Former Mozilla CEO's browser blocks (and replaces) web ads
And eventually, it'll insert ads of its own.
Let's say you're Brendan Eich, the former CEO of Mozilla -- an organization that thrives on internet privacy. What would you do? If you guessed "build a privacy-minded web browser," you hit the nail on the head. Eich is developing Brave, a Chromium-based web browser that blocks all ads by default in the names of both privacy and speed. It'll supposedly be faster than installing all the relevant blocking tools yourself. However, this isn't strictly a power-to-the-people move... the Brave team has its own ad plans.
When Brave is ready, it'll replace the missing content with its own ads, splitting the revenue between itself (15 percent), publishers (55 percent), ad suppliers (15 percent) and even you, the user (10 to 15 percent). Eich sees it as an attempt to "chlorinate the pool" for ads, starting from scratch to build a better business model that respects web surfers. The Brave spots will be based on tags from your browsing history, although you can change or remove those tags if you're worried.
The software should reach both desktop (Mac/PC) and mobile (Android/iOS) devices when it arrives sometime later this year. Whether or not its business model takes off is another story -- that depends on how sites react to ad blockers (some are nicer than others) and the sweetness of the Brave deal itself. Brave could up-end current web ad strategies if it takes off, but it could just as easily run into stiff resistance.
