Brave, the alternative web browser, has introduced a new feature that allows users to generate email aliases, providing a privacy-enhancing alternative to sharing personal email addresses when signing up for online services. According to the announcement, users must first create a Brave account and input their real email address. When encountering an email field on a website, a pop-up offers the option to use an alias, which is automatically filled in and forwards any received emails to the user’s primary inbox.
The company positions this feature as a privacy safeguard, explaining that email addresses are often used as personal identifiers for targeted advertising and cross-site tracking by ad tech companies. Additionally, in the event of a data breach, exposing a primary email address could lead to further privacy risks. Brave asserts that its email alias system does not access the content of forwarded emails, which are only scanned for spam and viruses before being deleted from Brave’s servers. User data is encrypted at rest, and any notes associated with aliases are stored locally or encrypted end-to-end if syncing is enabled. Initially, Brave users are granted five free email aliases, with more options planned for Premium subscribers. Source