www.ghacks.net Brave appears to install VPN Services without user consent - gHacks Tech News Martin Brinkmann 3 - 4 minutes
If you have the Brave Browser installed on your Windows devices, then you may also have Brave VPN services installed on the machine. Brave installs these services without user consent on Windows devices.
Brave Firewall + VPN is an extra service that Brave users may subscribe to for a monthly fee. Launched in mid-2022, it is a cooperation between Brave Software, maker of Brave Browser, and Guardian, the company that operates the VPN and the firewall solution. The firewall and VPN solution is available for $9.99 per month.
Brave Software is not the only browser maker that has integrated a VPN solution in its browser. Mozilla, maker of Firefox, entered into a cooperation with Mullvad and launched Mozilla VPN in 2020. Brave Browser’s installation of VPN services on Windows
Brave Browser Windows VPN Service
A post on Privacy Guides suggests that Brave Browser installs its VPN Service without user consent and regardless of whether the VPN is used or has been used in the past.
You can verify this easily by following these steps:
<span style="color:#323232;">Use Windows-R to open the Run box.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Type services.msc to open the Services manager on Windows.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Scroll down until you come to the Brave section there.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Check for Brave VPN Service and Brave VPN Wireguard Service.
</span>
If they exist, Brave has installed the services on your device. If you were never subscribed to Brave Firewall + VPN, the company may have done so without your consent.
The two services have no description, the startup type Manual and Manual Trigger Start.
There is no explanation why these services got installed on the system. Cautious users may set the two Services to disabled:
<span style="color:#323232;">Right-click on one of the services and select Properties.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Switch the Startup type from Manual to Disabled.
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Repeat the process for the second VPN service.
</span>
Deleting the Windows services is another option. The main issue here is that there is no guarantee that a browser update won’t install the Services again. You’d need to monitor the services whenever Brave Browser updates to make sure of that.
Some users who replied to the discussion on Privacy Guides said that they did not have these services installed.
Closing Words
Why are the VPN services installed in first place? Brave made no announcement in this regard. Maybe so that users can start using the VPN immediately on Windows and not after a restart.
In any event, you now have the tools at hand to check for the services and either disable or delete them.
Now You: do you use Brave Browser?
Summary
Brave is installing VPN Services without user consent
Article Name
Brave is installing VPN Services without user consent
Description
Brave Software appears to be installing VPN services on Windows devices without user consent during Brave Browser updates.
Open article -> get prompted for notifications and full-screen cookie consent pop up -> deny notifications -> click through cookie menu, accept -> finally see article for .5 nano seconds -> trending articles popup -> click the x on trending -> tab crashes.
I think I know why people only read the headline nowadays.
Have you read the article? They install their VPN before the user decides to use that service, when they could simply install it when the user decides to subscribe to their VPN.
I’m going to be downvoted for this but it’s recommended on privacy guides because they generally lack strict criteria with browsers. Both Firefox and Brave make automatic connections that shouldn’t be allowed.
@governorkeagan@throws_lemy Privacy Guides has a set of objective criteria to judge a browser's security and privacy. People tend to hate Brave for reasons unrelated to security and privacy. Like the CEO's politics, crypto (and recently AI) integration in the browser, some shady history about injecting referral codes, etc.
Personally, I wish I could find an alternative that is as good as Brave. Until then, I'll keep using it as it is perfect for my needs.
I originally started using brave because at the time it was the most feature complete alternative to chrome. Now I would like to switch but I would still use chrome cast for music streaming (I have quite a few of them).
Last time I checked casting audio was missing as a feature in most deGooogled versions of chrome. Does anyone have any suggestions for browsers that allow me to stream audio from my browser to Google Chromecast?
I agree it is people looking for reasons to criticize. However, I do think VPN or anything that modifies your route tables should be subjected to more scrutiny than other app features due to potential for abuse. I wish browsers wouldn't bundle them at all, or install them as part of their base.
Especially considering they were injecting affiliate links/replacing affiliate links with their own, everything they do should be seen through that lens. They literally thought it was either OK to do which means that behavior like this is going to happen and keep happening with them, OR they thought they could get away with it which ends up with the same result.
I’ve discovered a new browser to use as a secondary one to Firefox in case I needed a chromium based one. Thorium. This thing is insanely fast. Brave what?
Well, there's a way to frame this as malicious. I'm not a fan of Brave, but it also installs, say, a spell checker without consent, or a Tor client. Sure, the code is there even if you don't use it, but... What's the actual harm?
The harm is that it’s installed. There is no reason for doing this. It can be done on demand in one second if the user subscribes to their VPN.
It also shows once once again that they keep on doing their shady shit and still cannot be trusted (or at least that they are a bunch of incompetent developers).
Firefox also installs telemetry and data reporting functions like most browsers, also libraries like libwebp, which are prone to critical vulnerabilities (as seen), encryption systems like Encrypted Client Hello, and software like Pocket, which some users never use, but it's still there.
Any browser will install many features that probably won't be used. Saying that a browser that installs a feature like Tor or VPN (which aren't even hidden, Brave publicly present those features) is automatically bad doesn't sound reasonable to me.
The point I'm making is that it's not like Brave installed the VPN in secret, hidden away to it's own devices. The code is there and a service is installed, sure, but it's dormant until the user activates it.
I mean, yes, it could've been differently, and as I understand it they're going to. But as a user, how is your life worse with this than without this? What's the impact of something being installed but not running?
The same company that was modifying the content of the pages as an opt-out feature deeply hidden in the setting? (e.g. bitcoin stuff on every Reddit link)
Surely you trust them with all of your traffic, though? They sound like good stewards and of course you’d want their VPN installed without your consent and you can definitely trust it’s not doing anything bad, right?
Yeah, weirdly it shows up as a cross-post to the same community but not every client shows them both at once. I’ve seen it before and I think it was to do with cross-instance syncing then as well.
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