this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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The affiliate link hijacking was not opt-in. How could anything remotely like this be accepted in a privacy focused browser?
When Firefox had the mr robot extension incident everybody was (righfuly so) mad, but that was way less damaging than altering users' intent.
Can someone explain how Brave siphoning some money from Amazon specifically impacts privacy? Does the affiliate get a list of accounts that bought something? Names? Addresses? Or does some money just show up in their account?
What information does Amazon get? That the person clicking is using Brave? They already know that from the user agent.
I, as the user, decide what affiliate link I want to use, not my browser!
Sure but that sounds like liberty and autonomy, not privacy.
I asked specifically how it infringes on privacy. Seems like the wrong word to use.
You really think they don't track you?
Who?
Yeah, who do you think would track you? The ones controlling the reflinks maybe? Dude, really? C'mon, you're smarter than that.
Track what, and how?
What specifically are you accusing them of? Uploading your browser history to the cloud? What does that have to do with referral links?
You’re just making shit up.
Woah, dude, why are you so friggin’ annoying and exhausting? Don’t act like an idiot, it makes me sick. Welcome to my block list.
Some OSS developers, independent review/news sites get affiliate money to stay afloat. Amazon requires them to state this clearly. Brave didn't declare it and probably stole (replace) innocent referrals. This is level 100 spyware/malware tactic.
I’m not saying it was ethical or good.
I’m asking how it specifically impacts privacy.
Every response I’ve gotten is a non privacy response, which leads me to suspect it’s a stealing from others issue not a privacy issue.