COMMUNITY: r/BATProject hits 30,000 members!

We made it to 30K! Big thanks to each and every one of you for helping us in our quest to upgrade the web by improving digital advertising and web privacy.

Join us, here: https://www.reddit.com/r/BATProject/

BLOG: Brave uncovers Google’s GDPR workaround

Google’s DoubleClick/Authorized Buyers ad business is already under investigation by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) for suspected infringement of the GDPR, as a result of a formal complaint by Brave’s Chief Policy & industry Relations Officer, Dr Johnny Ryan.

The Irish DPC is Google’s primary GDPR regulator. New evidence gathered by Brave gives the Irish DPC concrete proof that Google’s ad system did broadcast personal data about Dr Ryan, which infringed the GDPR. In addition, Brave has uncovered what appears to be a GDPR workaround that circumvents Google’s own publicly stated GDPR data safeguards.

FAN-MADE SERIES: Creator Spotlight (Week 1: Leon Lush)

INTEL GAMER DAYS: Thank you to all of our participants and winners!

In August, Intel & Brave teamed up to bring users of Brave Ads a special giveaway to promote Intel’s Gamer Days campaign—an annual celebration of PC gaming with great deals & experiences from over 40 top retailers, technology providers, and game publishers.



Users who saw Intel Gamer Days ads in Brave were instructed to click and follow the steps to publish a tweet about the promotion. Each tweet counted as an entry for that day’s giveaway to win a swag kit from Brave & Intel. 10 daily winners were selected at random for a prize (which included an Intel backpack, Brave hydro flask, tee-shirt and BAT & Brave stickers!).



Over 900 Brave users partook in the giveaway over the course of the month, and a total of 200 winners now get to rock new swag just in time for fall!



Thanks to everyone who participated! And keep your eyes peeled for more branded giveaways in the future!

BAT Community Merch Giveaway Winners!

The winners for our BAT Community Daily Merch Giveaways for this week are:

Tuesday (Reddit): u/cryptopoetics

Thursday (Contributor Special): u/_pm_me_your_btc

Click here to see pics of previous giveaway winners rocking their BAT/Brave merch!: https://imgur.com/a/lhF1G9I

Be sure to tune in to our social media channels every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday to participate in our daily merch giveaways for your chance to win!

Client Updates

Android v1.3.1

Upgraded to Chromium 76.0.3809.132;

Adblock doesn’t work on Android 4.4(#2018);

List of closed issues is available here https://github.com/brave/browser-android-tabs/milestone/82?closed=1

https://github.com/brave/browser-android-tabs/releases/tag/v1.3.1

iOS v1.11.4

This is a small release with some nice improvements:

Support for Yubico security keys.

Housekeeping and a few other small fixes.

List of closed issues for the release can be found here

https://github.com/brave/brave-ios/releases/tag/v1.11.4

Desktop Beta Channel v0.69.123

https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v0.69.123

Dev Channel v0.71.70

https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v0.71.70

Brave Team Tweets

Who loses? The ad-tech intermediaries we block. You already give your data to your browser. Don't let it be a blind slave of the middlemen. They are not needed. [/fin] — BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) August 30, 2019 Who loses when you block trackers?

I didn't mention this on HN, but there are other conflicts of interest created by ad-tech: state (see Snowden PRISM) and corporate surveillance, for one; psy-ops by unknown groups of actors; ad fraud; malware distribution (malvertising); and other criminal operations. All vs you! — BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) August 30, 2019 Ad-tech: What type of things could it be used for?

Congrats to all the creators listed at https://t.co/5vgjIVsHFc – and to the @Brave / @AttentionToken team. As @Mandarstwit observed, “There is only one other chart I know that had 250K content publishers sign up in 2 years – it was the iOS store.” pic.twitter.com/3cYvZBh7yF — BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) September 1, 2019 Hooray for all of our Brave creators!!

If future Brave went bad, it would fail from roasting + no user data held hostage on its servers. A new champion would arise (if I’m around, I would join forces).



This is the privacy by default future: no hostage data that is hard or impossible to use elsewhere. It is winning. — BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) September 4, 2019 What if Brave went bad? We couldn’t hold you hostage unlike some other browsers.

First time seeing the donation message on Wikipedia since they verified. I can't tell you how good this felt 🙂 pic.twitter.com/NNgQ1JZXss — Sampson (@BraveSampson) September 4, 2019 Ahhhh… feels good to donate to Wikipedia.

Everyone can get @Brave with it!



– People: https://t.co/4QVqibsu7i

– Creators/Publishers: https://t.co/he9FCWWFsQ

– Advertisers: https://t.co/BekgD13kvA (or DM me if you've got something really interesting)



Brave:

Fast.

Safe.

Private.

Rewarding. https://t.co/H6ElCE3U00 — Luke Mulks (@lukemulks) September 4, 2019 We have a little something for everyone.

We have uncovered a Google GDPR workaround for RTB, and have submitted evidence to @DPCIreland

Thanks @thezedwards and @lukemulks https://t.co/1wrtfjw4La — Johnny Ryan (@johnnyryan) September 4, 2019 Brave has uncovered a Google GDPR workaround for Real Time Bidding.

This is the front page story of The Financial Times right now… pic.twitter.com/C0GAnihcTT — Johnny Ryan (@johnnyryan) September 4, 2019 And… the GDPR workaround showed up on the front page of the Financial Times.

Important new research from @F_Kaltheuner and @Bendineliot reveals that RTB (and other tech too) leaks peoples' private visits to mental health websites.

Our colleagues at @IABEurope @iab @Google have to accept the need for reform. https://t.co/b6ZAHNCpJY — Johnny Ryan (@johnnyryan) September 4, 2019 More research is revealing real-time bidding leaks people’s private and personal info.

Come and join if you are at #DMEXCO19 #dmexco next week https://t.co/4IWIOFqn10 — Johnny Ryan (@johnnyryan) September 4, 2019 Want to see Johnny?

Lots of ways. Be an affiliate if you are a creator (https://t.co/YYe9LCTt8i). Volunteer on community projects (cc: @alex_wykoff @miyayesereum). Hack code (@_brianclifton @brianbondy). — BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) September 5, 2019 How can you contribute to Brave as a volunteer?

BAT/Brave in the News

Ad industry offers a solution to online privacy problems

The IAB Tech Lab has started floating its proposal to browser makers, but so far the reaction has been “mixed,” Mitchell said.



Brave CEO Brendan Eich said the idea won’t protect privacy.



“Who’re they kidding? A single ‘token’ will uniquely identify you & be linked to your name & personal data in a trice,” letting third-party companies harvest your data from the websites you visit, Eich tweeted Wednesday.



Read the full text here: https://www.cnet.com/news/ad-industry-offers-answer-to-online-privacy-problems/

Brave browser catches Google tracking users with hidden web pages

Brave, the budding privacy-focused browser with its own native cryptocurrency, has alleged that Google is using hidden web pages to feed personal data of its users to advertisers, reports Financial Times.



The evidence, now in the hands of the Irish data regulator, reportedly accuses the Big G of allowing users (and their browsing habits) to be profiled, resulting in targeted advertisements.



It’s claimed that these actions circumvent EU privacy regulations that demand user consent, as well as transparency from tech giants like Google.



Read the full text here: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/09/04/brave-google-chrome-browser-track-users-hidden-web-pages-gdpr/

News You Should Know

Facebook, why you need this?

Facebook scans system libraries from their Android app user’s phone in the background and uploads them to their server



This is called "Global Library Collector" at Facebook, known as "GLC" in app’s code



It periodically uploads metadata of system libraries to the server pic.twitter.com/olwk1BPMoQ — Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 30, 2019

Google Hit With a Record $170 Million Fine by FTC for Violating Children’s Privacy on YouTube

When Apps Get Your Medical Data, Your Privacy May Go With It

Americans may soon be able to get their medical records through smartphone apps as easily as they order takeout food from Seamless or catch a ride from Lyft.



But prominent medical organizations are warning that patient data-sharing with apps could facilitate invasions of privacy — and they are fighting the change.



Read the full text here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/technology/smartphone-medical-records.html

Roaring Fans

I am a happy @brave user and have switched to their browsers 100% and if you truly care about privacy, you should too.



https://t.co/NIQrWAjXzE https://t.co/thukMQJN2s — Chirayu Patel (@chirayunix) August 30, 2019

I would give back more if I could tip custom amounts of BAT for each tipping mode. — Nope (@Nope87009636) September 5, 2019

Two great software I’ve started to use this week: .@brave browser for privacy-by-default shields with Chrome engine (almost everything works!) and https://t.co/Bj5B6ZrBWE for markdown notes. Serendipity — without recommender systems 🙂 — Íᴄᴀʀᴏ ᴍᴇᴅᴇɪʀᴏs (@icaromedeiros) September 5, 2019

From Reddit: