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Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

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Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#51

Post by optimalrob »

quickben wrote: post #24
nherment wrote: post #7

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-su…

So they are paying for browser.. protection... in advance? Like a Racket? Is that even legal?

So we have a separate subscription service at app.optimal.com where you can pay $5.99 a month and we will distribute 70% of that to publishers, entirely transparently. You can also "tip" sites an extra 5c or 25c if you like. There is no connection to our blocker or anyone else's... It's the honor system. We trust some people will do that and it will be enough to create new value for the broken ads ecosystem. We welcome your comments and ideas on this but fundamentally I believe that there should be an option in all media to avoid ads AND pay journalists (my brother is one), a fair rate. This can't be done by any one website on its own.

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#52

Post by stordoff »

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…

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

I use this with DD-WRT to get network-wide filtering. It's not perfect (only updates on router boot), but good enough for me.

Additional DNSMasq options:

    addn-hosts=/tmp/ad-hosts
    no-resolv
    strict-order
    server=8.8.8.8
    server=8.8.4.4
Startup script:

    wget -qO /tmp/ad-hosts-v4 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/hosts

    H_MERGE=/tmp/ad-hosts
    H_ORIG=/tmp/ad-hosts-v4

    sort $H_ORIG | uniq | grep "^0" >> $H_MERGE
    sort $H_ORIG | uniq | grep "^0" | sed "s/0\.0\.0\.0/::/g" >> $H_MERGE
    stopservice dnsmasq && startservice dnsmasq

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#53

Post by benologist »

optimalrob wrote: post #42
dingaling wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be useful if their website described what exactly it installs. A recursive DNS server with a web UI and big list of null-routed domains? That's my guess. How does that help mobile users outside their home network without also setting up a VPN back in?

We'll be adding more info when we prep things for a wider consumer release. We are working to learn as much as we can and are looking forward to everyone's feedback!

Features I'd like:

- reports on who my device(s) are contacting

- no technical capability for anyone else to access those reports

- import block lists from browser extensions / hosts lists etc

- set my own forwarders

- browser extensions so I can see what's blocked, unblock stuff, pause blocking etc, maybe an app on my phone could provide the same functionality

Mostly this is about extending your umbrella to cover privacy/malware, I don't really differentiate anymore between the different flavors of crap websites embed to make the internet more annoying and less safe.

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#54

Post by dsl »

optimalrob wrote: post #40
jgrahamc wrote: post #9

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?

We get all kinds of crazy optimal spam!

You should hook him up with his old work address!

I actually went on an adventure of re-registering old company addresses a few years ago.

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#55

Post by Borating »

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…

See also FreeContributor [1] (works not just with dnsmasq, but unbound and pdnsd and hosts file)

[1] https://github.com/tbds/FreeContributor

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#56

Post by dsl »

You can use use OpenDNS and turn on filtering of the "Advertising" category. https://community.opendns.com/domaintagging/?category_id=53

Protip: Doing this at the DNS and not the browser level leads to lots of brokenness. (Like when you try to sign into an app on your Roku/FireTV and it hangs on a Google Analytics event).

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#57

Post by jsingleton »

stordoff wrote: post #52
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…

> One can achieve this locally, on a laptop/desktop, using https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts I use this with DD-WRT to get network-wide filtering. It's not perfect (only updates on router boot), but good enough for me. Additional DNSMasq options: addn-hosts=/tmp/ad-hosts no-resolv strict-order server=8.8.8.8 server=8.8.4.4 Startup script: wget -qO /tmp/ad-hosts-v4 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/host…

Network-wide is the way to go. Hosts files can be tricky to set up on phones and tablets.

I run dnsmasq on a pi as my ISP router is pretty limited. You can't even change the DNS servers, so the pi has to do DHCP too.

I use it to block other things like fixed banner overlays. With caching you can get it to work when you go off WiFi too [0].

Not sure I'd use Google's DNS servers though. Your ISP's are probably better for both speed and privacy. You can test the speed with an old Google project called namebench [1].

[0] https://unop.uk/block-bbc-breaking-news-on-all-devices

[1] https://code.google.com/archive/p/namebench

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#58

Post by optimalrob »

dsl wrote: post #54
optimalrob wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We get all kinds of crazy optimal spam!

You should hook him up with his old work address! I actually went on an adventure of re-registering old company addresses a few years ago.

Interesting question-> how would he prove that he once had that address? :)

Re: Optimal DNS Ad Blocker

#59

Post by optimalrob »

benologist wrote: post #53
optimalrob wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll be adding more info when we prep things for a wider consumer release. We are working to learn as much as we can and are looking forward to everyone's feedback!

Features I'd like: - reports on who my device(s) are contacting - no technical capability for anyone else to access those reports - import block lists from browser extensions / hosts lists etc - set my own forwarders - browser extensions so I can see what's blocked, unblock stuff, pause blocking etc, maybe an app on my phone could provide the same functionality Mostly this is about extending your umbrella to cover pr…

Thanks for the suggestions!
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