How to avoid tracker & fingerprinting preferences resetting to "standard" when browsing data is cleared?

Browser Support
1

In the Preference settings for SHIELDS, I want to set “Trackers & ads blocking” and “Block fingerprinting” (referred to as the Privacy Settings) at the most aggressive settings, i.e. “Aggressive” and “Strict, may break sites” respectively.

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The problem is, after entering in the desired settings, each time I regularly “Clear Browsing Data”, it resets the said Privacy Settings back to “Standard”.

In an attempt to avoid the Privacy Settings being reset to standard when the cache is cleared - I went to the settings for “Clear Browsing Data”, and I un-ticked “Site and Shield Settings”. But that does not prevent the Privacy Settings being reset to standard when the browsing data is cleared.

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I also ensured that this “Site and shields settings” was un-ticked on the “On Exit” settings.

Please advise how I can avoid the said Privacy Settings being reset to standard each time that the browsing data is cleared?

Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu):

macOS version of Brave, has been an ongoing issue for many months across all the latest versions.

2

I had the same problem and played around it few months back and later on solved it.

As I remember it, Unticking ‘Site and Shields settings’ should solve the problem. But, it is not happening with you.

So, can you try unticking ‘cookies and other site data’ and see if the shiled settings are preserved.

if it still does not work, then can you try and create a new profile. untick site and shields settings and see if it works on the new profile.

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Thanks, but I do not see that as a solution to the problem.

Yes, on one hand, unticking “cookies and other site data” does avoid the Privacy Settings being defaulted to standard – but that defeats the aim of getting rid of third-party cookies that are a privacy problem in the first place.

4

p/s

I followed your tip - of creating a 2nd profile - and, there, in the “clear browsing data” preferences - unticking the “site and shield settings”.

That results in my desired aim of preserving the Privacy Settings upon clearing the browsing data.

But it has to be a bug, because no user - unless told - would to the lengths of having to create a second profile to achieve that aim.

NOTE TO BRAVE DEVELOPERS: Can you fix this bug?

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Request to developers: Can this bug be fixed? The above is a workaround involving creating a 2nd user setting, and adjusting the desired settings for that 2nd user.

But surely it should be corrected so that the settings for the 1st default user do not get wiped each time the cache is cleared.

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Are the developers able to fix this bug?

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@BPOP,
To clarify the behavior you’re seeing, when you clear browsing data in your main profile, if you leave the Site and Shields settings option unchecked, they still get cleared. However, if you do so in a fresh/second browser profile and perform the same steps, the Shields settings do not get reset and you get the desired result?

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Right now, strangely, the problem does not seem to be there in default User-1. I’m unsure if this is because recent updates to Brave have solved this bug, or whether it is because I followed the above suggestion to create a User-2, which affects User-1.

Can you see if you can replicate it?

In a fresh install of Brave, in Settings/Shields:

set “trackers and ad blocking” to AGGRESSIVE.
set “block fingerprinting” to STRICT MAY BREAK SITES.

Then in CLEAR BROWSING DATA in the Adanced tab, tick everything except the “Site and Shield settings”. Then clear the browsing data - and then check whether the above Shields settings have reverted to default, i.e. no longer AGGRESSIVE and STRICT.

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@BPOP,
Testing on my end, clearing browsing data (all except for Site and Shields settings option) did not reset my Shields settings, as expected. So perhaps the issue did resolve itself with the last update?

I will keep this thread open for now in case the issue occurs for you again.

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