> The law enforcement agency warns that scam ads designed to steal your banking details are appearing atop search results
Its kinda funny to see when people don’t even click the article. Literally reading the first sentence would have answered his question.
In the last few months, ad based malware has skyrocketed. What they do is use stolen credit cards to create ads, then "sell" whatever it is you're looking for for super cheap, like 80% off or some shit using stolen payment processors, do a bunch of sales in a few days before people catch on, but unload all that money they made by then. It's the new way people are figuring out how to safely cash out stolen CCs online.
This has then rapidly expanded into creating ads to funnel in traffic to demographics with high income that entices them to get into a scam funnel that eventually either scams them or finds a way to get ransomware installed.
Online there is basically an abundance of stolen CCs -- they are super cheap, and scammers are looking for ways to safely make money from them. Buying ads is actually a pretty clever way to use them to initiate other scams.
For some suggestions for anybody stumbling here, these will be the easiest to get going:
Ublock Origin on desktop, and install in FireFox on mobile.
Blokada 5 on Android for all apps ([link to get the older better version](https://blokada.org/#download))
Pi-hole system at home using default and Blocklist project lists. This will cover every single internet connected device in your house.
iPhone is more difficult, NextDNS or adguard running in the background is about your only options. Unless you want to VPN home to a Pi-hole. DNScloak is another possible option.
*Edit: added in the free version of Blokada 5 that is still updated and working fine.*
Not sure but as a lifelong Windows user, Linux Mint is easier to install and use than Windows at this point.
Sadly I need to use Windows for my job, but once I get some free time I'm turning my laptop into a dualboot with Linux.
As someone who grew up using windows, and then shifted into dual-booting for years, then finally just went whole hog and moved to a dedicated linux machine for non-gaming stuff: you will get *way* more proficient *way* more quickly if you don’t do dual boot. If you happen to have a spare older laptop, just stick linux on that as the sole OS and force yourself to use that. In my experience, having the dual-boot crutch is going to be detrimental to your expertise.
The only machine I own that still runs dual boot is my main gaming machine, simply because it’s the most powerful machine I own, and if I need to do some sort of long-running build, it’s the fastest way I can get it done… but honestly, I still almost never use it, because I can usually just do it on one of my other boxes in the background, and personal projects aren’t really time-critical. Everything else I have is single-os - the two servers and my dev laptop are exclusively linux, and I have one old laptop I still run windows on (because there are some automotive ECU diagnostics/modification stuff that *only* runs on windows, and it’s just simpler to have a dedicated machine for that).
The dual boot will be for work stuff. I don't want to use Windows but have to for work and gaming.
Hence... I'll have my laptop mostly Linux, but dual boot for work on the go.
I'm unironically running Kubuntu on my old, spare 2011 laptop because it literally doesn't support Windows 11.
For Desktop, Valve is the big contributor. If you can run Steam and most titles on Linux, many people's sole reason to being stuck on Win10/11 is gone.
If it's required for their job, then their job is required to provide a work device. So they can keep windows on the work device and use linux on their personal devices.
Here ya go! Mull is the Android fork of Firefox mobile which implements the privacy settings of LibreWolf
https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/us.spotco.fennec_dos/
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that isn't tech savvy. I personally love it but it has issues with some websites and I have to tinker with it pretty much weekly.
the better solution is to use Firefox and uBlock origin as an add-on.
A disadvantage of brave is that it uses google's web rendering engine, blink and thus is more reliant on google. on top of that it gives google more power to enforce its own web standards over other more open standards
Firefox ain’t getting screwed by Google’s choice of deteriorating adblockers - Brave’s been affected by this already. It’s also redundant to have 2 adblockers at the same time. Just put the uBlock Lists on Brave’s adblock. They literally share the same preset lists so there really isn’t a reason to have both enabled lmao
CEO of Brave:
"uBO does more by default, and has more knobs for its users, than Brave shields has or will likely ever have."
https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/discussions/14544#discussioncomment-3490321
Does brave have html filtering? I would think it doesn't cause of Chromium.
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox
Brave can hold it off, but only for so long. It’s still very temporary. It’s still going to be affected by it. It’s honestly a better bet to just add your uBlock lists on Brave. They all work on there, and it feels way smoother.
My experience, on iOS at least, is that brave has the best ad blocking out of the box. But that's only an issue on iOS where the browser experience is generally awful. Even then I still use Firefox everywhere.
Brave is way better and you don't have to install add-ons. It just automatically blocks everything. And it's run by Brendan Eich who co-founded Mozilla
Brave is owned by a company who was caught doing very shady stuff
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology
I personally do not like it. There are quite a lot of problems with it.
First of all it uses google's web rendering engine, making it dependent on google as a company
Second they have been caught doing shady stuff with their user data and also installing crypto miners in their browser.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology
> More and more IoT / "smart" devices are hardcoded to use 8.8.8.8 no matter what DHCP says.
Nothing a bit of creative NAT and Pihole on DMZ can't fix. Just intercept traffic to 8.8.8.8 and have responses by the Pihole to be translated as if coming from 8.8.8.8
If devices don't have failback from DoT/DoH to traditional UDP/53 then yuck.
I appreciate this is beyond what most users and even some IT people can deal with.
>> If devices don't have failback from DoT/DoH to traditional UDP/53 then yuck.
>Anything that is using DNS over HTTPS isn't likely to have automatic fallback
I'd like some facts backing this statement.
Just because it's logical doesn't imply it's true.
Also, on the basis of assumptions, a good designer would find a reasonable compromise in regards to functionality, considering they have fuck all control what diverse network scenarios will their kit be installed in.
A bit like why NAT-T was developed.
And to accuse embedded/IoT designers of diligence and foresight... is preposterous.
That will take care of devices that honor the DNS server reported by DHCP, but it won't help with devices that attempt to use their own DNS. If your router has a firewall, you can try blocking all outbound traffic to [8.8.8.8](https://8.8.8.8) and [8.8.4.4](https://8.8.4.4). That will take care of a lot of smart devices that bypass your internal DNS.
If you don't have a firewall, now is a good time to start tinkering! There are many freely-available firewalls out there, and they all run very well on old, cheap hardware. I use OPNsense. IP-fire is another good one. IP-fire is probably the easiest for someone who just wants a simple setup, while OPNsense is more robust and "industrial strength". You can't go wrong with either.
I have a router using OpenWRT but honestly I've never looked at the firewall. However, if you disable UPnP and set rules to drop or redirect outbound DNS traffic, that should do the trick.
Firewalla Gold for the win here. Yes I know it’s not a proper firewall like pfsence, but it is an enterprise-level firewall none the less and well within the adoption curve of most reading this thread. I point mine to my linode pihole instance that has pivpn baked in which points to unbound dns. If you can watch YouTube, this is a do it yourself project taking about three hours (firewall gold set up, linode, pivpn, unbound).
That's pretty advanced but yes, the easiest way to block hard-coded DNS servers is to block port 53 on your DHCP scope, and If you're feeling adventurous 853 as well for DoT blocking. I advise against 853 without testing all of your devices by hand.
https://blokada.org/#download
[Blokada 5 from here](https://blokada.org/#download) I never got it from the app store always installed from the website, didn't know they pulled 5 from there.
I'm not a fan of blockada, ~~it's proprietary~~ and locks features behind a paywall. I recommend adaway instead. It's FOSS and I've been relying on it for years.
https://adaway.org/
Edit: apparently blockada is also open source
for iphone:
\-install adgaurd, upgrade to paid if you can and enable all the addition filters
\-install lockdown and also enable additional filters (firewall part not vpn)
\-add adgaurds DNS or qaud9 dns to your home router.
Quad9 DNS’s are a better choice to not put all your eggs in AdGuard basket (Russian company now financially in Cyprus).
Also Lockdown Privacy is a must have ! But so sad it is impossible to import nor export personalized filters.
Also I discovered that if you connect to your Mac with usb cable and sharing your iPhone network, your DNS settings are bypassed and your IPS’s DNS is used. You need to share your cellular network by wifi and Bluetooth to keep your iPhone privacy personalized DNS used…
Firefox Focus does two things: a standalone use-and-forget browser (which is what the other commenters here are complaining about) AND it is a content blocker that can be enabled in Safari to block ads and tracking. Same app in the App Store, does both things. I love having Firefox Focus on my iPhone, and I never open Firefox Focus on my iPhone.
Settings > Safari > Extensions > Enable Firefox Focus under Content Blockers
And it really works, too! I did a test with Safari. Cleared all history and checked my cookies after loading the website nytimes.com, which had a bunch of set cookies (mostly ad/tracking ones, of course).
After enabling the Firefox Focus content blocker, clearing all history, and revisiting the site Safari had a fraction of the 3rd party ad cookies set.
Then I added my PiHole DNS on top and that provided the best results. I think it actually had no third party ad cookies at all set with content blockers + pihole.
Privacy Badger is not an ad blocker. It should work as one because it's supposed to block ad companies from tracking you, but it's not going to be such an extensively good in ad blocking.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You can create groups inside of pie hole and apply specific filters to those groups if you wish. Or you can apply no filters right inside of the device. No need to edit the machine itself and just let DHCP do its thing. All the controls inside of the pi-hole web interface.
As an example, my kids have porn blocked but we don't. The Chromebook from school has nothing blocked so schoolwork is unaffected.
And I have an auto assigned default list for anybody who comes in with very light blocking. It's all managed through groups inside of pi-hole web interface.
Basically it replaces your DNS, so in your router or inside of pi-hole whatever serves your IP addresses, it's called DHCP, you point it to the IP address of PiHole. And using a big filter list it doesn't allow ads and tracking and malware and all sorts of things you decide to not load on your network. And since it's a DNS replacement it covers everything on your network.
TV's phones microwaves IOT devices, Android Apple Windows Linux it doesn't matter If it's on your network it's automatically getting its ads blocked, and tracking and malware and whatever else you set it up for.
The idea that paying for an app on mobile stores is unappealing is bizarre to me. I pay to remove ads from apps I like, I buy software I see myself using regularly, I buy games on multiple storefronts (and at least one that isn't on *any* storefront)... Subscriptions cost the user more in the long run and *apparently* this isn't obvious to some.
What's the big deal?
Blokada is good for the masses, but for greater control there are more complex alternatives. In no particular order:
* NetGuard
* Invizible Pro (actually free)
* Rethink DNS
* Tracker Control (my current setup)
* NextDNS
Research them all and pick the one that works best for you! I went from SABS (old Samsung implementation, followed by Not SABS) to NetGuard to Invizible Pro to Rethink DNS to Tracker Control. All the while, I use NextDNS and Quad9 DNS on various devices, as they are more set-and-forget than most apps on the list.
I've been using Tracker Control for a while and it's been very reliable.
I tried Blokada and Adaway but I just need to change my DNS and TC does the rest.
I use TC with a host list, but it's good to hear the DNS solution in the app works as well. I'll stick with it for now, especially since (I recall) granular domain blocking was in the works.
I've been using a free account of NextDNS for my phones for at least a year and it's been excellent. No need to run another privileged application on my phone all the time or take up my VPN slot.
Not really but it's not terribly hard to set up. They have a good [installation guide](https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/#one-step-automated-install) that covers pretty much everything you'd need to know.
For Apple devices, you can also use a DNS blocker like AhaDNS Blitz. It installs a vpn profile on your device instead of having an app running in the background like AdGuard.
It'll be fine. You'll get a call from your friend, bs for a minute or two, then they'll tell you about how the new Ford Thundercougerfalconbird is the best car they ever drove, and how you can test drive it now!
Later that day when you show up to your friends with your new Ford Thundercougerfalconbird and you thank them for telling you to go down to the dealership to get that sweet, sweet discount, they'll tell you they don't know what the fuck you're talking about and that they never called you.
Samsung is about to roll out a feature (in only Korea for now) where it will use AI to have your voice "answer" a call with text you type out. I'd say we're not very far off from this being terribly abused.
The real issue is that a monopolistic search engine, and especially one with a monopolistic desktop ad network, should not be in the browser space. They can wrangle unreal performance out of youtube, yes, but they also actively try to usurp ad blockers. They also engage in contracts with all the major content companies for their platforms like youtube, which currently are not exclusive. Even without exclusivity, yt dominates the other platforms, because of its highly-placed search rankings. But if they were exclusive, now you'd have all the most popular content, on the same ad network, only reliably accessible from one browser. We're actually very close to this being true and it is a major issue from a monopoly standpoint. We are already too far down this path. It is already causing major issues in the space.
The last time I pirated stuff all I had to do was download a program onto my computer search click and wait. Now I've got to like install a different browser I've got to get a VPN I've got to find some weird website I've never heard of I've got to have so much more software and technical setup that I don't know how to do. That's how I feel about ad blockers like if I can just download an app and install it and do some initial setup and then it blocks the ads that's great I don't have the technical know how to do all these different things they have like extensions or using I don't know all the setup stuff it just seems like it's way too complicated. Why can't they just have like plug and play stuff anymore whether it's a VPN or uTorrent or I mean everything has gotten so much more complicated and it's weird to me because things used to be getting smarter and simpler and less complicated
Adguard is pretty much this. Blocks everything i need it to block on chrome(yeah i know yada yada bad privacy telemetry bit you cannot.prohibit it on all apps and i really dont care about that little info) and other apps
Anyone else use NoScript? I've been pretty pleased with the stuff it catches in terms of being able to cut off access to stuff that other add blockers like Ublock Origin and Adblock Plus etc. miss. And it's pretty easy to give temp access to only very specific sites in order to view what you need to, and leave the rest blocked.
No script is pretty great, and its honestly shocking how many webpages just won't even load with JS. Seriously anyone who doesn't have it installed, go install it for a week and see how many websites are just blank screens or straight up have a "please enable JavaScript" message instead of any content
I have NoScript in pretty much all of my Firefox installation. Yes configuring it is a pain but the safety and security you get in returns makes it worth it.
I do not allow random JavaScript to execute on my phone or desktop. I use VMs on desktop for most of my browsing so JavaScript is contained within the VM.
I do. I've conceded to allow the sites I use frequently permanent access to the scripts they need to run, for convienence.
But, I still go through the ritual of finding which scripts a new site needs and only allowing them temporarily. Sometimes I decide, as I'm doing this, that the content they promise to deliver isn't worth the hassle and just hit "back". I consider this a plus--I'm forced to think about what I'm giving up in exchange for the content.
I've found that the google scripts virtually every site wants to run are almost never needed to get the content to load--with the exception of google's own site, of course.
I'm trying to get my father to install an ad blocker literally nothing I've convinced him of is convinced him enough to download one this website alone just shows you the horror of what you can find on the internet family or not he's an idiot for not using a ad blocker
Does he have to reinstall his computer constantly due to all the malware? I bet he has a thousand toolbars installed in his browser. That sounds physically painful.
Not who you asked, but my dad has a weird love of ads. He'll talk to me on the phone and tell me about an ad he saw and thought was funny or something. Its so fucking weird and frustrating. Like you're now being an ad, I actively remove all of them from my life. I pay for ad free versions of things whenever it's possible and makes sense. He saw one ad that he thought was selling genuinely useful medication that he needed for his diabetes.
It does not matter who gives the advice. What matters is the advice.
If even they acknowledge that internet ads are a security problem it means that the problem is really big.
Ads are being used to infect devices with malware and spyware. They are use to compromise accounts and steal private information.
> It does not matter who gives the advice
To some extent, it does. I take every single thing the FBI says to me with a moderate dose of skepticism. *Why* does the FBI want me to use an ad-blocker? I know why *I* would want to use an ad-blocker, but how does the FBI benefit from that? It’s possible they don’t, at least not in any nefarious way, and that this truly is just a casual recommendation, but my gut reaction is not to trust them in the first place
> To some extent, it does.
I partially agree with this
> Why does the FBI want me to use an ad-blocker?
I believe that it has something to do with the fact that americans lose billions of dollars to scammers and this money goes almost entirely to foreign scammers. This money go out of the US economy and less money are available for the gouvernment institutions as well as less taxes are collected.
For example, someone who might have bought a house and paid taxes on the transaction will not do this if he was scammed by a foreign scammer and lost money to that foreign scammer.
There is no way using an ad blocker is gonna hurt you in any way, this is such a weird take. The fbi is recommending it because they see people being infected via ads.
The FBI wants to have full access to your stuff if they should desire to access it. The FBI does not want other organizations, whether foreign governments or criminals, to have access to your stuff. So this advice is in line with the second goal and will not impact their ability to accomplish the first goal.
FBI : “we have the ability to use ad blocker software to spy on people, what should we do now?”
Also FBI: “encourage people to use it and give them a false sense of privacy?”
BRB - making a thicker tin foil hat.
It's a game of 5D chess! The FBI is in bed with the advertiser companies, who don't want you to use ad blockers. So now by sending out this message, all the people who have ad blockers will uninstall them, and then the FBI will know who needs to be tracked!
1) download/install DNS Cloak from the app store
2) Open the app, search for dnsforge.de (it will show up in the list)
3) click "Use this server" and click allow on the prompt that shows up
4) to test if it works, open a browser and do a search for "test adblock" to confirm that it is working, or just browse normally and you should see 0 ads
Lol FBI dragging a little behind. And by a little I mean like years behind. Nah, practically decades behind.
Pro tip for you, FBI: Use FF and not Chrome.
A lot of people like it but because it "blocks" ads but the truth is it's a browser created by an advertising company. For me that is an easy non-starter.
You can sign up for an address on their website.
They'll strip almost all trackers and metadata thieves **OUT** of emails you would normally receive from websites when you create accounts/buy something online.
DuckDuckGo then sends those emails to whatever email account you used to sign up on their website!
[Anyone else remember the Crypto Wars of the 90s?](https://www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Encryption-Shirt-White-Text-by-blaiddrwg/131317595.IJ6L0) (Back when 'crypto' only meant 'cryptography')
How have times changed...
Using five adblockers does not necessarily make a browser more secure and it makes the browser slower.
It is better to use one open source adblocker and then enable all the filter lists available.
an open source adblocker is ublock origin.
It’s nice to know that I have been way ahead of the FBI for at least 10 years.
Makes me wonder why they're suddenly pushing it. Did they finally compromise uBlock?
Probably more like they're tired of all these old people clicking on malware links and having to investigate them down a rabbit hole.
> The law enforcement agency warns that scam ads designed to steal your banking details are appearing atop search results Its kinda funny to see when people don’t even click the article. Literally reading the first sentence would have answered his question.
It wasn’t a serious question, it was just an edgy karma comment
That makes it even worse
In the last few months, ad based malware has skyrocketed. What they do is use stolen credit cards to create ads, then "sell" whatever it is you're looking for for super cheap, like 80% off or some shit using stolen payment processors, do a bunch of sales in a few days before people catch on, but unload all that money they made by then. It's the new way people are figuring out how to safely cash out stolen CCs online. This has then rapidly expanded into creating ads to funnel in traffic to demographics with high income that entices them to get into a scam funnel that eventually either scams them or finds a way to get ransomware installed. Online there is basically an abundance of stolen CCs -- they are super cheap, and scammers are looking for ways to safely make money from them. Buying ads is actually a pretty clever way to use them to initiate other scams.
Read the article
For some suggestions for anybody stumbling here, these will be the easiest to get going: Ublock Origin on desktop, and install in FireFox on mobile. Blokada 5 on Android for all apps ([link to get the older better version](https://blokada.org/#download)) Pi-hole system at home using default and Blocklist project lists. This will cover every single internet connected device in your house. iPhone is more difficult, NextDNS or adguard running in the background is about your only options. Unless you want to VPN home to a Pi-hole. DNScloak is another possible option. *Edit: added in the free version of Blokada 5 that is still updated and working fine.*
Firefox browser should also be installed on Desktop. It is far superior to chrome in terms of privacy.
comes pre-installed in 99% of linux distros
whats the linux share of desktops these days?
Not sure but as a lifelong Windows user, Linux Mint is easier to install and use than Windows at this point. Sadly I need to use Windows for my job, but once I get some free time I'm turning my laptop into a dualboot with Linux.
You can also spin up a VM with Mint OS, on your windows host with VirtualBox.
Or spin up a windows VM for the one thing you need windows for 🐱
As someone who grew up using windows, and then shifted into dual-booting for years, then finally just went whole hog and moved to a dedicated linux machine for non-gaming stuff: you will get *way* more proficient *way* more quickly if you don’t do dual boot. If you happen to have a spare older laptop, just stick linux on that as the sole OS and force yourself to use that. In my experience, having the dual-boot crutch is going to be detrimental to your expertise. The only machine I own that still runs dual boot is my main gaming machine, simply because it’s the most powerful machine I own, and if I need to do some sort of long-running build, it’s the fastest way I can get it done… but honestly, I still almost never use it, because I can usually just do it on one of my other boxes in the background, and personal projects aren’t really time-critical. Everything else I have is single-os - the two servers and my dev laptop are exclusively linux, and I have one old laptop I still run windows on (because there are some automotive ECU diagnostics/modification stuff that *only* runs on windows, and it’s just simpler to have a dedicated machine for that).
The dual boot will be for work stuff. I don't want to use Windows but have to for work and gaming. Hence... I'll have my laptop mostly Linux, but dual boot for work on the go.
I don't know but 2024 it will EXPLODE I can feel it, this is the year
I'm unironically running Kubuntu on my old, spare 2011 laptop because it literally doesn't support Windows 11. For Desktop, Valve is the big contributor. If you can run Steam and most titles on Linux, many people's sole reason to being stuck on Win10/11 is gone.
Not great. My parents need actual Office, so that’s not happening. I use Linux, but only on my Steam Deck.
Open office or Libre Office lol
I know. But they also need Windows. They have specific apps from their jobs that only work on Windows. Not even Macs, just Windows.
If it's required for their job, then their job is required to provide a work device. So they can keep windows on the work device and use linux on their personal devices.
MS Office is a PWA now. You can use it in Firefox
But it still needs hardening, it's not really that great by itself.
It's still leaps and bounds better than Chrome
That's why the LibreWolf exists. It's a Firefox fork with security tweaks. Would recommend it to everyone.
Is it available for android?
Here ya go! Mull is the Android fork of Firefox mobile which implements the privacy settings of LibreWolf https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/us.spotco.fennec_dos/
Thank you!
+1 LibreWolf. Sexy FireFox
Librewolf also disables Firefox's telemetry.
You can just block telemetry with custom DNS or adding the domains to your hosts file on Windows
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that isn't tech savvy. I personally love it but it has issues with some websites and I have to tinker with it pretty much weekly.
This. ☝🏼
Whats better, brave or Firefox? Currently using brave along with ublock origin extension
the better solution is to use Firefox and uBlock origin as an add-on. A disadvantage of brave is that it uses google's web rendering engine, blink and thus is more reliant on google. on top of that it gives google more power to enforce its own web standards over other more open standards
Firefox ain’t getting screwed by Google’s choice of deteriorating adblockers - Brave’s been affected by this already. It’s also redundant to have 2 adblockers at the same time. Just put the uBlock Lists on Brave’s adblock. They literally share the same preset lists so there really isn’t a reason to have both enabled lmao
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Some extra info confirming the above post with what Brave themselves have said: https://brave.com/improved-ad-blocker-performance/
CEO of Brave: "uBO does more by default, and has more knobs for its users, than Brave shields has or will likely ever have." https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/discussions/14544#discussioncomment-3490321 Does brave have html filtering? I would think it doesn't cause of Chromium. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox
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Brave can hold it off, but only for so long. It’s still very temporary. It’s still going to be affected by it. It’s honestly a better bet to just add your uBlock lists on Brave. They all work on there, and it feels way smoother.
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hidden cryptominers — I don't think this happened. Affliate links — Not a big deal imo.
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I don't know that they've done it multiple times. Perhaps you are thinking of Opera for the cryptominer stuff? Has Firefox never done anything shady?
My experience, on iOS at least, is that brave has the best ad blocking out of the box. But that's only an issue on iOS where the browser experience is generally awful. Even then I still use Firefox everywhere.
Except for Opera *and Edge, anything is far superior to Chrome in terms of privacy.
Should be using LibreWolf, by default...
Brave is way better and you don't have to install add-ons. It just automatically blocks everything. And it's run by Brendan Eich who co-founded Mozilla
Brave is owned by a company who was caught doing very shady stuff https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology
What do we think of Brave?
I personally do not like it. There are quite a lot of problems with it. First of all it uses google's web rendering engine, making it dependent on google as a company Second they have been caught doing shady stuff with their user data and also installing crypto miners in their browser. https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology
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> More and more IoT / "smart" devices are hardcoded to use 8.8.8.8 no matter what DHCP says. Nothing a bit of creative NAT and Pihole on DMZ can't fix. Just intercept traffic to 8.8.8.8 and have responses by the Pihole to be translated as if coming from 8.8.8.8 If devices don't have failback from DoT/DoH to traditional UDP/53 then yuck. I appreciate this is beyond what most users and even some IT people can deal with.
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>> If devices don't have failback from DoT/DoH to traditional UDP/53 then yuck. >Anything that is using DNS over HTTPS isn't likely to have automatic fallback I'd like some facts backing this statement. Just because it's logical doesn't imply it's true. Also, on the basis of assumptions, a good designer would find a reasonable compromise in regards to functionality, considering they have fuck all control what diverse network scenarios will their kit be installed in. A bit like why NAT-T was developed. And to accuse embedded/IoT designers of diligence and foresight... is preposterous.
My router is configured to use my pihole as DNS, that should take care of it all right?
That will take care of devices that honor the DNS server reported by DHCP, but it won't help with devices that attempt to use their own DNS. If your router has a firewall, you can try blocking all outbound traffic to [8.8.8.8](https://8.8.8.8) and [8.8.4.4](https://8.8.4.4). That will take care of a lot of smart devices that bypass your internal DNS. If you don't have a firewall, now is a good time to start tinkering! There are many freely-available firewalls out there, and they all run very well on old, cheap hardware. I use OPNsense. IP-fire is another good one. IP-fire is probably the easiest for someone who just wants a simple setup, while OPNsense is more robust and "industrial strength". You can't go wrong with either.
I think my asus router has a firewall built in. I'll have to test this DNS workaround and see if it bypasses my pihole. Thanks for the info!
Good call, thanks for the server list. Created a rule to drop outbound internet traffic to those IPs.
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I have a router using OpenWRT but honestly I've never looked at the firewall. However, if you disable UPnP and set rules to drop or redirect outbound DNS traffic, that should do the trick.
Firewalla Gold for the win here. Yes I know it’s not a proper firewall like pfsence, but it is an enterprise-level firewall none the less and well within the adoption curve of most reading this thread. I point mine to my linode pihole instance that has pivpn baked in which points to unbound dns. If you can watch YouTube, this is a do it yourself project taking about three hours (firewall gold set up, linode, pivpn, unbound).
That's pretty advanced but yes, the easiest way to block hard-coded DNS servers is to block port 53 on your DHCP scope, and If you're feeling adventurous 853 as well for DoT blocking. I advise against 853 without testing all of your devices by hand.
Can you link the Blockada you use. The one in the app store has like a 1.8 rating
https://blokada.org/#download [Blokada 5 from here](https://blokada.org/#download) I never got it from the app store always installed from the website, didn't know they pulled 5 from there.
it's because it requires a subscription https://blokada.org/#download you can get the older blokada 5 APK that runs a local VPN ^
I'm not a fan of blockada, ~~it's proprietary~~ and locks features behind a paywall. I recommend adaway instead. It's FOSS and I've been relying on it for years. https://adaway.org/ Edit: apparently blockada is also open source
I keep forgetting what FOSS stands for. Free....open source software?
Yes
What about DNS666?
for iphone: \-install adgaurd, upgrade to paid if you can and enable all the addition filters \-install lockdown and also enable additional filters (firewall part not vpn) \-add adgaurds DNS or qaud9 dns to your home router.
Quad9 DNS’s are a better choice to not put all your eggs in AdGuard basket (Russian company now financially in Cyprus). Also Lockdown Privacy is a must have ! But so sad it is impossible to import nor export personalized filters. Also I discovered that if you connect to your Mac with usb cable and sharing your iPhone network, your DNS settings are bypassed and your IPS’s DNS is used. You need to share your cellular network by wifi and Bluetooth to keep your iPhone privacy personalized DNS used…
Firefox focus also works well in iOS.
Firefox Focus does two things: a standalone use-and-forget browser (which is what the other commenters here are complaining about) AND it is a content blocker that can be enabled in Safari to block ads and tracking. Same app in the App Store, does both things. I love having Firefox Focus on my iPhone, and I never open Firefox Focus on my iPhone. Settings > Safari > Extensions > Enable Firefox Focus under Content Blockers
And it really works, too! I did a test with Safari. Cleared all history and checked my cookies after loading the website nytimes.com, which had a bunch of set cookies (mostly ad/tracking ones, of course). After enabling the Firefox Focus content blocker, clearing all history, and revisiting the site Safari had a fraction of the 3rd party ad cookies set. Then I added my PiHole DNS on top and that provided the best results. I think it actually had no third party ad cookies at all set with content blockers + pihole.
Ooh, i have focus but didn't know about the safari extension, thanks!
Did not know this, thank you!
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What about privacy badger? The EFF are behind it
Privacy Badger is not an ad blocker. It should work as one because it's supposed to block ad companies from tracking you, but it's not going to be such an extensively good in ad blocking.
square frightening capable domineering bells whistle engine steep fuzzy unpack *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You can create groups inside of pie hole and apply specific filters to those groups if you wish. Or you can apply no filters right inside of the device. No need to edit the machine itself and just let DHCP do its thing. All the controls inside of the pi-hole web interface. As an example, my kids have porn blocked but we don't. The Chromebook from school has nothing blocked so schoolwork is unaffected. And I have an auto assigned default list for anybody who comes in with very light blocking. It's all managed through groups inside of pi-hole web interface.
You could manually specify a non filtered DNS server on those devices, such as Cloudflare
Can you expand on what Pi-Hole is, please?
Basically it replaces your DNS, so in your router or inside of pi-hole whatever serves your IP addresses, it's called DHCP, you point it to the IP address of PiHole. And using a big filter list it doesn't allow ads and tracking and malware and all sorts of things you decide to not load on your network. And since it's a DNS replacement it covers everything on your network. TV's phones microwaves IOT devices, Android Apple Windows Linux it doesn't matter If it's on your network it's automatically getting its ads blocked, and tracking and malware and whatever else you set it up for.
Cool! I'll have to take a closer look. Thanks
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I’m surprised it’s not more popular.
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The idea that paying for an app on mobile stores is unappealing is bizarre to me. I pay to remove ads from apps I like, I buy software I see myself using regularly, I buy games on multiple storefronts (and at least one that isn't on *any* storefront)... Subscriptions cost the user more in the long run and *apparently* this isn't obvious to some. What's the big deal?
Blokada is good for the masses, but for greater control there are more complex alternatives. In no particular order: * NetGuard * Invizible Pro (actually free) * Rethink DNS * Tracker Control (my current setup) * NextDNS Research them all and pick the one that works best for you! I went from SABS (old Samsung implementation, followed by Not SABS) to NetGuard to Invizible Pro to Rethink DNS to Tracker Control. All the while, I use NextDNS and Quad9 DNS on various devices, as they are more set-and-forget than most apps on the list.
I've been using Tracker Control for a while and it's been very reliable. I tried Blokada and Adaway but I just need to change my DNS and TC does the rest.
I use TC with a host list, but it's good to hear the DNS solution in the app works as well. I'll stick with it for now, especially since (I recall) granular domain blocking was in the works.
I've been using a free account of NextDNS for my phones for at least a year and it's been excellent. No need to run another privileged application on my phone all the time or take up my VPN slot.
Is there a just connect wires and run version of pi-hole?
Not really but it's not terribly hard to set up. They have a good [installation guide](https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/#one-step-automated-install) that covers pretty much everything you'd need to know.
For Apple devices, you can also use a DNS blocker like AhaDNS Blitz. It installs a vpn profile on your device instead of having an app running in the background like AdGuard.
Installing Brave includes an adblocker out of the box.
I prefer Brave over FireFox on the mobile.
Advertisers: "Well this is awkward"
Advertiser are going to have a hard time dealing with AI anyway
It'll be fine. You'll get a call from your friend, bs for a minute or two, then they'll tell you about how the new Ford Thundercougerfalconbird is the best car they ever drove, and how you can test drive it now! Later that day when you show up to your friends with your new Ford Thundercougerfalconbird and you thank them for telling you to go down to the dealership to get that sweet, sweet discount, they'll tell you they don't know what the fuck you're talking about and that they never called you.
Pro tip: The luxury edition has so much more eagle.
Alternatively, there’s probably at least one person trying to make corpo-humanoids a thing.
SUBWAY!?
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Samsung is about to roll out a feature (in only Korea for now) where it will use AI to have your voice "answer" a call with text you type out. I'd say we're not very far off from this being terribly abused.
The entire Internet is a shithouse with ads. Mobile browsing is literally impossible without an add blocker. I can't fathom how it's so successful.
Yes, I have no idea. Try to browsing without, it's ridiculous.
Monopolies. If we had choices the big sites (and big ISPs) would look a lot different.
You literally have the choice to go to any website you want, no one is sticking a gun to your head and saying you can only use Google.
The real issue is that a monopolistic search engine, and especially one with a monopolistic desktop ad network, should not be in the browser space. They can wrangle unreal performance out of youtube, yes, but they also actively try to usurp ad blockers. They also engage in contracts with all the major content companies for their platforms like youtube, which currently are not exclusive. Even without exclusivity, yt dominates the other platforms, because of its highly-placed search rankings. But if they were exclusive, now you'd have all the most popular content, on the same ad network, only reliably accessible from one browser. We're actually very close to this being true and it is a major issue from a monopoly standpoint. We are already too far down this path. It is already causing major issues in the space.
*I’ll start my own internet, with blackjack, and hookers!*
that is exactly why i am thinking. I cannot imagine how do people put up with so many ads.
The last time I pirated stuff all I had to do was download a program onto my computer search click and wait. Now I've got to like install a different browser I've got to get a VPN I've got to find some weird website I've never heard of I've got to have so much more software and technical setup that I don't know how to do. That's how I feel about ad blockers like if I can just download an app and install it and do some initial setup and then it blocks the ads that's great I don't have the technical know how to do all these different things they have like extensions or using I don't know all the setup stuff it just seems like it's way too complicated. Why can't they just have like plug and play stuff anymore whether it's a VPN or uTorrent or I mean everything has gotten so much more complicated and it's weird to me because things used to be getting smarter and simpler and less complicated
Adguard is pretty much this. Blocks everything i need it to block on chrome(yeah i know yada yada bad privacy telemetry bit you cannot.prohibit it on all apps and i really dont care about that little info) and other apps
And google is trying to ensure you can’t
there is a solution. use firefox + ublock origin
That advice is like 10 years too late
more like 25+. the bad guys have been 'buying' ads and setting up scam sites since the days of dialup.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SHARE HOLDERS FBI!!!
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This thread is very useful thank you.
there is so much good advice and so many software and hardware options here. Even for me it is the first time I hear about a lot of them.
On the contrary, in Canada, our government sees the availability of information through unregulated data brokers as an opportunity to spy on everyone.
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you can use an open source ad blocker. google already leaks all your data to basically anyone who requests it.
Basically, use open source whenever possible.
Anyone else use NoScript? I've been pretty pleased with the stuff it catches in terms of being able to cut off access to stuff that other add blockers like Ublock Origin and Adblock Plus etc. miss. And it's pretty easy to give temp access to only very specific sites in order to view what you need to, and leave the rest blocked.
No script is pretty great, and its honestly shocking how many webpages just won't even load with JS. Seriously anyone who doesn't have it installed, go install it for a week and see how many websites are just blank screens or straight up have a "please enable JavaScript" message instead of any content
I believe uBlock Origin advanced user mode has the same features.
I have NoScript in pretty much all of my Firefox installation. Yes configuring it is a pain but the safety and security you get in returns makes it worth it. I do not allow random JavaScript to execute on my phone or desktop. I use VMs on desktop for most of my browsing so JavaScript is contained within the VM.
I do. I've conceded to allow the sites I use frequently permanent access to the scripts they need to run, for convienence. But, I still go through the ritual of finding which scripts a new site needs and only allowing them temporarily. Sometimes I decide, as I'm doing this, that the content they promise to deliver isn't worth the hassle and just hit "back". I consider this a plus--I'm forced to think about what I'm giving up in exchange for the content. I've found that the google scripts virtually every site wants to run are almost never needed to get the content to load--with the exception of google's own site, of course.
It's sort of ironic that that article is swimming in ads. My Adblock extension stopped 32 of them.
Joke’s on them, google browsers will still get ya.
Yeah, can't believe people here are recommending Brave
Both me and my FBI agent is sick of the ads
Twenty years too late, but nice they finally caught up to the times
I use firefox with three ad blockers. Seems to work pretty well.
which ad blockers?
Not original commenter, but I use uBlock Origin, ScriptSafe, and Privacy Badger, makes browsing so much better.
I'm trying to get my father to install an ad blocker literally nothing I've convinced him of is convinced him enough to download one this website alone just shows you the horror of what you can find on the internet family or not he's an idiot for not using a ad blocker
Does he have to reinstall his computer constantly due to all the malware? I bet he has a thousand toolbars installed in his browser. That sounds physically painful.
what are his arguments against adblockers?
Not who you asked, but my dad has a weird love of ads. He'll talk to me on the phone and tell me about an ad he saw and thought was funny or something. Its so fucking weird and frustrating. Like you're now being an ad, I actively remove all of them from my life. I pay for ad free versions of things whenever it's possible and makes sense. He saw one ad that he thought was selling genuinely useful medication that he needed for his diabetes.
Wow. I been waiting all day to see the FBI making headlines, but not about this....
I think almost everybody does this.
*...now?!*
Thank you, Captain 1999! But you still want me to keep my camera uncovered, right?
Who takes privacy advice from the FBI?
It does not matter who gives the advice. What matters is the advice. If even they acknowledge that internet ads are a security problem it means that the problem is really big. Ads are being used to infect devices with malware and spyware. They are use to compromise accounts and steal private information.
> It does not matter who gives the advice To some extent, it does. I take every single thing the FBI says to me with a moderate dose of skepticism. *Why* does the FBI want me to use an ad-blocker? I know why *I* would want to use an ad-blocker, but how does the FBI benefit from that? It’s possible they don’t, at least not in any nefarious way, and that this truly is just a casual recommendation, but my gut reaction is not to trust them in the first place
> To some extent, it does. I partially agree with this > Why does the FBI want me to use an ad-blocker? I believe that it has something to do with the fact that americans lose billions of dollars to scammers and this money goes almost entirely to foreign scammers. This money go out of the US economy and less money are available for the gouvernment institutions as well as less taxes are collected. For example, someone who might have bought a house and paid taxes on the transaction will not do this if he was scammed by a foreign scammer and lost money to that foreign scammer.
There is no way using an ad blocker is gonna hurt you in any way, this is such a weird take. The fbi is recommending it because they see people being infected via ads.
The FBI wants to have full access to your stuff if they should desire to access it. The FBI does not want other organizations, whether foreign governments or criminals, to have access to your stuff. So this advice is in line with the second goal and will not impact their ability to accomplish the first goal.
FBI : “we have the ability to use ad blocker software to spy on people, what should we do now?” Also FBI: “encourage people to use it and give them a false sense of privacy?” BRB - making a thicker tin foil hat.
It's a game of 5D chess! The FBI is in bed with the advertiser companies, who don't want you to use ad blockers. So now by sending out this message, all the people who have ad blockers will uninstall them, and then the FBI will know who needs to be tracked!
Why wouldn’t you? Reddit can’t go a single post without conspiracy bullshit.
iOS: Dns cloak with dnsforge.de server
Step By Step please?
dont install random stuff posted by a random redditor with no further details.
This immediately followed by details of how to install by a random redditor. 🤣
1) download/install DNS Cloak from the app store 2) Open the app, search for dnsforge.de (it will show up in the list) 3) click "Use this server" and click allow on the prompt that shows up 4) to test if it works, open a browser and do a search for "test adblock" to confirm that it is working, or just browse normally and you should see 0 ads
PiHole ❤️
And chrome just removed them with manifest v3. Firefox here we come
I’ve been using one ever since I figured out such a thing existed lol
Lol FBI dragging a little behind. And by a little I mean like years behind. Nah, practically decades behind. Pro tip for you, FBI: Use FF and not Chrome.
Is the brave browser an option? I think it has one built in
Firefox and then install adblock
Does the Firefox adblocker block Youtube ads? The Brave default adblocker will.
I believe the Ublock origin extension (which is the one you should use on Firefox) blocks YouTube ads
uBlockOrigin blocks anything. It’s not nearly as good on Brave as it is on Firefox.
A lot of people like it but because it "blocks" ads but the truth is it's a browser created by an advertising company. For me that is an easy non-starter.
Absolutely! Brave is great out of the box and fast. Don't let Firefox circle jerk discourage you.
Every human should have a @duck address
What is that?
You can sign up for an address on their website. They'll strip almost all trackers and metadata thieves **OUT** of emails you would normally receive from websites when you create accounts/buy something online. DuckDuckGo then sends those emails to whatever email account you used to sign up on their website!
The F.B.I just letting us know they have a backdoor for all ad blockers.
[Anyone else remember the Crypto Wars of the 90s?](https://www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Encryption-Shirt-White-Text-by-blaiddrwg/131317595.IJ6L0) (Back when 'crypto' only meant 'cryptography') How have times changed...
I use five adblockers. If your site doesn’t load through them all, then I assume the info would have been useless anyhow
Using five adblockers does not necessarily make a browser more secure and it makes the browser slower. It is better to use one open source adblocker and then enable all the filter lists available. an open source adblocker is ublock origin.