I wanted to try out the desktop version of the Brave browser. Its setup according to the privacy guide directions and I have sendoff usage data disabled, but if I open the browser sitting on the home page, windows is reporting 100KB ofdataa going out every 5 or so seconds.

Running the same test with Edge, no network usage is reported.

The only extention on Brave is bitwarden, which is also installed on edge.

Any thoughts? This is the IP it is sending to: 104.18.12.33

Edit: on reboot of process, I see the hostname: ec2-35-163-26-5.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com

You can likely inspect the traffic if you use Wireshark.

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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11Y

I did, but it looked like https traffic as it was labeled as this and the data was just bytes

I’d uninstall Brave if you care about privacy. Also check out the creator…

Brave Homepage? Sync disabled? Update check?

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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11Y

Oh i forgot, when in the private window, there is no traffic when sitting at the new tab page.

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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11Y

This is sitting on the new tab page. No news or any widgets. Sync is never enabled. I though about update check, but that’s really offten to keep checking.

I didn’t get to try out other suggestions here yet, will on Monday when I’m back at the computer.

@DogMom@lemmy.world
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11Y

Try removing bitwarden and do the same test. Ibet bitwarden is checking for updates that it needs to sync.

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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11Y

I did this, no change.

@Asudox@lemmy.world
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31Y

OP says it is trying to contact some aws server. Bitwarden afaik does not use aws. Brave probably is.

@DogMom@lemmy.world
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11Y

Apologies…I misread that

∟⊔⊤∦∣≶
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151Y

I read an article a while ago that put pretty convincing arguments forward to not use Brave. You should be able to find it if you search on Lemmy

I dont think I can take that article seriously when they recommend Chromium with uBlock as an alternative 💀

What is wrong with Chromium with uBlock origin? I was a Brave user then after all their controversies I moved on to Chromium. I use FF primarily though, only Chromium for websites that have issues

Chromium bundles a lot of google telemetry into it, even though it is the open source base of Chrome. Ungoogled Chromium is a recommendation that’s actually private. I also only use Chromium for websites that have issues.

@leo85811nardo@lemmy.world
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I have tried Ungoogled Chromium before. While it’s undeniably better in security and privacy, there were also many things that are not so convenient such as installing extensions, streaming with widevine DRM etc. For a program that serves the sole purpose of filling the compatibility gap, the fact that it doesn’t “just works” makes it less optimal than vanilla Chromium for me

RBG
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21Y

I mean, agreed, but Chromium and Chrome are different. Just in case you thought they are the same, wasn’t exactly clear to me. But I also might remember wrong, in my memory Chromium is the base for Chrome and has a lot less Google stuff baked in.

@amanneedsamaid@sopuli.xyz
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I’m aware that they’re different. Chromium is a much better option that Chrome, but not a good option overall for privacy. If you like Chromium, try UnGoogled Chromium!

Hurglet
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81Y

“Privacy” browser. lol. lmao even.

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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31Y

I’m not ruling out user error yet. 🫠

Recreational Placebos
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31Y

Could it be a connectivity check for captive portals?

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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21Y

What does that mean? Still, Edge doesn’t seem to do this.

@glad_cat@lemmy.sdf.org
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71Y

Use wireshark?

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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51Y

Its encrypted traffic, just getting a bunch of bytes. I don’t see the server in the brave git repo.

Idk, something in there is sending data over what looks like a web socket.

vaalla
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11Y

Install mitmproxy and set the proxy settings to mitm. Maybe it will work.

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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21Y

Using a privte tab doesn’t send anything out when idle.

@notfromhere@lemmy.one
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31Y

It could be a notification for a webpage? I think it has to do websockets for that, but I’m not 100% sure

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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11Y

I’ll try clearing data, maybe your on the right track.

@MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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It seem that’s a cloudflare load balancer IP so it doesn’t really give any clues as to where the data is going.

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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21Y

Yeah, not sure. I see a post on reddit about Firefox hitting a similar host, but not sure it’s related.

Does anyone else see this?

FarLine99
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21Y

maybe you have opt-out logs enabled? try to disable them 😃

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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11Y

Do you know where this setting is? I’m not seeing it

FarLine99
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11Y

it is in privacy and security section in settings. allow analytics, PING and send everyday data.

@CCMan1701A@startrek.website
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Yes, this is disabled.

FarLine99
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11Y

weird situation D:

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