5 ms·

I setup PiHole and removed it about 2-3 days later. UBlock Origin is perfect for laptops, but I wanted to see if it'd block YouTube ads and similar on my Smart

I setup PiHole and removed it about 2-3 days later. UBlock Origin is perfect for laptops, but I wanted to see if it'd block YouTube ads and similar on my Smart TV and mobile devices - it didn't. If anything it just caused me grief by interfering with non-ad web services, so I canned it and everything started working again. I need UBlock Origin as a remote proxy.

crankylinuxuser 7y ago
> it'd block YouTube ads and similar on my Smart TV and mobile devices - it didn't thats because you need to tell DHCP to use the pihole's address as primary DNS
- iDemonix 7y ago
  I did. I should point out I work for an ISP, so my day job is managing proxy farms, DNS, and so on. It just didn't seem to stop ads on the Smart TV with any variation of whitelist/blacklist.
- winkywooster 7y ago
  That still doesn't fix the ad situation. There's still stuff that goes on at the JS level that a browser ad blocker catches, but a DNS blocker won't. That's been my experience after installing Pihole on the home network.
- Nas808 7y ago
  Even if you do that, there’s some devices (Chromecast, Google Home) that have Google’s DNS hardcoded and ignores the servers passed by DHCP.
  - sgroppino 7y ago
    This is terrible. What prevents them from doing the same to android phones and tablets?
  - sgroppino 7y ago
    What happens if you set your firewall to block 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4?
    - SamuelAdams 7y ago
      It bricks the device. See these previous discussions. [1]: https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/dnsop/WCVv57IizUSjNb2RQNP84fBclI0 https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/dnsop/WCVv57IizUSjNb2R... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19170671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19170671
    - amaccuish 7y ago
      You can use an iptables rule on your router to rewrite the address to your custom server, which I have done specifically because Google devices were ignoring DHCP. Something like... iptables -t nat -A OUTPUT -p udp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to x.x.x.x:53 ...should work, and repeat for tcp
pimeys 7y ago
For me it blocks most of the time. Sometimes I notice the advertisement coming directly from Youtube servers and passing through. This only seems to happen when using native YouTube clients...
sumanthn 7y ago
Try adguard DNS, it's pretty good https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html
Zhenya 7y ago
Try opening a few local app on Android and watch the logs. You'll see connections to Facebook, Google and ad networks. Pihole and diversion are essential for privacy. My Android TV when in sleep mode DRILLS Netflix and calls home.
- iDemonix 7y ago
  There's no Android devices in my house to test with.
Mister_Snuggles 7y ago
I wish PiHole could be more fine-grained. Being able to respond differently depending on which device made the request would be an amazing addition. For example, I want to blackhole all X-related stuff because I don't use service X and don't want them to track me, but my girlfriend wants to access and use service X. So either we each get an instance of PiHole and tailor it to our specific needs, or we share an instance and one of us is unhappy.

crankylinuxuser 7y ago

> it'd block YouTube ads and similar on my Smart TV and mobile devices - it didn't thats because you need to tell DHCP to use the pihole's address as primary DNS

iDemonix 7y ago
I did. I should point out I work for an ISP, so my day job is managing proxy farms, DNS, and so on. It just didn't seem to stop ads on the Smart TV with any variation of whitelist/blacklist.
winkywooster 7y ago
That still doesn't fix the ad situation. There's still stuff that goes on at the JS level that a browser ad blocker catches, but a DNS blocker won't. That's been my experience after installing Pihole on the home network.
Nas808 7y ago
Even if you do that, there’s some devices (Chromecast, Google Home) that have Google’s DNS hardcoded and ignores the servers passed by DHCP.
- sgroppino 7y ago
  This is terrible. What prevents them from doing the same to android phones and tablets?
- sgroppino 7y ago
  What happens if you set your firewall to block 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4?
  - SamuelAdams 7y ago
    It bricks the device. See these previous discussions. [1]: https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/dnsop/WCVv57IizUSjNb2RQNP84fBclI0 https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/dnsop/WCVv57IizUSjNb2R... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19170671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19170671
  - amaccuish 7y ago
    You can use an iptables rule on your router to rewrite the address to your custom server, which I have done specifically because Google devices were ignoring DHCP. Something like... iptables -t nat -A OUTPUT -p udp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to x.x.x.x:53 ...should work, and repeat for tcp

pimeys 7y ago

For me it blocks most of the time. Sometimes I notice the advertisement coming directly from Youtube servers and passing through. This only seems to happen when using native YouTube clients...

sumanthn 7y ago

Try adguard DNS, it's pretty good https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html

Zhenya 7y ago

Try opening a few local app on Android and watch the logs. You'll see connections to Facebook, Google and ad networks. Pihole and diversion are essential for privacy. My Android TV when in sleep mode DRILLS Netflix and calls home.

iDemonix 7y ago
There's no Android devices in my house to test with.

Mister_Snuggles 7y ago

I wish PiHole could be more fine-grained. Being able to respond differently depending on which device made the request would be an amazing addition. For example, I want to blackhole all X-related stuff because I don't use service X and don't want them to track me, but my girlfriend wants to access and use service X. So either we each get an instance of PiHole and tailor it to our specific needs, or we share an instance and one of us is unhappy.