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Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

optimal.com

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Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#4

Post by benologist »

This looks really cool, especially for the bajillion mobile-only people connecting straight through their telco without any ublock/ghostery/hosts/etc blocking.

I am using a local DNS server that does this called Pihole [1] supplemented with additional blocklists [2] for malware and privacy.

One thing I don't see is any statistics ... you might be surprised at how much software in your home is endlessly communicating with companies you might not even have heard of, and that's been a great benefit of taking control of my DNS resolution [3].

[1] https://pi-hole.net/

[2] https://github.com/benlowry/pihole-extended-hosts

[3] 5.1% of my networks' requests today got blocked - https://i.imgur.com/ELL9CDu.png

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#5

Post by buro9 »

One can achieve this locally, on a laptop/desktop, using https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts

Or you can combine that with https://github.com/jlund/streisand to have a VPN service that happens to adblock (great for mobile).

That said... I like that Optimal have made this too, because neither of the above can work for all devices in a household and more things in the house are tracking you and serving adverts (TV!).

The real questions I have are:

Who sources the list of domain names in there that they will null route?

How will this work with DNSSEC protected sources or whether they anticipate this at all?

How will they become aware of new domains being used by smart devices that are not shared by web sites (and therefore no-one notices and adds it to any blacklist)?

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#6

Post by koolba »

buro9 wrote: post #5

One can achieve this locally, on a laptop/desktop, using https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts Or you can combine that with https://github.com/jlund/streisand to have a VPN service that happens to adblock (great for mobile). That said... I like that Optimal have made this too, because neither of the above can work for all devices in a household and more things in the house are tracking you and serving adverts (TV!). T…

I think it'll be hilarious if the future of DNS security and authentication is driven by ad companies ensuring consumers can't dodge them.

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#7

Post by nherment »

Not sure what to think of it:

An "ethical" ad blocking service launched Thursday that allows users to pay their favorite publishers not to show them ads. [...] With Optimal.com, users will pay a flat monthly fee (Leathern told Business Insider the exact amount hasn't been released, but it's likely to be a high single-digit number) to experience an ad free web.

Source: http://uk.businessinsider.com/optimal-launches-subscription-...

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#8

Post by matt_wulfeck »

bognition wrote: post #2

Very interesting. I'd be curious to know what Optimal plans to do with all the DNS traffic they'll be collecting

I'm definitely weary of handing over my DNS data to a company I don't know. Besides, Safari ad blocking plugins already take care of this while surfing.

This may have unintended (both good or bad) affects on normal app experience since it's configured on the network.

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#9

Post by jgrahamc »

Now that's a blast from the past. Back in 1996 I joined a company in Mountain View called Optimal Networks, Inc. which had the domain name optimal.com. We sold the company to Compuware and the domain lived on for a while.

If you search jgc@optimal.com you'll find ancient messages from me still lurking on the web. I wonder if that email still receives spam?

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#10

Post by benologist »

buro9 wrote: post #5

One can achieve this locally, on a laptop/desktop, using https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts Or you can combine that with https://github.com/jlund/streisand to have a VPN service that happens to adblock (great for mobile). That said... I like that Optimal have made this too, because neither of the above can work for all devices in a household and more things in the house are tracking you and serving adverts (TV!). T…

If you want StevenBlack's hosts list to be network-wide I integrated it with an open source, self-hosted DNS server called https://pi-hole.net/ last week which adds a slick admin interface and browser extensions too, then I put it all in a Vagrantfile and set my router to use the VM as a DNS server.

Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/ELL9CDu.png

Vagrantfile: https://github.com/benlowry/pihole-extended-hosts

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