if you are installing extensions while logged in, well⌠obviously they will track it or show it in a list or something, it is what they do, if not they wouldnât let you log in in their âstoresâ.
Why do you think âBraveâ matters? in fact, internally Chrome extension store is seeing the browser as âChromiumâ or even "chromeâ because of the UA.
For example, the new extension store said âChromeâ and Brave team changed something so it says âBraveâ so⌠yeah, it doesnât matter if you are on Brave or not, Google doesnât care about that, they care about you using a Browser where you are installing extensions, whatever it says, might be only superficial, but internally they probably they donât see any Brave on it.
But you are in Google domain, with a Google account logged in, pushing âinstallâ buttons, so this behavior is obvious.
What you should do is restrict google account where you need them then.
If youâre logged into google (the website or the browser, makes no difference), and download an extension from the google web store, of course google will know about it. The extension âpurchasesâ as google calls them are tied to your user account. The one you use for your gmail etc. The one you were logged into.
Thatâs not in any way controllable from the userâs or even the browserâs side. Thatâs an internal google decision youâll have to take up with google.
I tried logging out of google and installing a new extension from their web store, then logging back in. It doesnât show up on the list even if I have the extension enabled in Brave when I log back in. Brave is not telling google what extensions its running. Google knows which extensions have been installed while logged into your google account.
What do you think logging in is?
When youâre logged into your google account and download a page from googleâs website, it sends a request to googleâs servers with your user account attached to it. In laymanâs terms, it tells the computer âBachsau wants to see a pageâ. When you click install, it sends the message âBachsau wants to install an extensionâ.
It has nothing to do with âright or wrongâ or âcorporations tracking youâ or âBrave being unaffected by Googleâ. Itâs basic functionality of a user account. Itâs why user accounts exist.
Like I said, google considers extension installs âweb store purchasesâ. Just free purchases. If you buy a game from Steam, are you shocked to find itâs tied to your user account? If you make a post on Facebook, are you surprised that Facebook knows which account made the post?
If you donât want your extension install being tied to your account, then donât be logged into that account when you install the extension.
By the way, I checked for you and if you download an extension as a .crx file, disconnect your ethernet cable, then install it manually via developer mode and switch back to the web store page, the text âAdd to Braveâ updates to âRemove from Braveâ.
Despite there being no physical possibility in which Google wouldâve been informed that I installed the extension. I donât even have a wifi card in this PC. The determination that the extension is installed is clearly done client-side.
If you want to hear the same from a developerâs mouth then thatâs all great, but seeing as how there are about a thousand more important questions still unanswered on these forums I wouldnât hold my breath.