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0 pointsian-bateman5y ago0 comments

Hi edf13 -

We're still exploring different methods of monetization, but leaning towards an Adblock-Plus style model at the moment (but would want to keep any ads we served entirely local / we'd never send any data off device & would want to be as transparent about everything as possible). Personally, I think it keeps our interests best aligned with those of our users & helps keep the focus on preserving user privacy!

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6 comments · 2 top-level

dhaavi5y ago· 2 in thread

So, if I understand correctly, this means that in the long-term you are going to nerf your (future) adblock feature and actually go a similar route the the Brave browser is going with their ad system?

The privacy community did not react positively _at all_ to this. This also has gotten them quite a lot of negative media coverage.

Also, how are you funded short-term? Like, right now?

ian-batemanOP5y ago

We are still evaluating the best way to go about this, but yes, we've been looking at the way Brave approaches it as well (though of course, we'd like to do it in such a way that everyone's incentives align / we don't compromise user privacy in any way whatsoever).

Short term, I'm self-funding the company (day job + previous exit of an entirely unrelated company).

dhaavi5y ago

Self-funding! This is great, did not expect something like this coming from VC-land SF.

We at https://safing.io/ are also self-funded, but also receive a lot of public funding. Interestingly our visions are very similar, but our technical views seem to differ a lot.

I think monetizing a privacy product without having the user pay is extremely hard. There will need to be an extremely high amount of transparency everywhere.

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ev15y ago· 2 in thread

This sounds even more legally questionable, where you are replacing others' ads with your own.

dhaavi5y ago

I think this is meant to be more like Brave does it.

ian-batemanOP5y ago

Yep, if we do go that way, it'd likely be somewhat similar to Brave. Still very much evaluating options here though.

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