I saw that recently Zorin had made the decision to make brave browser it's default browser, a few years ago I remember reading a few pages about brave and it's ceo supporting anti LGBT groups/programs, was wondering what other users have heard and think on this?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ainbow/comments/csw4v9/do_not_use_brave_browser_youre_supporting_a/
Brendan Eich has many controversies due to comments he has made that are often inaccurate, misleading or bigoted.
The Zorin Forum does not support such commentary, nor actions taken on such commentary including any discrimination against any person for their gender, race, identity, creed or personhood.
Every member and user of Zorin OS can expect to be treated fairly and with human decency, here.
So if Mr. Eich wishes to register and post here; he will keep a civil tongue or he will deal with me and find himself the CEO of the Ban Bin.
That being said...
Mozilla's decision to change their policy in a way that exploits user data rather than protecting it is a very serious issue.
There are many opinions about this, many of them divided.
I fully support the ZorinGroup's decision to replace Firefox as default, given the Privacy Policy changing to an invasive nature and Mozilla using weasel words to address public outcry, rather than addressing their Privacy Policy in a manner to once again secure user data, rather than try to market it.
This left the ZorinGroup seeking a new default browser that needed to fit a list of strict requirements.
Brave Browser - which is a company I have spoken out against many times - was the only one that fit each requirement.
Undoubtedly, sticking with Firefox would have raised controversy and upset a large number of Zorin OS Users.
Switching to Brave has also met some controversy.
For the reasons you cite as well as the Crypto aspects and other historical actions by Brave that have drawn our ire.
ZorinGroup disabled much of this Brave Browser marketing in the default.
But sadly, none of us cannot open closed minds in CEO's around the world.
As the End User; you have the options to choose: Many users can and do remove the default browser and install their preferred one.
Sometimes it is unfortunate that Politics itself will affect Linux and GnuLinux.
To all members, let's keep a clear head on our shoulders and as we can discuss the affects on the Linux ecosystem, that we do not post political opinions, promote political ideology and dissent.
And a free and open forum as policy is not a political statement.
If we start to dig I'm sur we will find so many reason to not use this software, this distro, or this phone, nothing is angelic because we have all the right to think and have our own opinion.
I don't use social media because I don't like the mechanism, but not for my privacy, because I have a phone, a computer and I buy things on internet, so my privacy is degrated by all this elements.
I hope I was clear because English is not my natural language.
Anyway I wish you all to have fun 
He would have to deal with everyone of us here.
When I first heard this around a month ago, I was definitely disappointed to hear about it like you. Regardless, I still wanted to find out if it was a valid criticism so I recently did some digging.
On Brendan Eich's Wikipedia page I found that he donated $1k to a political campaign against gay marriage in 2008. His stance at the time is definitely something I wouldn't agree with, but this was around the time when people like Barack Obama were also against gay marriage. Obama said back then in 2008 that he personally believes "marriage is between a man and a woman" and that he's "not in favor of gay marriage" (source).
Thankfully society has moved on and gay marriage has become more accepted. It looks like Brendan's position has also matured since. When he was CEO of Mozilla in 2014, he said that he expressed "sorrow for causing pain" about his past beliefs and pledged to "work with LGBT communities and allies". His full statement was linked on the Wikipedia page and can be found here.
I know it's a divisive topic, and I was definitely on the anti-Brave side when I first heard the allegations about Brendan it in the news. But after reading his statement, he genuinely seems sorry for his previous position.
It was a big mistake on his part personally, but I think it's reasonable to forgive people who are actually remorseful. We've all made mistakes before.
I was concerned too about the issues raised, but before I even knew about that, for me it is a case of once bitten (bitcoined) twice shy. I am not a fan of bitcoin and never intend to use it or any of it's 'forks'. Just read an article posted about browsers here:
In that article it states that even after Brave Browser has been removed there are still running active processes that remain active at system level. Similarly with Zoom, I will never use it because they lied when they launched it that it was E2E when it never was. Might be now but that won't change my stance on Zoom.
I've said, many times before, that I hated using Brave. I installed it on my Windows 10 laptop, really didn't get on with it (it was so resource hungry, always doing things in the background...), so decided to remove it, and it was like fighting a centuries old vampire! I did get rid of it, finally, but it required going through the registry to root out every last bit of it. I certainly won't be using it again.
As for the political stuff, I'm wholly with @Aravisian and @Ponce-De-Leon.
The heart loves whoever the heart loves, and it's no one's place to put barriers up to prevent consenting adults from being together. Just "do no harm".
People continue to grow as they age and experience life... what I believed when I was 20 had changed by the time I was 30, and matured again by the time I reached 40. I hope to goodness that people don't judge the person I am now based on how I behaved before I was 20!!! We do have the capacity to evolve as human beings, but we need to watch and see if the actions match what people say they believe in. "Don't tell me, show me.".
So, I'm sticking with Zen and Libre Wolf. No Brave for me, but I completely understand why Zorin is making it the default browser... I mean, most Windows refugees have been using Edge or Google Chrome!!!
I completely agree with everything you said, and it was also very well spoken, and you made the exact points I would have. Personally, I think the Zorin team made the right choice, I don't want my data going to the highest bidder. Brave is the lesser of 2 evils. The CEO can straighten up and fly right, or go into the ban bin, exactly!
Yet, he only made that statement while at Mozilla after initially denying any wrong doing, then claiming that his personal and private donations were unrelated to Mozilla. He released that statement under pressure, showing no real remorse.
Later, he made similar comments and also made further inaccurate and misleading claims about Covid-19.
So, no - I do not believe Eich and I do hold him accountable; not because he expressed views in the past, but because he holds those views to this day and as recently as 2020, well after the Prop 8 fiasco, parroted extremist talking points spreading false, misleading, derogatory information.
I did not know any of that! Thanks for the education. Seems like the vast majority of Mozilla's users for the past couple of decades didn't either!
I'm one of those weirdos who was happy to see Brave's inclusion, so to speak, in the distro. I'd already installed it, so the update didn't really affect my setup.
I'm also one who hopes that we can all keep our wits about us whenever someone says or does something in the political sphere that we disagree with. BE's contribution was to a position that was important to him, and as some have already mentioned in this discussion, many, many others also agreed with him. Surely one can disagree with people or positions while still treating them as human beings, right? If not, then the future is not very bright for any of us.
I choose not to make random political doings the be-all, end-all in making technology choices. They are not weightless, but they don't define me, nor do they define Mr. Eich, or any of the rest of us...not unless we want to build our identities around such things. I don't.
In summary, one thing I appreciate about Zorin is its inclusiveness, and I don't mean that ideologically. I mean, how many other distros are there out there that welcome Windows, ChromeOS, and macOS refugees so openly, even going so far as to offer UI configurations to help them feel at home? How many others offer .deb/apt, Snap, Flatpak, and distro packages right out of the box, no terminal required. Not many other distros make it so easy for people to drag in that Windows app they can't do without, even though we know that most Linux enthusiasts have very low opinions of Windows and Microsoft. We all know how passionate Snap and Flatpak and distro package advocates can be! Yet, somehow Zorin has found a way to allow them all.
I'll do the same for Brave and Brendan Eich.
ZorinOS, you listened to your users more than someone's idea of ideological purity. And you took user concerns into account by sanitizing the default settings. Bravo!
What makes your statement interesting is that Eich disagreed with others, then supported applying force onto others that they must live his way. He disagreed, then took direct action to apply authoritarian rule against something that does not harm him, does not affect his life and is no threat to him.
Do you see the dichotomy there?
What we do absolutely does define us and we cannot excuse our behaviors by later claiming that they do not define us. There is no other definition.
So, others decided to speak up - to encourage not patronizing a business that sought authoritarian action against the lives of others.
And without people having the courage to do so...
Additionally:
Many, many people supported and agreed with many actions we consider atrocities, today. The atomic bombings. Slavery. What was their future is now our present - one that is a bit better place for having recognized the atrocities for what they were at the time and speaking up to improve our standing as people; to treat each other better and to not try to dictate how others safely live their lives.
That - is what a brighter future actually looks like.
Eich failed to disagree yet still treat others with human decency.
How can you suggest that others treat Eich as someone who merely disagreed about something, when he utterly failed to decently treat others as human beings and did not merely disagree, but took authoritative action against other human beings? Why is he permitted this, but others not? What justifies this glaring contradiction?
He asserted dominance and control over what only he can explain would have bothered him enough to do so.
I would still argue that using GNU/Linux is a 'political' decision with a small 'p'. You have made a choice of being free from the shackles of proprietary software and true freedom to do what you want with your computer. Politics is about making choices that align with what you believe in, and choosing GNU/Linux means you have real freedom.
I wouldn't say that in this common Way. Yes, some People will have that as Motivation. But some People maybe have only enough from the annoying Windows Stuff and want a System that don't have that and simply do what You want that it does. Or they like the DE Choice with different Ways of Usage.
And using Linux doesn't mean automatically to avoid proprietary Software. When You use Nvidia Driver, there are not Open Source. And so is it with other Software too.
True, but as I am not a gamer I don't need proprietary graphics drivers. Nouveau is good enough for me. I think everyone who moves to GNU/Linux should spend some time looking at Stallman videos.
And that is totally fine. I only wanted to say that it doesn't mean that the Users are without proprietary Software. But of Course, You have the Choice.
The CEO is one man; his views don't translate to the entire company. Without any evidence to that effect, it's simply not true to claim that Brave supports homophobia in any way.
We must also consider that most of what he said and did happened when he was with Mozilla and I've not seen anyone in the past arguing that Firefox shouldn't be used for the same reasons. I never heard of anything back in 2008!
If we used Firefox for almost 2 decades without objecting to people's words and actions, how can we now make a noise about the same person who is now with the new choice of browser? It doesn't make any sense to me.
I must point out that you not having heard of it does not mean it did not happen.
It did happen.
That was why Eich ended up resigning from Mozilla.
It was covered in this thread that it happened; that Eich gave a statement of apology and still, ultimately resigned, due to the protests.
So you cannot say we used Firefox for 2 decades without anyone objecting; because that never happened.
What happened was: Many people objected: vehemently.
Eich issued a formal statement pointing out that he felt he had done no wrong, keeping that stance until 2014.
Eich issued a formal apology later, promising to never let his views influence the direction of Mozilla in March of 2014.
Eich issued his resignation at Mozilla in April 2014.
There were six years of pressure before Eich even addressed it.
In the time since, Eich has run into controversy again in 2022 and 2023 by parroting Q-Anon conspiracy claims about Covid-19 and directly calling Dr. Fauci a "liar" on X (Twitter) - now deleted tweets.
While these may well be his 'views', where as a private citizen, he may have them: He actively took a course that sought to control and endanger health and lives, in addition to seeking to control others marriages.
His views did not change, in any way or mature, as others suggest may have happened.
For those of us that use the software, we may protest and speak out when Software Developers take actions that affect our lives, health, and freedom.
Their right to privacy in their personal views end when they seek to publicly enforce their views onto other private people and deny the same freedom that they enjoy to other people that they believe do not get to have that same freedom.
That is not merely disagreeing, folks. That is active oppression.
If Eich could not disagree yet still treat others with human decency - protesting is the only option to the End User of the product.
I agree with this. One person, even the CEO coming to protest due to actions he has taken does not mean that the company as a whole agrees with that one persons stance, nor that that company itself acts in any way to support that stance.
So far, there is no - zero - evidence that Brave Browser discriminates in any way against race, gender, preferences, etc. Even if the CEO personally does - many people within a company may do so, while it does not affect the entirety of the company.
For those that try to defend Brave Browser by either denying or downplaying Eich's own actions - that is a fallacy.
For those that claim Brave Browser itself agrees with Eich - they would need to provide evidence that it does, which is currently very lacking.
I'm sorry that my post wasn't clearer (due to my ignorance it would have been better to not write my reply at all) , of course I believe it did happen, and I'm disgusted with anyone who takes such an abusive and bigoted stance.
