Highly suggest to use dns-level blocking so the majority of that crap doesn't even reach you.
If you don't want to configure and maintain your own box, nextdns is a pretty solid option.
Ask HN: Does anybody not use an adblocker?
31–40 of 159 posts
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody not use an adblocker?
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I work in digital media and I utterly and entirely recommend EVERYONE use ad/analytics/tracking blockers and browsers which limit user-level data collection and tracking. As someone who works in the field and actively builds end-arounds to systems that thwart our ability to easily track your behaviors online, it's in your best interest to do so. Sure, you don't have to do any of this, but seeing any particular ad is…
The only real attack I've heard about is that if your insurance company finds out you participate in risky behaviors, they'll raise your rates. Otherwise why does it matter if Google knows my age and some of my hobbies?
Otherwise when you wife asks why you're getting ads for 'single Muslim women in your area' you'll have no defence.
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody not use an adblocker?
#33I don't, I used to.
These days I tend to use firefox with uMatrix for general browsing, with Javascript and CSS disabled globally. Then enabled on a site by site basis depending upon how I value the content, and if it is even worth following a link.
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody not use an adblocker?
#34I do use adblockers, so much so that I basically only use android because of all the system-wide adblocking capabilities, including youtube ads. I occasionally switch off adblockers to see what the rest of the world sees. Within seconds I am shocked every single time. Some sites I use are unusable without adblockers. The youtube experience is attrocious without adblockers. Amazon products are impossible to find witho…
Can you outline how you're doing system-wide as blocking? That's news to me!
Pi-Hole + VPN usually works without issue for me.
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody not use an adblocker?
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you outline how you're doing system-wide as blocking? That's news to me!
Pi-Hole + VPN usually works without issue for me.
This is the way.
I have a PiHole running in EC2 and I just VPN into it. The VPN is configured so that only DNS goes through it, so I don't tunnel all my traffic through it and pay for lots of egress.
Could easily run the VPN through something local, of course, but I prefer to expose as little as possible on my home network.
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody not use an adblocker?
#36My wife doesn't, simply because Android Chrome doesn't support one and she won't move to Firefox because it doesn't have an extension to translate pages with Google Translate like Chrome does :(
Have you tried Brave?
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody not use an adblocker?
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
> seeing any particular ad is the least of your problems I run a blocker. But for a general user not hitting shadier corners of the web and careful what they click on - What are the larger problems people discuss, and how are they relevant in the day-to-day?
If you're located in a non-GDPR (or in a lesser sense CCPA) legislation area, YOU are being tracked cross-site and profiles are being built on your data to better target and sell your behavior for the pleasure of using the Interwebs. Do EVERYTHING in your power to avoid that.
Yeah, I know. I just don't care. Seriously, I remember this being pointed out literally 20+ years ago. It's gotten far worse since then.
Horses are out, no point worrying about the barn door now.
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody not use an adblocker?
#38I wish I did not have to[0] But, quite frankly, most sites are effectively impossible to use without one :| --------- [0] https://antipaucity.com/2016/03/03/on-ads/ (though I am down to just uBlock Origin & Detect Cloudflare)
What "Detect Cloudflare" is for, in terms of privacy?
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody not use an adblocker?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I work in digital media and I utterly and entirely recommend EVERYONE use ad/analytics/tracking blockers and browsers which limit user-level data collection and tracking. As someone who works in the field and actively builds end-arounds to systems that thwart our ability to easily track your behaviors online, it's in your best interest to do so. Sure, you don't have to do any of this, but seeing any particular ad is…
The only real attack I've heard about is that if your insurance company finds out you participate in risky behaviors, they'll raise your rates. Otherwise why does it matter if Google knows my age and some of my hobbies?
[dead]
Re: Ask HN: Does anybody not use an adblocker?
#40I expect they are all iOS users who don't use ad blockers "in principle".
I thought iOS Safari had built-in ad-blocking functionality (block list filled by extensions)?