Brave browser sends desktop users to Wayback Machine on 404 message
The Brave desktop browser associates the functionality of the Wayback Machine with a 404 error. If a searched page is not found and a 404 message follows, users can have the page automatically searched for in the Wayback Machine archive.
The Internet Archive, the organization behind the Wayback Machine, reports that this feature is available in the new desktop version 1.4 of Brave. This automated Wayback Machine search process was previously available through extensions, so it is now a standard part of the latest desktop version.
Users with this version of Brave will receive a 404 error message saying that the page was not found and asking if they want to see if a saved version of the page is available on the Wayback Machine. This search process is started by clicking on the corresponding button. The function works with a total of fourteen different http error codes and not only with a 404 message that the page was not found. This concerns, for example, the codes 408, 410, 451, 500, 502, 503, 504, 509, 520, 521, 523, 524, 525 and 526.
The Internet Archive says it has archived more than 900 billion URLs and more than 400 billion web pages with the Wayback Machine over 23 years, adding many hundreds of millions of URLs every day. “There is therefore a good chance that an archived version of the page not found is available,” according to the Internet Archive.
Brave is a browser that has been around for about three years and left the beta period in November last year. The founder of Brave is Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript and former CEO of Mozilla. The company profiles itself as a champion of privacy. Brave is based on Chromium, has an incognito mode with built-in Tor function, and blocks trackers and ads by default. Another characteristic is the Brave program, a system with which users can earn a Brave payment method by watching privacy-friendly advertisements. With this they can, for example, contribute to the income of creatives on the web.