Add warning about Brave's "referral code" system (#2271)

Co-authored-by: Jonah Aragon <[email protected]> Signed-off-by: Daniel Gray <[email protected]> Signed-off-by: blacklight447 <[email protected]>
privacyguides · Oct 24, 2023 · aa9fed4 · aa9fed4
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diff --git a/docs/desktop-browsers.md b/docs/desktop-browsers.md
@@ -226,6 +226,12 @@ Arkenfox only aims to thwart basic or naive tracking scripts through canvas rand
 
     1. We advise against using the Flatpak version of Brave, as it replaces Chromium's sandbox with Flatpak's, which is less effective. Additionally, the package is not maintained by Brave Software, Inc.
 
+**macOS users:** The download for Brave Browser from their official website is a `.pkg` installer which requires admin privileges to run (and may run other unnecessary scripts on your machine). As an alternative, you can download the latest `Brave-Browser-universal.dmg` file from their [GitHub releases](https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/releases/latest) page, which provides a traditional "drag to Applications folder" install.
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+!!! warning
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+    Brave adds a "[referral code](https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/wiki/Brave%E2%80%99s-Use-of-Referral-Codes)" to the file name in downloads from the Brave website, which is used to track which source the browser was downloaded from, for example `BRV002` in a download named `Brave-Browser-BRV002.pkg`. The installer will then ping Brave's server with the referral code at the end of the installation process. If you're concerned about this, you can rename the installer file before opening it.
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 ### Recommended Configuration
 
 These options can be found in :material-menu: → **Settings**.