I use (in order of preference) Chrome, Opera, Brave, and Firefox, often running two or three of them at once. (For example, I’m writing this post in Chrome but often also use Opera to bypass Chrome cookies, for testing links and such.)
Sometimes my preferences change: Chrome’s trending down because their business is in ads and they don’t want to block them; Brave’s trending up because of how well the built-in design blocks ads, by default. But since Chrome will likely tend increasingly toward not blocking ads, it will likely likely work best on sites–especially news sites–that block me if I’m using ad blocking.
Opera includes decent ad blocking and a free VPN for privacy, and I really like Opera Touch on Android because of how easily I can share links between phone and desktop. BUT, Opera was sold to a Chinese consortium a couple of years ago, and my trust might erode very quickly, e.g. if their VPN is discovered or reasonably suspected to “phone home” a user’s browsing activity.
So browser features and threats change over time. Here is some recent opinion on the topic at https://etherealmind.com/dont-use-opera-browser-because-privacy-threat/
I am not certain that Opera holds values that I trust. Equally, Google’s Chrome is losing trust because they now refuse to allow consumers to implement ad-blocking solutions of their own choice.
I’ve set out the issues that I have with Opera but I also have the same questions about Brave browser. [If their] VC funding model demands huge returns for investors but a financial model is yet to appear. If Brave heads down the same path as Opera, which seems likely, it too will become a privacy threat when it sells data for money.
Today I use Apple’s Safari as my primary browser and Firefox on a regular basis.
I’m not an Safari user, but I do expect that Apple will continue to sell reliable privacy and security as major features.
Reg the Fronkey Farmer 5 years, 5 months ago.
