Hello,
New to this browser and fairly new to forums. I attempted to post my first topic in a more suitable category, but many of them were locked. Hopefully I’m not intruding by leaving it as Uncategorized. I’m sure after some time I will understand your forum setup better. So first, my apologies if I’m out of turn here. Lastly, I’m no prominent person in the world except to my 12 year old Newfoundland/Lab Mix, Lily. So no claims of expertise, just logical and rational thinking.
I want to start by saying I discovered this through recent research and my eager attraction to providing myself a bit more web security. I wouldn’t have installed it or created a community account if I didn’t love it so far. So, thanks to those working diligently and to the person to foster the idea of this platform.
I love the idea behind all of this to include majority of the future endeavors, but it would be remiss of me to not ask an important question to those that can answer it.
With the concept of ads for Brave in the future I’m a bit nervous to cling to the platform and here is why…
I love the idea of your current ad-blocking features, of course, that is partly why I’m here. I’m also a fan of the idea of having them for “opt in”, however, after reading up a bit on what will really occur I’m not sure that about this (searched through brave and duckduckgo).
According to Gregg Keizer of Computerworld (https://www.computerworld.com/article/3292619/the-brave-browser-basics-what-it-does-how-it-differs-from-rivals.html)
“…replace those ads with its own advertisement, which will not be individually targeted but instead aimed at an anonymous aggregate of the browser’s user base.”
Now first a couple of things to address, they could be very biased and lean one way or the other and I’ve taken that into consideration, and have also read other articles claiming similar points.
So what is my concern/question? Although I do understand this approach by Brave, I have to say it seems “Googlish”, and please don’t be offended by that, let me explain.
The basic explanation is that it is still an aggregate of a group mentality. So if the majority feels that a John Doe political candidates ads are the most for the user base then that is what everyone will see. It is the same thing as google in a sense. Yes, they manipulate the search results and ads to favor sides or tell you what you want to hear, but allowing a group mentality will inadvertently do the same thing.
I personally don’t want to see ads about women’s products, just because your user based “might” be mostly women…See what I mean in a less intrusive way?
So in closing, I know there is an “opt in” feature being touted. I just ask can I just NOT opt in and still use Brave as usual or will limitations be implemented.
Lastly, because of my interest in the concept, where BAT’s are utilized and contributed; I think that is a phenomenal idea. Businesses thrive off of competition, some popularity, but mostly product quality and customer support. I would love to be apart of that for companies and products that deserve it, but NOT at the cost of getting a user based aggregated targeted ad. So what gives?
I know this is long, but I hope I get some cordial answers. I mean no harm, just true answers and concerns with regard to the great future Brave has with this platform. I’m still learning a bit, so take it easy on me in the comments. Ha.
Thanks for the time if you read this, and thanks in advance for any replies.
