Brave, the well-known privacy-focused browser, now supports IPFS, a decentralized data storage protocol inspired by Bitcoin and BitTorrent technology, which seeks to provide a privacy and decentralization tool to its users.
The developers of the popular privacy-focused web browser, Brave, have recently announced a new version with interesting improvements, one of them, hand in hand with the decentralization of the web, we are talking about native support for P2P protocol, InterPlanetary File System (IPFS)With this new version and the inclusion of support for this new protocol, Brave will allow its users to access the content network that is currently available on IPFS, in a completely secure, uncensored and borderless way.
To do this, the developers have designed a connection model that will allow its nearly 30 million users to have a full IPFS node connection in their browser.
IPFS, an example of a free P2P network for the world
IPFS is a project that has been with us for several years. Initially developed by Juan Benet in 2015 with the aim of creating a decentralized P2P data storage network that used a blockchain infrastructure. DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph), technology of BitTorrent y Bitcoin for its funtionability.
In this way, IPFS could be defined as “The Bitcoin network of data” and the idea is simple: save the information on your PC, connect your IPFS node, share and replicate it around the world. All of this in a secure, private, decentralized and censorship-free space. To this you can add the ability to provide or access these services anywhere in the world without any major problems.
Since then, IPFS has become one of the largest distributed data storage projects of all time. And, in fact, it has served as inspiration for the creation of Filecoin (FIL), a distributed data storage project that uses blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, to ensure an economic and operational basis. It also inspired other projects such as Both, its currency Siacoin and the project Skynet, which also has a very similar objective and operation.
Brave, a strong commitment to privacy and security
Despite its minor setback in 2020 when a heated controversy arose over the inclusion (and injection) of referral codes in this browser, Brave quickly corrected the error, apologized, and continued to raise the flag that started its path: User privacy first. Thus, everything indicates that its bet is still strong, and the browser has again rebounded in the number of installations and users.
But the bet is not just a hook, it is also a clear reality. An example of this is its native ad blocker, his acquaintance “Private mode” in which a connection can be activated via Tor completely natively and, the use of DuckDuckGo by default as your web browser. All of these measures make it unique compared to other web browsers, and seek to keep the privacy of its users under the control of who should be: the same users.
Now these measures are joined by support for IPFS, which was proposed for inclusion in June of 2020. With this, the browser gains a new privacy protocol to the support list. Additionally, Brave has updated its Group Policy support so that IT administrators (or advanced home users) can breathe easy by maintaining control of this software on managed computers.
More is yet to come
However, the project does not only report this great advance. Some of its features that are about to take great steps are its support webtorrent and improve support for the CryptoWallet native (with Web3 technology) Ethereum) that accompanies the browser. Without a doubt, technology that will make our lives much easier as Internet surfers.
In fact, Brian Bondy, CTO and co-founder of Brave, has commented on the browser's progress:
We’re thrilled to be the first browser to offer native IPFS integration with this new release of the Brave desktop browser. This allows us to give Brave’s 1 million+ verified content creators the power to seamlessly serve content to millions of new users around the world through a new, secure protocol.
With this, Bondy highlights Brave's ability to allow its users to serve and share data within the IPFS network natively. With this, it seeks to allow video, music and much more services to be controlled by users and content creators using their browser. All of this is driven by technology such as the BAT token (Basic Attention Token, an ERC-20 token from the Ethereum network), WebTorrent and more. Additionally, Bondy emphasizes that in the future, IPFS's functions will be expanded with the arrival of DNSLink and the creation of other tools that will allow users to fully exploit IPFS's capabilities from their browser.
