Hi, I’m Shivan. I care about privacy online.

I’m currently the VP of Privacy and Security at Brave, where I lead the Privacy, Security, Adblocking and Website Compatibility engineering teams. The work of my teams is critical to Brave and has been a key driver of Brave browser’s growth to over 100 million users. My work spans:

• Product and engineering: shipping privacy features, third-party ad and tracker blocking, and compatibility work so websites keep working with Brave’s protections. Privacy and adblocking is the #1 reason Brave browser’s 100+ million users use the product.

• Security and compliance: security/privacy/compliance reviews and security questionnaires for companies integrating the Brave Search API.

• External leadership: engaging with regulators and representing Brave at conferences and standards bodies.

I am active in privacy-respectful standards in the IETF, IRTF and W3C. I currently chair the Key Transparency and Oblivious HTTP working groups at the IETF, and the Privacy Enhancements and Assessments Research Group at the IRTF. I’ve previously worked on DNS, encrypted DNS, consent tooling (several patents) and telemetry.

My writing (both personal and work-related) has appeared in publications like Ars Technica, The Verge, TechCrunch, The Register and been on the front page of Hacker News and gone viral on X/Twitter several times. I contributed an essay on centralization in Internet privacy in a book published by Meatspace Press called Eaten by the Internet, which you can even buy if you want.

I am currently on the Advisory Council of Open Tech Fund’s Information Controls Fellowship. I have a strong interest in public interest technology and frequently collaborate with civil society.

I moved to San Francisco a few years ago, after many years in Canada. SF is a beautiful city, though I miss Vancouver a lot.

You can read my blog.