Brave has unveiled a new anti-tracking feature called “Forgetful Browsing” to prevent websites from remembering your previous sessions and storing data. Forgetful Browsing will automatically clear cookies and other storage data when you close a website.
Brave’s Forgetful Browsing will also log you out of accounts when you close a site, preventing re-identification during subsequent visits. It has the added of allowing users to escape metered paywalls — where you’re allowed to view a limited number of articles for free before you’re directed to subscribe for continued access.
The feature, announced on May 11, will first be available on the Brave Browser desktop version 1.53 and Android version 1.54. Brave is a renowned privacy-first browser. You can learn more about Brave in our article on the best browsers with a built-in VPN.
Enabling Forgetful Browsing on Brave
While Forgetful Browsing is not a new concept, Brave claims it is more accessible and powerful than any of the other options available.
Private browsing windows and some browser extensions offer the same benefits but come with their limitations. For example, clearing all cache and storage data prevents sites from identifying you, but this will log you out of all your accounts. Also, relying on advanced site controls to manually clear storage data on sites takes time and effort.
Brave’s Forgetful Browsing provides a complete and convenient solution. With a few clicks, you can enable this feature to clear explicitly stored values (such as cookies, localStorage, and indexedDB) as well as indirectly stored values (like HTTP cache and DNS cache).
You can set Forgetful Browsing for specific websites or as the default setting for all websites on the Brave Browser. When used as the default setting, you can create exceptions for sites like email and social media accounts.
Unlike other customizable Brave Shields features, Forgetful Browsing will apply to entire sites and not just domains. This ensures that all sites have the same storage restrictions and require no additional action on the user’s end.
The First-Party Tracking Problem and Inadequate Protections
According to Brave, advertisers and other third parties are adapting to widespread tracking restrictions on browsers. These third parties now gather user data by relying on first-party storage — the data a website retains.
First-party data retention is helpful on certain websites, such as email and social media accounts — to keep users logged in. However, it generally does not offer the same benefits on sites used infrequently. In fact, it could compromise your privacy by allowing these sites to profile you.
“Many privacy problems on the Web have a common root cause: by default, browsers let sites reidentify users indefinitely, but users only benefit from reidentification on a fraction of sites they visit,” Brave’s said in a blog post.
More to Come From Brave
Brave said Forgetful Browsing is just one of many features it plans to release to protect users from first-party tracking.
The browser already protects users’ privacy with features like Unlinkable Bouncing, which automatically clears a site’s storage when a user is bounced through known tracking domains. Brave’s CNAME uncloaking also blocks trackers that are disguised as first-party resources.
Brave regularly releases features that allow users to overcome censorship and internet restrictions.
“Forgetful Browsing is the first of several upcoming features related to further managing and improving privacy around first-party storage on the Web,” Brave said. “Together, these features will address a range of ways first-party storage can be abused to harm users. We look forward to sharing more about these features in the coming weeks and months.”
If this article piqued your interest, we recommend checking out our top picks for the best privacy-focused internet browsers.
