Description of the issue:
When logged into Google, the Web Store keeps track of extensions installed in Brave as if I were using Chrome. It adds them to a list and for extensions installed while being logged out, it at least knows they are installed when I open that extension’s page in the store.
How can this issue be reproduced?
Log into Google
Head to Chrome Web Store
Install an extension
Click the gear button at the top of the page and choose “My Extensions” to view the list
Expected result:
Google staying ignorant of any extensions installed in Brave.
if you are installing extensions while logged in, well… obviously they will track it or show it in a list or something, it is what they do, if not they wouldn’t let you log in in their ‘stores’.
Why do you think ‘Brave’ matters? in fact, internally Chrome extension store is seeing the browser as “Chromium” or even "chrome’ because of the UA.
For example, the new extension store said ‘Chrome’ and Brave team changed something so it says “Brave” so… yeah, it doesn’t matter if you are on Brave or not, Google doesn’t care about that, they care about you using a Browser where you are installing extensions, whatever it says, might be only superficial, but internally they probably they don’t see any Brave on it.
But you are in Google domain, with a Google account logged in, pushing ‘install’ buttons, so this behavior is obvious.
What you should do is restrict google account where you need them then.
I know Brave is based on Chromium, but it’s still an alternative browser of which I don’t expect to sync any of my settings with Google. Being logged into the website doesn’t mean I’m logged into Chrome. Furthermore, this is not based on the User-Agent string and clicking the button, but active feedback through a scripted API. There is absolutely no reason for Brave to convey any status information back to Google after downloading an extension file or on what extensions are installed.
No, but Brave should. If it isn’t able to separate itself from Google and handle it like just another website, I could just use Chrome.
That’s what I’m trying to do and why I’m using a browser that I (among other protections) expect to stay unaffected from logging into Google’s websites.
If you’re logged into google (the website or the browser, makes no difference), and download an extension from the google web store, of course google will know about it. The extension “purchases” as google calls them are tied to your user account. The one you use for your gmail etc. The one you were logged into.
That’s not in any way controllable from the user’s or even the browser’s side. That’s an internal google decision you’ll have to take up with google.
I tried logging out of google and installing a new extension from their web store, then logging back in. It doesn’t show up on the list even if I have the extension enabled in Brave when I log back in. Brave is not telling google what extensions its running. Google knows which extensions have been installed while logged into your google account.
Reiterating it doesn’t make it right. Extensions are downloaded when you click the button. If you then choose to cancel, they are not added to the list. They are also removed from the list when uninstalled, and when you open the page of an installed extension that has been installed while not logged in, it shows that it’s installed. All of this requires more than simple “button was clicked” tracking.
Besides that, it would be nice to have an official statement from the developers, instead of assessments from other users.
When you’re logged into your google account and download a page from google’s website, it sends a request to google’s servers with your user account attached to it. In layman’s terms, it tells the computer “Bachsau wants to see a page”. When you click install, it sends the message “Bachsau wants to install an extension”.
It has nothing to do with “right or wrong” or “corporations tracking you” or “Brave being unaffected by Google”. It’s basic functionality of a user account. It’s why user accounts exist.
Like I said, google considers extension installs “web store purchases”. Just free purchases. If you buy a game from Steam, are you shocked to find it’s tied to your user account? If you make a post on Facebook, are you surprised that Facebook knows which account made the post?
If you don’t want your extension install being tied to your account, then don’t be logged into that account when you install the extension.
By the way, I checked for you and if you download an extension as a .crx file, disconnect your ethernet cable, then install it manually via developer mode and switch back to the web store page, the text “Add to Brave” updates to “Remove from Brave”.
Despite there being no physical possibility in which Google would’ve been informed that I installed the extension. I don’t even have a wifi card in this PC. The determination that the extension is installed is clearly done client-side.
If you want to hear the same from a developer’s mouth then that’s all great, but seeing as how there are about a thousand more important questions still unanswered on these forums I wouldn’t hold my breath.
