Brave puts affiliated links in the address bar: Difference between revisions
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==Incident== | ==Incident== | ||
In June 2020, it was discovered that when users typed 'binance.us' into the address bar, they were suggested the URL 'binance.us/en?ref=35089877', which included a referral code for Brave Software, Inc.<ref>{{Cite web |last=CR1337 |date=2020-06-06 |title=So when you are using the @brave browser and type in "binance[.]us" you end up getting redirected to "binance[.]us/en?ref=35089877" - I see what you did there mates |url=https:// | In June 2020, it was discovered that when users typed 'binance.us' into the address bar, they were suggested the URL 'binance.us/en?ref=35089877', which included a referral code for Brave Software, Inc.<ref>{{Cite web |last=CR1337 |date=2020-06-06 |title=So when you are using the @brave browser and type in "binance[.]us" you end up getting redirected to "binance[.]us/en?ref=35089877" - I see what you did there mates |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/CR1337/status/1269201480105578496 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321195922/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/CR1337/status/1269201480105578496 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |website=Twitter}}</ref> | ||
===Brave Software's response=== | ===Brave Software's response=== | ||
The issue was later addressed publicly by Brave's founder and CEO, [[wikipedia:Brendan_Eich|Brendan Eich]], who apologized and referred to the incident as a 'mistake', stating that "autocomplete should not add any code" and that the lack of disclosure was "the big problem". <ref>{{Cite web |last=Eich |first=Brendan |date=2020-06-06 |title=We made a mistake, we're correcting: Brave default autocompletes verbatim "binance.us" in address bar to add an affiliate code. |url=https:// | The issue was later addressed publicly by Brave's founder and CEO, [[wikipedia:Brendan_Eich|Brendan Eich]], who apologized and referred to the incident as a 'mistake', stating that "autocomplete should not add any code" and that the lack of disclosure was "the big problem".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Eich |first=Brendan |date=2020-06-06 |title=We made a mistake, we're correcting: Brave default autocompletes verbatim "binance.us" in address bar to add an affiliate code. |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/BrendanEich/status/1269313200127795201 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321200019/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/BrendanEich/status/1269313200127795201 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2026-03-18 |website=Twitter}}</ref> | ||
The fix was shipped two days after the original incident, in stable release v1.9.80 on June 8, 2020, which set "Show Brave suggested sites in autocomplete suggestions" to off by default.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-08 |title=Release Channel v1.9.80 |url=https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.9.80 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610221250/https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.9.80 |archive-date=2020-06-10 |access-date=2026-03-18 |website=GitHub}}</ref> | The fix was shipped two days after the original incident, in stable release v1.9.80 on June 8, 2020, which set "Show Brave suggested sites in autocomplete suggestions" to off by default.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-08 |title=Release Channel v1.9.80 |url=https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.9.80 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610221250/https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/tag/v1.9.80 |archive-date=2020-06-10 |access-date=2026-03-18 |website=GitHub}}</ref> | ||
Latest revision as of 20:04, 21 March 2026
Incident
[edit | edit source]In June 2020, it was discovered that when users typed 'binance.us' into the address bar, they were suggested the URL 'binance.us/en?ref=35089877', which included a referral code for Brave Software, Inc.[1]
Brave Software's response
[edit | edit source]The issue was later addressed publicly by Brave's founder and CEO, Brendan Eich, who apologized and referred to the incident as a 'mistake', stating that "autocomplete should not add any code" and that the lack of disclosure was "the big problem".[2]
The fix was shipped two days after the original incident, in stable release v1.9.80 on June 8, 2020, which set "Show Brave suggested sites in autocomplete suggestions" to off by default.[3]
The following day, Brave published a blog post with an apology, stating their intention was to offer an "alternative completion is an affiliate-coded URL for a specific Ledger product, which the user is free to select or ignore".[4]
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ CR1337 (2020-06-06). "So when you are using the @brave browser and type in "binance[.]us" you end up getting redirected to "binance[.]us/en?ref=35089877" - I see what you did there mates". Twitter. Archived from the original on 21 Mar 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ Eich, Brendan (2020-06-06). "We made a mistake, we're correcting: Brave default autocompletes verbatim "binance.us" in address bar to add an affiliate code". Twitter. Archived from the original on 21 Mar 2026. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "Release Channel v1.9.80". GitHub. 2020-06-08. Archived from the original on 2020-06-10. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ "On Partner Referral Codes in Brave Suggested Sites". Brave Blog: Company News. 2020-06-09. Archived from the original on 2024-04-16. Retrieved 2026-03-18.