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BeGoneAds – A Python script that blocks ads by installing common hosts files

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Re: BeGoneAds – A Python script that blocks ads by installing common hosts files

#91

Post by mywittyname »

gregw2 wrote: post #86

I have cron jobs on my mac that update my hosts files (to block "addictive" sites in my case (not ads)). It doesn't really work. Browsers cache and use outside DNS servers despite the hosts files. Chrome and sometimes Safari don't really honor the hosts files 100% of the time. Every once in a while I google around to try and restore my control, try to tweak my browser settings but I have yet to find anything that mak…

I think firewall rules would be your next line of defense. I'm not sure how configurable most home routers are though.

Re: BeGoneAds – A Python script that blocks ads by installing common hosts files

#92

Post by josteink »

behringer wrote: post #89
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand this logic. Can you explain why having code in more than one place is a bad thing?

For a simple script that does one thing, it's overkill.

Yes. So you keep that simple script simple, and you let systemd do the heavy lifting.

Re: BeGoneAds – A Python script that blocks ads by installing common hosts files

#93

Post by behringer »

josteink wrote: post #92
behringer wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a simple script that does one thing, it's overkill.

Yes. So you keep that simple script simple, and you let systemd do the heavy lifting.

But systemd doesn't do any of the above listed things automatically... You'd need to write an entire script for sytstemd to take advantage of it. An entire script you could just have run with cron on boot.

Re: BeGoneAds – A Python script that blocks ads by installing common hosts files

#94

Post by harry8 »

hlau wrote: post #90
harry8 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no either/or decision to be made here. You get compromised, paid for content with our without ads as well. Critical thinking I'd a requirement always.

There definitely is an either/or because blocking of one channel will naturally necessitate money/barter flowing to the other channel. One is at least transparent and regulated, the murky world of influence peddling isn't since it's hard for anyone to tell in the moment whether something is "organic" or not.

Not when the other channel is already at capacity. And it is. Blocking ads has no effect on that. You never agreed to being tracked either, so blocking that is the right and proper thing to do. Blocking surveillance capitalism might push businesses toward honesty, it's at least with a shot.

Re: BeGoneAds – A Python script that blocks ads by installing common hosts files

#96

Post by inlined »

sp332 wrote: post #44
inlined wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. Traffic served from 0.0.0.0 can be seen from other machines. Traffic on 127.0.0.1 or localhost cannot. Important to know when you’re doing local development vs a local demo.

IP addresses with 0 as the first octet are invalid and hopefully will not be routed. I prefer them for hosts files over localhost because localhost has to wait and time out, but 0.0.0.0 will fail right away.

Not sure why Ive been downvoted. I’ve used this all the time for demoing projects. It’s like asking for port 0. You don’t get the actual 0.0.0.0 IP address, but you use a physical network instead of the loopback virtual network device. Heck; I’ve had to change this in web hosting projects as a security vs feature trade off.

Re: BeGoneAds – A Python script that blocks ads by installing common hosts files

#97

Post by hlau »

harry8 wrote: post #94
hlau wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There definitely is an either/or because blocking of one channel will naturally necessitate money/barter flowing to the other channel. One is at least transparent and regulated, the murky world of influence peddling isn't since it's hard for anyone to tell in the moment whether something is "organic" or not.

Not when the other channel is already at capacity. And it is. Blocking ads has no effect on that. You never agreed to being tracked either, so blocking that is the right and proper thing to do. Blocking surveillance capitalism might push businesses toward honesty, it's at least with a shot.

If you think influencer marketing and product placement are already at capacity you have no idea how much worse it's about to get if ad blocking gets much worse. And the irony is that, by design, you won't know a good chunk of the time and other times it'll just merely be implied without being explicitly stated. Continued use of social networks, including this one, collects way more identifiable data than what the non-Google/FB/Amazon ad market collects. Ad blockers have had near 0 impact on FB's operations. Google and others have paid to ensure that their search ads still make it through most ad blockers.

Blocking ads does not drive businesses to be more "honest". They'll just spend more on PR and influencers. And given how hostile this community is to ads and perhaps even marketing overall, (how YC ever backed a marketing or ad startup is beyond me), companies already realize that getting a fawning TC article purchased thru connections and favors and PR chicanery is going to be more effective than ad campaign even though the ad campaign is more honest, upfront and transparent with its agenda.

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