I feel like there is no web browser with a sane default configuration that I can recommend to other people. All browsers are preconfigured in a way that harms the privacy of their users or include services that no one wants such as Pocket and BAT.

Here are my problems with some popular browsers.

  • Mozilla Firefox: Pocket integration, no ad-blocking without extensions.

  • Brave: Everything related to crypto. Also its start page is horrible.

  • Chromium: No ad-blocking without extensions and soon Manifest v3 will cripple all content blockers.

Now, these suboptimal defaults wouldn’t be such a big problem if the configuration files were easy to backup and restore and respected the XDG base directory specification.

  • marlowe221@lemmy.worldEnglish
    147·
    10 months ago

    It’s kinda the same with Brave. Just take 2 seconds to turn off the crypto thing and forget it was ever there.

    I’m primarily a Firefox user but keep Brave around for Chromium-based browser testing.

    Just turn it off, folks!

      • vector_zero@lemmy.world
        54·
        10 months ago

        Is it not open source? You can literally audit the code and point out any shadiness yourself.

      • Ganbat@lemmyonline.comEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        Yeah, and there’s definitely some pay-offs going on with their reviews. Almost every one of them says something close to “This browser pays you just for browsing the internet!,” most of them don’t mention that it’s crypto, and none of them mention that it has nothing to do with browsing, but is instead for clicking integrated ads.

    • yukijoou@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      63·
      10 months ago

      though brave has 2 issues you can’t turn off:

      • it’s chromium-based, and strenghtens the browser engine monopoly
      • the company behind it seems quite shady, and afaik the ceo/leader/founder/… is homophobic
      • marlowe221@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        Yeah, obviously not great. Hence why I only use it for testing.

        I would love to ignore Chromium based browsers completely I’m a web developer, so I can’t.

        I wish there were a Chromium browser I could have the warm fuzzies about, but I’m not aware of one.

      • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
        11·
        10 months ago

        the browser engine monopoly

        I don’t think you understand what a monopoly is. Chromium was developed specifically to avoid a monopoly…

        • Atemu@lemmy.ml
          21·
          10 months ago

          Chromium was developed specifically to avoid a monopoly…

          [Citation needed]

          • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
            1·
            10 months ago

            No one at Google is going to say that out loud. But it’s a fairly obvious assumption.

            Same reason that Firefox is almost entirely funded by Google