Brave wins Product Hunt’s Golden Kitty Awards for Best Privacy-Focused Product of the Year!

We couldn’t have done it without your votes! THANK YOU to everyone that voted. Stay Brave!

Brendan Eich on Random but Memorable by 1Password: “Immortal Jellyfish Browser Rewards with Brendan Eich from Brave”

Thinking of switching browsers? Join us as we sit down with Brendan Eich, CEO of Brave, to discuss the privacy-focussed web browser and its revolutionary rewards system.



Matt also makes a terrible mistake, leading to a lonely birthday cake for one…

Listen here: https://randombutmemorable.simplecast.com/episodes/immortal-jellyfish-browser-rewards

Major endorsement of Brave & BAT by Strange Parts YouTube channel (1.59M subscribers)

We love the enthusiasm! Be sure to check out / subscribe to Strange Parts on YouTube, too!

BAT Community Podcast feed now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts!

Let us sneak into your speakers while you’re on your way to work, in transit, or whenever you like to listen to podcasts… because we’re officially on Apple Podcasts!

Video: Watch our livestream AMA with Priyanka Murthy, Co-Founder and CEO & Geena Dhaliwal, Co-Founder and CMO of Access79 + Jennie & Luke from the BAT Team!

Access79 is changing the way you shop for luxury fine jewelry. Bridging the gap between shopping in-store and shopping online, Access79 is an innovative try-before-you-buy service for luxury jewelry.



Access79’s mission is to bring more transparency and technological innovation to an otherwise archaic and fragmented jewelry industry. To that end, Access79 is actively incorporating data science, AI, and blockchain technology into its business model. Specifically, it has partnered with and invested in companies, like Brave, that are spearheading blockchain technology innovation and growing the community.

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We highly recommend checking the video out! The AMA went well over time as Priyanka & Geena fielded thoughtful and discussion-provoking questions from viewers.

Access79 has put together a very special offer + giveaway for members of the BAT & Brave community: Anyone that signs up for Access79’s service from now until the 10th of February will receive 30% off their first order, plus, they will be granted an automatic entry into a draw to win a $500 gift credit toward any piece of jewelry with Access79.



In addition, anyone that signs up to Access79’s mailing list from now until the 10th of February will be entered into a draw to win a limited-edition bespoke BAT Ring or BAT Dog Tag necklace by Brave x Access79! (See the AMA video for details.)

Check out our recent Reddit AMA with Zac Prince, Founder & CEO of BlockFi

BlockFi is a crypto-financial services company evolving the digital asset ecosystem by building traditional financial products for holders of cryptocurrencies.

The winner of the BAT & Brave swag kit draw for participants in the BlockFi AMA is: CuriousTitmouse! Congratulations! (Keep an eye on your Reddit inbox for a PM from CryptoJennie about your prize!)



Thank you to everyone that entered the giveaway and that partook in the AMA!

Brave Creator Spotlight (in partnership with Everipedia)

SKACLE: Voted the number one streamer on Theta TV, SKACLE has made the move over to Twitch and is growing rapidly

SKACLE is a Toronto-based video game streamer whose video game obsession began as a youngster. Today, over 40K fans follow him on the video streaming platform Twitch. Before his Twitch days, he was voted the number one streamer on Theta.TV.



Read SKACLE’s Everipedia entry here: https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/skacle



Check out SKACLE’s Twitch channel here: https://www.twitch.tv/skacle

Ryan Hollinger: The YouTuber that grew his following of over 486,000 subscribers by reviewing and analyzing horror films

Channel description: Taking your favourite (and hated) media and giving it some analytical context, especially horror stuff… I like making horror stuff. You probably have some questions about the accent.



Read Ryan’s Everipedia entry here: https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/ryan-hollinger



Check out Ryan’s channel and subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/user/himynamesryan/featured

Client Updates

Dev Channel v1.4.73

https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.4.73

Beta Channel v1.3.105

https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.3.105

Brave Team Tweets

I like both @jarroddicker and @arctictony and congratulate @tryscroll on their launch. Brave and Scroll will meet in the middle of the battlefield over user agency and embrace. https://t.co/CuLu0ZTe8t — BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) January 29, 2020 Always great to support other projects!

This will be a big year for sync 🙂 — Sampson (@BraveSampson) January 26, 2020 Yes, we know sync needs work, but it’s comin’!

One of the many reasons I came to @Brave:



Both of our co-founders (@BrendanEich, @brianbondy ), along with many of my colleagues, are out here taking direct feedback, suggestions and bugs in the open, on the daily.



Open engagement is key. https://t.co/gisubLV0BO — Luke Mulks | lukemulks.eth (@lukemulks) January 28, 2020 Customer Service means engaging with your customers (from all levels)

Regulations require us to partner with an MSB, Uphold, for adding and taking out funds. Default requires neither of those actions if you let Brave Ads fund your top sites and channels. — BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) January 27, 2020 Setting the record straight regarding default settings in Rewards

We are working to reduce friction for those who do want to self-fund, with Uphold. Hot topic! — BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) January 27, 2020 We’re working on better ways to self-fund.

Sync doesn't cover wallet yet; mobile Uphold coming soon. Sorry this isn't all there yet, but it will be. — BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) January 27, 2020 Mobile Uphold is coming soon

This is why working with @brave & @AttentionToken in these early days brings such a first-mover advantage.



With an adventurous attitude, and a willingness to jump into new waters with an audience that is in control of their data, brands can begin making new discoveries. — Luke Mulks | lukemulks.eth (@lukemulks) January 29, 2020 Attitude. Adventure. Advantage.

I just added a 124K Brave-initiated BAT purchase to the Transparency Report page. Growth over time is looking quite healthy! 🙂https://t.co/ARnMhfGBMo pic.twitter.com/mFVwioEOvY — Sampson (@BraveSampson) January 28, 2020 Updates to the Transparency Report; healthy growth, too!

BAT/Brave in the News

CNET: Brave Browser voted the best privacy-focused product of 2019

Out of all the privacy-focused products and apps available on the market, Brave has been voted the best. Other winners of Product Hunt’s Golden Kitty awards showed that there was a huge interest in privacy-enhancing products and apps such as chats, maps, and other collaboration tools.



Read the full text here: https://www.cnet.com/news/if-chrome-fixes-privacy-too-fast-it-could-break-the-web-google-exec-warns/

CNET: If Chrome fixes privacy too fast it could break the web, Google exec warns

Is this true? Brave CISO Yan Zhu, “We want to repair the privacy problems and the existing ecosystem in a way that no other browser has really tried.”



Read the full text here: https://www.cnet.com/news/if-chrome-fixes-privacy-too-fast-it-could-break-the-web-google-exec-warns/

Wired: The Fractured Future of Browser Privacy

In the 1990s, web browsers like Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer competed bitterly to offer the snazziest new features and attract users. Today, the browser landscape looks totally different. For one thing, Chrome now dominates, controlling around two-thirds of the market on both desktop and mobile. Even more radical, though, is the recent competitive focus on privacy, a welcome change for anyone who’s gotten sick of creepy ad tracking and data mismanagement. But as browsers increasingly diverge in their approaches, it’s clear that not all privacy protections are created equal.



At the USENIX Enigma security conference in San Francisco this week, developers, security researchers, and privacy advocates presented differing views of how browsers should protect their users against data abuses. In a panel discussion that included representatives from Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Brave, all participants agreed that collaboration across the industry has driven innovation and helped make privacy a priority. But some browsers are taking a hardline approach, while others prefer to increase protections within the status quo.



Read the full text here: https://www.wired.com/story/chrome-firefox-edge-browser-privacy/

Decrypt: This is the biggest argument for Brave browser yet

Brave presents new evidence that suggests Google is actively violating EU regulations, allowing companies to share sensitive customer data with ad partners.



Brave Software, the company behind the privacy-focused, open-source Brave browser, has accused Google of secretly using a “workaround” to avoid adhering to strict European Union privacy regulations.



Google is allegedly using hidden web pages—a mechanism called “Push Pages”—that scoop up and deliver personally identifiable data to advertisers, violating the tech giant’s own publicly stated privacy policies, according to findings published by Brave on Wednesday.



Read the full text here: https://decrypt.co/17910/this-is-the-biggest-argument-for-brave-browser-yet?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=smm

News You Should Know

VICE: Leaked Documents Expose the Secretive Market for Your Web Browsing Data

An antivirus program used by hundreds of millions of people around the world is selling highly sensitive web browsing data to many of the world’s biggest companies, a joint investigation by Motherboard and PCMag has found. Our report relies on leaked user data, contracts, and other company documents that show the sale of this data is both highly sensitive and is in many cases supposed to remain confidential between the company selling the data and the clients purchasing it.

WIRED: Scraping the Web Is a Powerful Tool. Clearview AI Abused It

Clearview AI, a secretive surveillance company, was selling a facial recognition tool to law enforcement powered by “three billion images” culled from the open web. Cops have long had access to similar technology, but what makes Clearview different is where it obtained its data. The company scraped pictures from millions of public sites including Facebook, YouTube, and Venmo, according to the Times.



To use the tool, cops simply upload an image of a suspect, and Clearview spits back photos of them and links to where they were posted. The company has made it easy to instantly connect a person to their online footprint—the very capability many people have long feared someone would possess.



Read the full text here: https://www.wired.com/story/clearview-ai-scraping-web/

PC MAG: The Cost of Avast’s Free Antivirus: Companies Can Spy on Your Clicks

Avast is harvesting users’ browser histories on the pretext that the data has been ‘de-identified,’ thus protecting your privacy. But the data, which is being sold to third parties, can be linked back to people’s real identities, exposing every click and search they’ve made.



Read the full text here: https://www.pcmag.com/news/the-cost-of-avasts-free-antivirus-companies-can-spy-on-your-clicks

EFF: Ring Doorbell App Packed with Third-Party Trackers

An investigation by EFF of the Ring doorbell app for Android found it to be packed with third-party trackers sending out a plethora of customers’ personally identifiable information (PII). Four main analytics and marketing companies were discovered to be receiving information such as the names, private IP addresses, mobile network carriers, persistent identifiers, and sensor data on the devices of paying customers.



Read the full text here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/01/ring-doorbell-app-packed-third-party-trackers

Roaring Fans

I've been using the @brave browser a lot more lately over Chrome and I'm slowly switching over! Clean, fast, and lots of privacy features. I loved it when I first downloaded it a few years ago and it just keeps getting better. — Esmeralda Colfax (@EsmeraldaColfax) January 29, 2020

From Reddit: