Brave Browser's latest update installs VPN services without user consent on Windows
Brave Browser's recent update has led to the installation of Brave VPN services on Windows devices, without explicit user consent. This was first reported on the Privacy Guides forum by a user who noticed a popup message stating “Brave VPN Service installed” after updating the browser. The user also discovered two additional services – “Brave VPN Service” and “Brave VPN WireGuard Service” – running on their device.
In response to the uproar, Brian Clifton, Vice President of Engineering at Brave, opened an issue on the Brave GitHub repository to provide clarification. According to Clifton, currently, on Windows devices, two VPN related services are registered with Windows when Brave is freshly installed. These services are set to Manual start and are not used until a user operates Brave, purchases Brave VPN, and then connects to Brave VPN.
Clifton acknowledged that ideally, these services should be installed when the VPN is first used post-purchase, and not at the time of installation. This unexpected development has led to dissatisfaction within the Brave community, with some users expressing their intent to uninstall Brave and switch to another web browser.
- Web Browser
- Free • Open Source
Related news
External links
- Windows should not install VPN services until VPN is purchased/enabledGitHub • Official source
- Brave appears to install VPN Services without user consentgHacks
- Brave browser installing VPN services on WindowsPrivacy Guides
- Brave appears to install VPN Services without user consentHacker News
Comments
I like Brave, but if they are going to pull crap behind people's back, I'll either go back to Firefox or try Un-Googled Chromium.
Ungoogled Chromium doesn't have automatic updates if it had, then using it would have been much easier
The only reason I use Brave and not Firefox is that you can't group tabs on Firefox Android. But this is not looking good, I think I'm going to make the switch despite that inconvenience.
I have a feeling this was a calculated move.
Many privacy enthusiasts would have urged friends and family who are not techie and find installing another browser as inconvenient to give Brave a shot. Many of those friends and family would not notice or even care about non-consensual additional software being installed.
The idea here being: only the techies would notice and they would then be confronted with the choice of telling their people that they made a mistake in installing Brave or not saying anything because it's still not Google Chrome or Edge.
I no longer believe people, especially corporations, make mistakes of this magnitude.
And now some AI is integrated in Brave, have to switch to LibreWolf now.