Today, web browsers are just as complex as operating systems. However, I believe there is a need to rethink our approach on how to architect such software system. In this talk, I will talk you on a tour of new ideas and challenges that pertain to browser security, privacy, and performance. I will talk about issues surrounding a new wave of browser performance wars. I will touch upon a range of issues related to user tracking, ad blocking, anti-ad blocking, coin mining. I will discuss our efforts to push the performance envelope further, while lowering the power consumption. Finally, I will talk about the challenges of building privacy-preserving delivery mechanisms in the browser. My focus is what is already part of Brave, and what we still consider needs to be added.
Ben Livshits is Chief Scientist for Brave Software, the company behind the Brave browser, a fast, open source, privacy-focused browser that blocks intrusive ads and trackers. He is also a Reader at Imperial College London and an affiliate professor at the University of Washington. Previously, he was a research scientist at Microsoft Research. Ben’s interests include application of sophisticated static and dynamic analysis techniques to finding errors in programs. Ben has published papers and holds patents. But he is most proud of the software he transferred from research to practice.
