Hello guys, today I wanted to talk about a project I deeply care about and I’m actively contributing to, as I believe its good for everyone, including privacy concerned users

Ladybird Browser

This browser comes from the project “SerenityOS”, and has since evolved and separated from it. The founders are Andreas Kling, and Chris Wanstrath. The main goal of this project is to create a browser from scratch, avoiding chromium, gecko, etc. The main keypoints that should be of interest for Privacy Oriented Users are the following:

  • Ladybird lead (Andreas Kling) states “We’re not monetizing users, in any way. This is uncharted territory for browsers. So we’re not going to do any default search deals. We’re not going to do cryptocurrencies or try to monetize user data, just sponsorships and donations”

  • While** Ladybird will implement current web standards including cookie handling and tracking mechanisms for compatibility**, the browser’s philosophy puts the user in control of these decisions, not the company. The browser won’t have built-in incentives to encourage data collection since it doesn’t profit from it.

  • It aims to be “free from advertising’s influence” Ladybird, representing a shift away from the current web ecosystem where users like us are the product. This allows the project to implement privacy features without worrying about harming advertising partners or revenue streams.

As of now, the project has hired several developers with money coming from donations, from partners such as FUTO, Shopify, Cloudflare, among many, and is also seeing lots of volunteer activity on github. So well, if you like the web having more diversity and us having another alternative to google, check them out https://ladybird.org/

  •  who   ( @who@feddit.org ) English
    77·
    3 months ago

    I’m excited to see Ladybird developing, but the project accepting money from Cloudflare makes me wary. Between Cloudflare’s man-in-the-middle position in a great deal of web traffic, and their similarly invasive position as a major DNS-over-HTTPS provider, they are not remotely privacy-friendly.

    •  shaytan   ( @shaytan@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) OPM
      73·
      3 months ago

      Ladybird is a nom profit, and its system consist in limiting sponsor max donation to 100k per year, so no company can sponsor more than that and make ladybird dependent on them. On top of that, they try to balance budget to keep money for 18months of salaries at all times, so they dont feel the need to rush decisions and can have stable development

    •  Jännät   ( @jaennaet@sopuli.xyz ) 
      26·
      3 months ago

      Well, it’s definitely not optimal, but I doubt they have any say in the project’s direction, so I’m OK with this as long as there’s no proof of shady shit going on.

      I’d rather they take the money (as long as Cloudflare isn’t using the threat of pulling funding as leverage to affect development) than refuse it on the grounds of Cloudflare being a shit company; having alternative browser & JS engines is more important than ideological purity, imo.

      Like I said, not optimal, but not a lot is nowadays…

      •  Cethin   ( @Cethin@lemmy.zip ) English
        15·
        3 months ago

        Yeah, this fits with the “don’t correct your enemy when they’re making a mistake” category. Take their money and use it for good. As long as they don’t have a say in how it’s spent, it’s better to take it from them than it go to effect something in a bad way.

    •  d-RLY?   ( @dRLY@lemmy.ml ) 
      19·
      3 months ago

      Extension support is basically a minimum requirement for me (especially uBO, but also some others like Bypass Paywalls Clean, FastStream, and SponsorBlock). They can add overhead to the browser, but if the browser itself is solid and as efficient as they are pushing for. Then I can handle knowing that any extra RAM or processes are my fault. I imagine that if they truly keep all the data collection and telemetry we see in other browsers. Then the overhead of extensions might just make resources only about as bad as a clean install of the others without extensions. Which would still be a win in my book. Even if they don’t have extensions, it will still be fun to have around and see how it evolves over time. Might even inspire folks to try doing the hardest part of making new browsers instead of endless forks that are at the whim of the base they came from.

      •  18107   ( @18107@aussie.zone ) English
        15·
        3 months ago

        I don’t mind an adblocker extension installed by default (for non tech-minded users), but a built in adblocker is just irritating. I want to have control over which extensions I use. Building an adblocker into the browser just takes more development time, and reduces freedom for everyone.

        •  Swedneck   ( @Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de ) 
          2·
          2 months ago

          having a pre-installed adblock extension is also a great way to dogfood the extension implementation, whereas if it’s a built-in adblocker it’s likely to use a bunch of special privileged code and when extension developers complain about being unable to do things the browser devs will just say “yeah we can’t be bothered to fix this, just use the built-in adblocker dude”

  •  null_dot   ( @null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English
    27·
    3 months ago

    When I first became aware of this project I was pretty dismissive.

    I’m very happy to admit in this case that the project has come further than I thought it would.

    Their FAQ says they have 8, paid, full time devs and resources for something like 18 months. IDK how much it really takes to get a browser off the ground but they’ve got something, at least.

    I’m looking forward to their Alpha release in 2026, and really hope they can achieve that.

    •  shaytan   ( @shaytan@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) OPM
      12·
      3 months ago

      Companies and organizations earn money by selling user data from these intrusive AIs, and ladybird is the complete opposite, so I doubt it, probably the closest thing to that will be allowing users to have their preferred AI linked on the sidebar, which is normal and non-intrusive by itself

      Edit: Some companies earn even more money just by keeping investors happy with this AI bubble

  •  pfr   ( @pfr@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
    4·
    3 months ago

    It’s so far from being ready. I built it on void recently and well, it ran, but it was very bare bones. At this stage I still prefer netsurf.

    Looking forward to the finished product.

      •  hydroptic   ( @hydroptic@sopuli.xyz ) 
        1·
        2 months ago

        I’d be curious to know what the proper context is for Kling saying that using gender neutral language in the documentation of a project he was maintaining is something he’s opposed to because it’s “ideologically motivated.”

        White males are actively discriminated against in tech.

        It’s an open secret of Silicon Valley.

        One of the last meetings I attended before leaving Apple (in 2017) was management asking us to “keep the corporate diversity targets in mind” when interviewing potential new hires.

        The phrasing was careful, but the implication was pretty clear.

        I knew in my heart this wasn’t wholesome, but I was too scared to rock the boat at the time.

        That’s Kling replying to @danheld, who “is ultimately responding to @shaunmmaguire’s tweet lying about being told he wouldn’t be promoted at Google for being white.”

        What’s the proper context for that?

        What’s the proper context for Kling calling someone getting dragged for boosting noted far-right conspiracy nut Bryan Lunduke “persecution” for “banal, mainstream positions”?

        I mean, sure, being alt-right isn’t very alt nowadays so I guess it’s mainstream, I’ll grant you that.

        Quotes and links from this blog post