Trackers and Ad Blocking keep resetting back to Standard from Aggressive on clearing all browsing data - Windows and Linux

[dcoder43]

Description

Trackers and Ad Blocking keep resetting back to Standard from Aggressive on clearing all browsing data on Windows and Linux machines.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Check Trackers and Ad Blocking shields settings before clearing all browsing data.
2. Clear all browsing data
3. Check Trackers and Ad Blocking shields settings after clearing all browsing data.

Actual result:

Trackers and Ad Blocking shields settings do not remain intact as set before clearing browsing data.

Expected result:

Trackers and Ad Blocking shields settings should remain intact as set before clearing browsing data.

Reproduces how often:

Randomly, sometimes it resets and sometimes it doesn't. But is happens intermittently.

Brave version (brave://version info)

Brave Version : 1.47.186 Chromium: 109.0.5414.119 (Official Build) (64-bit)
OS - Linux Fedora 37

Brave Version : 1.47.186 Chromium: 109.0.5414.119 (Official Build) (64-bit)
OS - Windows 11 Pro x64 22H2 Build 22621.1194

Version/Channel Information:

• Can you reproduce this issue with the current release? Yes
• Can you reproduce this issue with the beta channel?
• Can you reproduce this issue with the nightly channel?

Other Additional Information:

• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Shields?
• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Rewards? No
• Is the issue reproducible on the latest version of Chrome?

Miscellaneous Information:

[antonok-edm]

Hmm, I think this is technically expected behavior - clearing your browsing data is intended to remove traces of you having visited the site, one example of which would be having a custom setting associated with the site in Shields.

If you prefer Aggressive blocking mode in general, you may be interested in changing the global default setting from brave://settings/shields, which shouldn't change after clearing browsing data.

cc @pes10k

[DesertBear]

…If you prefer Aggressive blocking mode in general, you may be interested in changing the global default setting from brave://settings/shields, which shouldn't change after clearing browsing data.

@antonok-edm

I think that may be where the issue lies: the global default setting is also getting reset, not just per site settings.

I've just tried changing the global default setting in brave://settings/shields to "Aggressive" and this global setting is also getting reset back to "Standard" when clearing browsing data (after the browser is restarted).

This occurs both when clearing browsing history in brave://settings/clearBrowserData manually from the "Advanced" tab, or when clearing browsing history from the "On Exit" tab.

If a user has set the global default setting to "Aggressive", then this global setting should stay set to "Aggressive", but it doesn't.

Video 01 - Showing clearing browsing history manually:

01.mp4

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Video 02 - Showing clearing browsing history on exit:

02.mp4

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Brave version:

Brave:    1.49.120 Chromium: 111.0.5563.64 (Official Build) (64-bit) 
Revision: c710e93d5b63b7095afe8c2c17df34408078439d-refs/branch-heads/5563@{#995}
OS:       Windows 10 Version 22H2 (Build 19045.2604)

[An-anonymous-coder]

I was able to reproduce this. It is still very much an issue, and I would say quite a serious one as it directly impacts privacy and security. I'm surprised this has been here for as long as it has. It resets the global toggle. It also resets on Android, but only if you manually clear data.

[schipht]

Hi @antonok-edm

I'm experiencing the same issue on both Windows and Android. When I try to clear all browsing data, the "Clear browsing data" popup resets the Shield's tracker and ad blocking type from Aggressive to Standard due to the combination of site and Shield settings.

Additionally, the Android version exhibits the same behavior without any informative notice about resetting the Shield's tracker & ad blocking type.

I hope you consider removing Shield settings from the "Clear browsing data" options.

Here is a video demonstrating the issue on Android:

Android.mp4

[ShivanKaul]

I can't repro this on my MBP, but this is the desired behavior:

1. If Site and Shields Settings checkbox is ON in Delete browsing data then we want to delete all per-site Shields modifications, and not modify global Shields settings.
2. If Site and Shields Settings checkbox is OFF in Delete browsing data then we want to delete all per-site Shields modifications, and (still) not modify global Shields settings.