That doesn't mean it was an accident, it could just mean that they realized it's a problem. Especially as this issue was opened after this HN submission got posted.
Issue opened 3 hours ago, thread posted 2 hours ago. I look at Brave with skepticism as one should with a company that flirts with crypto, but in giving them a fair shake, it's important to keep the facts straight. That said, in keeping the facts straight, an issue opened a week ago citing this as a problem was closed in favor of the one opened by the Brave VP.
It’s a publicly viewable GitHub issue that people can still navigate to or comment on, it’s not like it was scrubbed. It’s surely a PR move to show they’re on top of it but not anything to read into in my opinion.
Most voiced complaints are (as neutral as possible):
- past CEO personal belief on LGTB rights
- If opted in, blocking ads while showing their own ads as system notification (ads are not being replaced in page)
- hijacking typed-in domains in the address bar by adding their affiliate code on select domains related to crypto (reverted after backslash)
- Tips (using their crypto coin BAT) to Content Creators not using Brave being held indefinitely until withdrawn by Creator (behavior changed after backslash)
and now:
- VPN services being installed automatically if browser has admin rights on Windows.
Edit: I'm just listing what I have been hearing the most on HN.
First is irrelevant to whether the product is good, I don't care about purity tests.
The rest of the list, minus the end, is them trying to make money without selling data. That actually makes me more confident about their belief in their stated values. Last one is an "accidental" oversight, probably to boost install numbers. They decided to change it without backlash first. Again, good move.
https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/33726