Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 173 posts

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

#71

Post by BowBun »

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?

Do you trust Google + Firefox as much as this random developer? Seems pretty different.

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

#72

Post by lolinder »

anigbrowl wrote: post #67
themerone wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if the app is trustworthy, it still adds an attack vector to your system. It could have a bug, or the certificate could be exploited by another program.

Equally true of every ad

This would be a reasonable argument if there weren't many alternative ad blocking methods that don't require MITMing your TLS traffic.

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

#73

Post by BowBun »

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.

I think that's a great use-case. I'd love a real-time security scanning system covering as many open source projects out there as possible.

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

#76

Post by 000ooo000 »

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.

I'm not refuting what youre saying in any way; this is just a related suggestion for anyone using PiHole who occasionally runs into what you've described.

There's an Android app called flutterhole which can connect to and activate your pihole's 'pause blocking' feature. I have found this to be the easiest way around the scenario the poster above has mentioned. Doesn't help with figuring out PiHole is responsible obviously. HTH.

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

#77

Post by rollcat »

lolinder wrote: post #72
anigbrowl wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Equally true of every ad

This would be a reasonable argument if there weren't many alternative ad blocking methods that don't require MITMing your TLS traffic.

It's in no way worse than running a single browser extension with overly broad privileges. If this method of adblocking gains more traction (quite possible, as Google keeps moving to damage in-browser ad blockers), I expect the implementation to receive a lot more scrutiny.

I think we have to face the reality that web browsers might no longer be considered "user" agents.

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

#78

Post by pinewurst »

jolux wrote: post #52
develatio wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Google pays loads of people to conceive and write code that is malicious to endusers e.g. those not paying it for eyeballs.

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

#79

Post by alargemoose »

000ooo000 wrote: post #76
anticorporate wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm not refuting what youre saying in any way; this is just a related suggestion for anyone using PiHole who occasionally runs into what you've described. There's an Android app called flutterhole which can connect to and activate your pihole's 'pause blocking' feature. I have found this to be the easiest way around the scenario the poster above has mentioned. Doesn't help with figuring out PiHole is responsible obvi…

Since you shared an android app, I’ll share the iOS app I use for the same purpose, called “Pi-Hole Remote”

https://apps.apple.com/app/id1515445551

Post reply on HN