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System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

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Re: System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

#51

Post by netsharc »

anticorporate wrote: post #33
tejohnso wrote: post #16

I'm comfortable with a DNS based blocker (pi-hole) and it seems to work quite well. Bonus: It works across all devices on the network, rather than installing something onto the OS.

I seem to end up regretting anything I do at the network level to block traffic. It always seems to pop up that one weird time I actually do need something from a blocked domain to load, and it takes me way too long to remember that's what I did to block it.

That's when you connect to your VPN.

I have a network configuration with 2 dnsmasqs, 1 with pi-hole-style hosts block, and 1 without, and most of my devices get the ad-blocking DNS, 1 gets the "unfiltered" DNS.

To do this from the DHCP component of dnsmasq, you can tag MAC addresses and create different configurations (including which DNS they get) for each tag, e.g. https://github.com/imp/dnsmasq/blob/770bce967cfc9967273d0acf...

Re: System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

#52

Post by jolux »

develatio wrote: post #39
BowBun wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one will do this, and those that read source code during installation do not review it for every upgrade. It's one of those 'just do this!' arguments that has little to no basis in reality. There's more of them replying to the parent comment: "Just do this! Just compile a thing! Just verify signatures for every update!". Come on... Meanwhile the negatives immediately implicate anyone with access to the executable.…

But doesn’t that apply to chromium / firefox as well (or any other big application). Web browsers are insanely huge, nobody is reading the entire code. What makes this different?

No, because Google and Mozilla pay loads of people to write and review the code that goes into their browsers and ensure it’s not malicious.

Re: System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

#53

Post by satvikpendem »

mkskm wrote: post #47
satvikpendem wrote: post #29

Nice, I use AdGuard (on mobile and desktop), would this be a suitable replacement?

AdGuard for Mac is the same offering (not to be confused with AdGuard for Safari, which is a browser extension): https://adguard.com/en/adguard-mac/overview.html There's also Little Snitch Mini: https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch-mini/index.html

Any differences in performance or how well each works for adblocking compared to the others?

Re: System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

#54

Post by imiric »

BowBun wrote: post #31
develatio wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can read the code and asure that the traffic won’t be sent to a malicious third party, why not? What is the concern?

No one will do this, and those that read source code during installation do not review it for every upgrade. It's one of those 'just do this!' arguments that has little to no basis in reality. There's more of them replying to the parent comment: "Just do this! Just compile a thing! Just verify signatures for every update!". Come on... Meanwhile the negatives immediately implicate anyone with access to the executable.…

I'm as paranoid about this as you, but this type of verification seems easier today with AI tools. I'm not aware of any that do this, but if LLMs can give insight about what a piece of code is doing, they can surely be trained to detect possible suspicious behavior. Perhaps even by inspecting a binary, but certainly by processing code.

Re: System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

#55

Post by krpl »

sodality2 wrote: post #8
dotcoma wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meant - but was not very clear: if one used this software instead of a browser add-on to block ads, would this be a big improvement in escaping browser fingerprinting ?

Probably not. Use a dedicated tool like a custom browser (Mullvad Browser comes to mind - it beats fingerprint.com/demo which Firefox even WITH protections enabled, does not.

You may also want to see https://librewolf.net/ while not as good by default compared to Mullvad Browser, it may still be a browser to consider.

Re: System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

#56

Post by duskwuff »

_VX3r wrote: post #49
krpl wrote: post #44

also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)

[flagged]

Not to mention, that doesn't even work for ads which are delivered from dynamically generated hostnames, or from hosts which deliver other content as well.

Re: System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

#57

Post by krpl »

imiric wrote: post #54
BowBun wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one will do this, and those that read source code during installation do not review it for every upgrade. It's one of those 'just do this!' arguments that has little to no basis in reality. There's more of them replying to the parent comment: "Just do this! Just compile a thing! Just verify signatures for every update!". Come on... Meanwhile the negatives immediately implicate anyone with access to the executable.…

I'm as paranoid about this as you, but this type of verification seems easier today with AI tools. I'm not aware of any that do this, but if LLMs can give insight about what a piece of code is doing, they can surely be trained to detect possible suspicious behavior. Perhaps even by inspecting a binary, but certainly by processing code.

https://any.run/cybersecurity-blog/chatgpt-powered-analysis-... Sort of did this

Re: System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

#58

Post by popcalc »

hnlmorg wrote: post #50
AshamedCaptain wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

which I really doubt are serving through http(s), making this quite useless for that...

Why do you doubt that? Even Microsoft, with all their money and NIH syndrome, are unlikely to invent a brand new application protocol just to serve ads.

I think the parent is insinuating that Microsoft would just hard bake ads directly into the OS through updates? I'm not really sure though.

Re: System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

#59

Post by dotcoma »

krpl wrote: post #55
sodality2 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not. Use a dedicated tool like a custom browser (Mullvad Browser comes to mind - it beats fingerprint.com/demo which Firefox even WITH protections enabled, does not.

You may also want to see https://librewolf.net/ while not as good by default compared to Mullvad Browser, it may still be a browser to consider.

Thanks to both of you.

I am a light user of LibreWolf (I mostly use Iridium browser)

Re: System-wide open source ad blocker for Mac, Windows, and Linux

#60

Post by BLKNSLVR »

notfed wrote: post #19

Why would anyone need to block ads outside of the browser? This seems like it's just asking to introduce obscure errors into other apps?

If other apps run into obscure errors due to ad blocking, then it's time to find alternative apps (pending overly-aggressive blocking causing the obscure error - which I have come across, although rarely).
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