Brave’s strict fingerprint protection doesn’t work well with websites, so it gets the ax
Popular privacy browser Brave is removing its strict fingerprint protection mode, partly due to website compatibility issues.
In a blog post, Brave explained that there are two fingerprint security modes in the browser: Standard and Strict. By abolishing the latter, “we can focus on improving privacy protection in Standard mode and avoid web compatibility issues,” says the Brave Privacy Team.
It adds that since Strict Mode blocks fingerprinting APIs, some websites may not function properly or at all. It is also claimed that less than 0.5% of users activate strict mode. Ironically, Brave claims that this actually makes these users more recognizable because they are such a small group that stands out from the rest of the crowd.
Good enough already
Fingerprinting in a digital sense is the ability to identify users based on the specific settings, devices and habits they use, making them identifiable and traceable to certain websites and parties.
Brave also cites the time it takes to maintain and debug Strict Mode as another reason for discontinuing the feature, as it “costs our engineers time to focus on standard privacy protections that all our users can benefit from .”
It claims that the default fingerprint protection is still the “strongest of any major browser,” and that the “farbling” feature, which randomizes the identifying characteristics of a user’s browser instance, makes it even harder for sites to detect it. identify.
However, Brave also says it will continue to improve Standard mode, increasing fingerprint protection while ensuring it maintains the “highest possible level of website compatibility.”
Strict mode has already been removed from the developer version of the browser, known as Nightly, and the change will roll out to power users on desktop and Android starting with version 1.64. The current stable version is 1.61.