to be clear, Brave does tons of things to secure the privacy of the user and as often is the case, you can only so so much. We would still end up providing some data to Google through google searches, logins, etc. but definitely very minute as compared to browsing on Chrome.
However, things such as Allow Google login button, lack of sync to cloud, etc. come at the cost of user experience.
How much privacy can be secured using extensions such as Ghostery, HTTPS everywhere, etc. on Chrome? Or, do you think securing privacy using Chrome extensions is a myth?

@ankitsaurav11,

It certainly isn’t a “myth” – typically privacy extensions do what they say they do (at least those that are relatively reputable) and some of them may have additional functionality not included by default in Brave (although to be fair, this is relatively rare, as Brave + Shields combine and implement the best privacy features out of the box).

The issue with installing a bunch of extensions in the name of privacy (or just in general really) – esp in Brave – is that you are inheriting whatever risks may be associated with those extensions since they’re managed by third parties.

For example, let’s say you install Ghostery, HTTPSE and maybe Privacy Badger extensions in your browser. Each of these extensions are updated and maintained by separate developers, which means it’s up to each of those developers to ensure that their extension doesn’t have any security vulnerabilities and/or that those extensions aren’t doing anything shady with your data. Not that I’m saying that these (or any) extensions are inherently not worthy of your trust, but even companies/devs with the best of intentions make mistakes, get hacked, etc. So each extension installed has the potential to be an attack vector.

Meanwhile, Brave comes with [pretty much] all the necessary privacy/security features out of the box in one package. All the code is maintained by the same team (thats us) and everything gets updated at the same time. Further, Brave is open source and transparent – all of the code can be found online on our Github and is/can be regularly audited.

So in my opinion, I would feel safer with an all-in-one approach to both browsing and privacy, rather than having to place my trust in several other third party entities that aren’t always transparent and may or may not be reliable.

Great questions – hope this helps at least a little.

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@Mattches
Thank you. This was of great help. I see that Brave is faster and obviously more secure. I hope that in the near future, it is somehow able to match the memory management capabilities of Mozilla as well.
Also, not allowing google login button would force me to keep typing out email -ID and password every time, right? Or is there a way to improve the experience in auto-logins without enabling google login button?

@ankitsaurav11,
If you’re referring to the toggle in Settings --> Extensions, this option affects specifically Google extension authentication (for an extensions such as Google Keep, for example)

Thank you. That helps.
Thank you for your support. Appreciate it.

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