Five reasons to ditch your current browser and start using Brave
- 260,421 Trackers & ads blocked
- 4.69GB Bandwidth saved
- 3.6 hours Time saved
- >$50 Dollars earned (in Basic Attention Token or BAT)
These stats describe the benefits I got from saying goodbye to my old browser and moving to Brave as my default browser to surf the internet.
Brave?
Brave was founded by Brendan Eich (the inventor of JavaScript and co-founder of Mozilla Firefox) and Brian Bondy (ex-Software developer lead at Khan Academy and ex-Mozilla).
The two technologists set out to build an internet browser with data privacy and control as a key design principle.
Five reasons to ditch your current browser and start using Brave
When trying out Brave some 3+years ago it was still buggy, and I returned to Chrome because I had to give in too much on the browser experience.
I checked back on Brave in November 2019 and have been on Brave ever since. The browser experience is delightful and that is not the only reason why you should ditch your current browser and move to Brave.
Reason #1: Data privacy and control as a key design principle
Brave is built to give back control to the user — you. Brave does that by preventing tracking and the automatic loading of scripts. You can manage this with Shields which can be customized for each website you visit.
Since I started using Brave again in November 2019, Brave blocked 260,421 trackers & ads. This is to show how much data and activity tracking is going on behind the scenes when browsing websites. If you’re not convinced this is a problem, maybe the new Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” can change your mind.
Reason #2: Stellar performance — 3–6x faster
When I started using Brave in 2017ish the browser was still buggy and many of my favorite websites appeared broken.
Not anymore!
You may have to adjust shields for some sites that you visit for the first time but once set up the browser experience is delightful. It’s fast — 3–6x faster in some tests — and works for most if not all of the extensions I used with Chrome.
Thus, better privacy and data protection while not giving in on performance.
But there is more.
Reason #3: Get rewarded for your attention to ads
Brave gives you the opportunity to earn Basic Attention Token (BAT) for viewing ads and content. The Brave browser contains a ledger system built on top of the Ethereum blockchain that anonymously captures user attention (this is done on-device and your private data never leaves your computer).
Since I started browsing with Brave I earned over $50 in BAT, which is held in my personal crypto wallet (Uphold) and can be spend as I desire. BAT can be converted into cash or used in transactions with merchants who accept the cryptocurrency as a means of payment. But the envisioned use of BAT is to reward online content creators, and that brings us to reason #4.
Reason #4: Support content creators
When I last checked, there were 892,750 online publishers (content creators) that are part of the BAT ecosystem. These include media organizations such as the Washington Post and The Guardian, as well as individual YouTube video bloggers, small and local news websites, and online learning platforms such as Khan Academy.
After reading an interesting article on The Guardian I go ahead and tip some BAT to support the journalist and media outlet. This is super easy to do straight from your browser. Another option is to let Brave automatically distribute BAT to publisher based on how much dedicated time you spent on their site.
I think this is so incredibly cool. I love the concept of being paid for my attention by viewing an ad every now and then, and use that earned income to reward the creators of the content that I consume.
Reason #5: Break the monopoly of big tech
The monopoly big tech has on our technological whereabouts and society is disturbing and destructive. It is disturbing because many of them are using our data (which is ours) to monetize in ways that go against our own interests (using human flaws and psychology to change our behavior — buying things we don’t want to buy, thinking things we don’t want to think, voting things we don’t want to vote). It is destructive because monopolistic markets kill innovation and in the end create worse outcomes for consumers.
Of course you will not break the monopoly of big tech by moving from your current browser to Brave. But reducing your dependency on just a handful of players is a good thing for you, society, startups, small and medium-sized businesses, and innovation in general.
For an overview of all Brave’s features: check out https://brave.com/features/
To read more about BAT: see https://basicattentiontoken.org/
You can find this and other stories on www.thalein.com
