zlacker

This is (importantly) opt-in.

"Brave doesn’t follow the sneaky practices of other big tech search engines. The Web Discovery Project is opt-in, and the data collected under the Web Discovery Project has specific protections to ensure anonymity." per https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409406835469-Wh...

>>w0ts0n+(OP)
I think mentioning your affiliation with Brave might go a long way in contextualizing why you are defending/rationalizing this (even if opt-in).

Editing to add that I don't mean to imply ill will on your part, but that I think being affiliated with Brave might have you taking this type of practice a little more lightly than it probably should be taken.

>>w0ts0n+(OP)
Opt-in or not, “sneaky” is a marketing term and not a UX principle. E.g. showing the user an example of real ROI from providing their data.

That said, stuff like Jedi Blue and Project Bernanke suggest Brave could just disclose they support competitive markets.