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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

#101

Post by sedatk »

mtizim wrote: post #97
sedatk wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know that the downloaded binaries are built by the GitHub action? If I must audit the code and build it myself every release, then how is this a usable product?

Not a product. It's literally free, free as in free speech, and free as in you're free not to use it. Building the code yourself for every update is also a solved problem on every system with a feature complete package manager, including Windows. Trust is not so easily solvable, but if you trust nobody, you can choose to look at ads.

> Not a product. It's literally free, free as in free speech, and free as in you're free not to use it.

Sorry, I change my question to "how is this a usable free?"

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

#102

Post by Dalewyn »

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.

So I can apply the same logic to Microsoft concerning Windows, Office, etc. and you wouldn't dispute me, right?

Incidentally, no I have no objections against closed source. I find the religious dogma behind FOSS patently stupid.

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

#104

Post by zzo38computer »

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.

I think it is a mistake for programs that have SSL traffic to not have an option for a user-defined non-secure proxy (usually this would be for a proxy running on the local computer, rather than a remote proxy). A non-secure proxy would save energy (since then it doesn't need to decrypt and encrypt it twice) as well as allowing use of newer (or older) cipher methods in programs that do not support them.

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

#105

Post by zzo38computer »

fostware wrote: post #74
exitzer0 wrote: post #9

It is just not wise to allow some random application to MiTM your SSL traffic.

But as developers, we're happy enough to suggest `wget -qO - https://github/url | sudo bash -s`

Unfortunately many people do like that, but I hate it and I don't do stuff like that (and it seems many other people hate it too; fortunately you can just download the file without immediately executing it, if you want to view (and possibly modify) it).

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

#106

Post by sedatk »

Centigonal wrote: post #95
sedatk wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know that the downloaded binaries are built by the GitHub action? If I must audit the code and build it myself every release, then how is this a usable product?

Where is the bar for software you trust? do you trust your OS, router firmware, VPN client, web browser, etc?

In fact, that's what I'm trying to say. The line we draw at "hey we can at least audit open source" is a fully imaginary one. It's a false comfort we create. It's the Kool-Aid we drink.

I don't have any trust in any of those components you mentioned, but I came to terms with the risks associated with using them as part of my threat model. However, I find the notion that open source is somewhat safer because "we can audit it" exaggerating if not misleading. It's not a valid argument, and it should never be used because there's no way to do it in an either practical or consistent way for the users of the said product.

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

#107

Post by yumraj »

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 have a very simple setup that works for us.

ISP’s router has unrestricted Wi-Fi access. I run a router behind it with restricted (via pi-hole) access.

All devices connect to the restricted Wi-Fi. Any time I need unrestricted access, I connect to the ISP router Wi-Fi for some time and back to the restricted when done.

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

#108

Post by hnfong »

sedatk wrote: post #106
Centigonal wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is the bar for software you trust? do you trust your OS, router firmware, VPN client, web browser, etc?

In fact, that's what I'm trying to say. The line we draw at "hey we can at least audit open source" is a fully imaginary one. It's a false comfort we create. It's the Kool-Aid we drink. I don't have any trust in any of those components you mentioned, but I came to terms with the risks associated with using them as part of my threat model. However, I find the notion that open source is somewhat safer because "we can a…

There's a difference between "you/I can audit it" and "we (collectively) can audit it".

You're not living in a vacuum. The more users (and perhaps more importantly, contributors) an open source product has, the less likely it has intentional backdoors built into it.

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

#109

Post by sedatk »

hnfong wrote: post #108
sedatk wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact, that's what I'm trying to say. The line we draw at "hey we can at least audit open source" is a fully imaginary one. It's a false comfort we create. It's the Kool-Aid we drink. I don't have any trust in any of those components you mentioned, but I came to terms with the risks associated with using them as part of my threat model. However, I find the notion that open source is somewhat safer because "we can a…

There's a difference between "you/I can audit it" and "we (collectively) can audit it". You're not living in a vacuum. The more users (and perhaps more importantly, contributors) an open source product has, the less likely it has intentional backdoors built into it.

What's your process to validate if that said software has been collectively audited sufficiently?

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

#110

Post by jolux »

Dalewyn wrote: post #102
jolux wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So I can apply the same logic to Microsoft concerning Windows, Office, etc. and you wouldn't dispute me, right? Incidentally, no I have no objections against closed source. I find the religious dogma behind FOSS patently stupid.

> So I can apply the same logic to Microsoft concerning Windows, Office, etc. and you wouldn't dispute me, right?

I mean, no, I would dispute you, because everything Microsoft is doing in those products isn't publicly available for the world to see.

Still probably pretty unlikely because those products are hugely popular and widely scrutinized.

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