Best known as the creator of JavaScript and a co-founder of Mozilla, Brendan Eich these days has moved on to a new project. He is CEO of Brave Software, which wants to “build a better Web” that puts users in control of their data, blocking trackers by default. Brave is building its own browser and promotes micropayments and better ads as an alternative to poorly performing ads that drive users to blockers. InfoWorld Editor at Large Paul Krill recently met with Eich to discuss his latest venture. [ Also on InfoWorld: 22 JavaScript frameworks ready for adoption. | JavaScript founder Brendan Eich: WebAssembly is a game-changer . | Brendan Eich celebrates the rise of JavaScript compilers . | Keep up with hot topics in programming with InfoWorld’s Application Development newsletter . ] InfoWorld: What is the principal mission of Brave Software? Your slogan says you are building a better Web.
Eich: There’s a simple answer, which is to block everything — it makes the browser faster. But we’d like to try two things on top of that. One of them is a better way to do anonymous, highly private ads — ads that don’t involve tracking. That’s because we think most people are used to the Web being funded by ads. They don’t want to necessarily pay for content.
The second thing is a micropayments channel. There’s a connection between the two so the users can pay for content if they want to. Again, it’s anonymous, a very small payments channel that doesn’t require you to give your credit card. It’s a browser-based micropay wall.
We block everything for speed and privacy and safety, given the malvertisement that’s getting into the ad supply chains. One of the things we’re trying is better ads to make payments work for publishers without users […]
