Brave is about to solve one of the most frustrating problems with browsing the web
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The developers behind brave browser announced that it will be blocking cookie consent pop-ups that negatively impact the browsing experience for many users.
In an update, the anonymous browser‘s Privacy Updates blog called cookie consent a “notorious and almost constant annoyance,” while calling a academic study (opens in new tab) who found that many browser pop-ups follow users around the web regardless of their choice.
Users of the latest Nightly branch (and version 1.45 when it releases in October) just need to click “yes” on startup in a dialog box to block all cookie-authorized popups, using a set of rules and filters that look familiar to those who use web browser ad blocking extensions.
Fighting back against Google’s privacy changes
Brave cited Google’s latest set of proposed changes to Chrome as reasons why an open web and content-blocking tools should be fought for, starting with blocking cookie-consent popups.
These changes include are upcoming move to the Manifest V3 APIthe plan to consolidate websites into separate files through a new standard called web bundles (opens in new tab) and the Privacy Sandbox Initiative (opens in new tab) it has in development.
“The web is built to be open. On the one hand, that’s great: it means privacy-protecting web tools like Brave can act on behalf of users, protecting them from abuse and annoyances on the web. On the other hand, cookie banners show how much worse the internet will get if Google (and others) manage to weaken users’ ability to block such annoyances,” Brave said in his statement. Announcement (opens in new tab).
Brave has long warned that these new initiatives are on track to reduce users’ online privacy by: reduce the effectiveness of existing ad blocking extensions (opens in new tab) and reducing the choice users have through their web browsers.
In January 2022, the company has specifically turned down (opens in new tab) Google’s Privacy Sandbox as a power play designed to tighten the tech giant’s stranglehold on the web, in part because of the use of Google’s own servers and the promotion of the “AppStore-ification” of the Internet.
“[…] a cynical proposal that adopts just enough of the language and colors of the privacy community to keep regulators at bay, while in practice favors Google’s monopoly, all to the detriment of the web in general,” it said.
As Brave raises concerns about Google’s reforms to the UK Competition and Markets Authority (opens in new tab) (CMA), it’s clear that an open web committed to privacy still has proponents and will not go down without a fight.