Brave browser adds email alias feature to shield users' real addresses

Brave, the browser often positioned as a privacy-focused alternative to Google Chrome, announced this week that it has added support for email aliases. The feature allows users to sign up for websites and online services without disclosing their personal email address.

To use it, users first need to create a Brave account and provide their real email address. Once logged into the browser, clicking on an email field on a website triggers a pop-up offering the option to use an alias instead of the real address. If the pop-up doesn't appear automatically, users can right-click the field to access the option. Any messages sent to the alias are then automatically forwarded to the user's primary email account.

Why it matters

Brave explains that websites often use a person's email address as a unique identifier, which allows them to target users with ads. Large ad-tech companies, such as Meta, can also match the email address a person provides on a retailer's site with the address already on file, enabling them to track purchases and browsing behavior. Additionally, if a site where someone shared their email is hacked, attackers gain access to that real address, which can then be leaked or sold to data brokers.

According to Brave, the company does not read the contents of emails sent to an alias — messages are only scanned for spam and viruses before being forwarded, after which they are deleted from Brave's servers. All account data is encrypted at rest, and notes users attach to an alias are stored locally on the device unless sync is enabled, in which case they are encrypted end-to-end.

Since the feature is new, Brave warned that some forwarded emails may initially land in users' spam folders, but this should improve as the company builds up its reputation as a mail provider. For now, users get five free email aliases, with more to become available for subscribers of Brave's Premium plan in the future.