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The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)

den.dev

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Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)

#71

Post by n_ary »

itchyouch wrote: post #29

For the cost and simplicity, NextDNS is way easier IMO. Nice quality of life apps that install on your phone and computer to toggle it on/off while on-the-go, while also being able to be setup on the router. Makes it nice and easy for the non-technical members of the fam.

I personally use it on my devices as well as on TV and SmartPhones of my non-tech-savvy family. However, deep in my mind, I have a feeling that, any day they will turn face and sell off to some data brokers and suddenly all of my traffic history is centralized there. I used to run a personal AdGuard-Home on cheap VPS, but after NextDNS decomissioned it. May be need to go boot it up again.

Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)

#72

Post by ThrowawayTestr »

timbit42 wrote: post #60
dvratil wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With pi-hole, you can also block telemetry from smart devices (TVs, dish washers and stuff), and if you run it on a VPN that your phone is connected to, you can also block ads and tracking in phone apps. As mentioned in the article, pi-hole complements a browser ad block, doesn't replace it.

I just don't connect those devices to any internet.

Some people like to watch YouTube on their TV

Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)

#74

Post by jstanley »

ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #72
timbit42 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don't connect those devices to any internet.

Some people like to watch YouTube on their TV

I watch YouTube on my TV. Using Firefox, with uBlock Origin. We have a laptop plugged into the TV, with a bluetooth keyboard. It is a vastly superior experience to any smart TV I have ever seen.

Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)

#75

Post by woleium »

int0x29 wrote: post #62
gbuk2013 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, if you are geeky enough to run a PiHole you will have no trouble finding the config option to turn off DoH in your browser.

Don't turn it off in your browser. If you have control of that setting just install an ad blocker. The point of DNS block lists is to get rid of ads on phones, TVs, and other non configurable things.

And then there is amazon sidewalk, which can only be evaded by unplugging the wifi board on your tv

Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)

#76

Post by rsync »

elashri wrote: post #5
mikestew wrote: post #2

In case you’re like a lot of folks in HN, read the title, and say to yourself “already have one”, read TFA for the iptables config that fixes those apps and devices that bypass local DNS. For example, the New York Times app seems to now use its own hard-coded DNS servers. Without having tried it, it looks like TFA has the fix for that. EDIT: replies indicate that I, a person who is barely competent at many network ta…

An increasing number of them also rely on hard coded DoH servers which is harder to block/redirect. You will need to will Pi-Hole/Adguard Home on router to block them based on some curtailed lists (i.e [1]) [1] https://github.com/dibdot/DoH-IP-blocklists

In this arms race you are saying a current "move" is a curated list of IPs that correspond to known DoH servers ... and that's fine ..

However, if the adversary decides to just query - and answer - DoH requests on the same hostname that you are trying to talk to ... isn't that a winning move ?

For instance:

If one had an application - or an appliance - that spoke https to endpoint.samsung.com, how would one block DoH requests addressed to the same endpoint.samsung.com ?

Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)

#77

Post by rsync »

crtasm wrote: post #16
jstanley wrote: post #11

I really don't understand why people go to the trouble of using Pi-hole that only blocks at the DNS level, instead of using uBlock Origin which can block at the DOM level. uBlock Origin is easier and cheaper to set up, less maintenance, and more effective.

uBlock is only for your web browser - it can't help with other apps, smart devices, game consoles, etc. It's best to run both.

"uBlock is only for your web browser - it can't help with other apps, smart devices, game consoles, etc."

Yes, but don't we expect all of those devices (and apps) to move to DoH resolution if they haven't already ?

In that case the pihole (or nextdns, etc.) are bypassed ...

I suppose you could proxy all TLS traffic and block it but if the DoH is being served by the same FQDN as the traffic you want in the first place aren't you out of options ?

Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)

#78

Post by dividedcomet »

jstanley wrote: post #74
ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people like to watch YouTube on their TV

I watch YouTube on my TV. Using Firefox, with uBlock Origin. We have a laptop plugged into the TV, with a bluetooth keyboard. It is a vastly superior experience to any smart TV I have ever seen.

And also more than most people want to have setup in the living room. My wife would rather have ads on YouTube occasionally than an ugly computer plugged in all the time. It’s also more difficult to deal with than a remote you can work one handed.

Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)

#79

Post by whalesalad »

My power went out today. Which means at some point my UPS' run out of capacity and my core infra VM host has to shut down. I run Adguard on that device ... so once it is gone, my ad-blocking is gone.

I loaded a few websites during the interim period between DNS services going down, and the entire core infra going down (about 30 mins of just rawdog internet usage) and it is truly unusable. I don't know how people use the modern internet without network-wide ad blocking.

Re: The Beauty of Having a Pi-Hole (2024)

#80

Post by jyap »

incomingpain wrote: post #10

Currently im at 28% blocked. Typically im above 50% like OP. They have significantly higher number of domains blocked. time to update my lists: https://firebog.net/

It’s all relative. I’m at 24.4% but I have quite a few devices like Wemo light switches at the top of my DNS queries. Only have one Amazon Alexa device but that’s near the top as well.

IoT devices which constantly phone home will skew things.

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