Brave launches email alias feature to enhance user privacy

Brave has introduced a new Email Aliases feature in desktop version 1.94, allowing users to generate disposable email addresses when signing up for online services. These aliases forward messages to the user’s primary inbox, preventing websites from obtaining their real email address. This measure is intended to combat cross-site tracking and server-side matching used by advertising companies like Meta and Google to link browsing activities to personal profiles.

To use this feature, users must create a Brave Account. This new account system utilizes the OPAQUE cryptographic protocol, which ensures that user passwords are never transmitted to Brave’s servers, even in hashed form. This approach aims to protect user credentials even in the event of a server-side data breach.

Brave is currently offering five email aliases for free to its users, with plans to introduce a paid Premium tier and mobile support in the future. The company stated that while it filters aliases for spam and viruses, it does not read the content of the forwarded messages. Users can also deactivate specific aliases if they begin receiving unwanted communications.