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Gambling and Adult content DNS blocking using Mullvad VPN
- pluc 4y agoPiHole lists to achieve the same thing: https://oisd.nl/downloads https://oisd.nl/downloads https://github.com/blocklistproject/Lists/ https://github.com/blocklistproject/Lists/
- gojou 4y agoThe issue there is pihole is only useful on your local network. You could expose it to the internet but that's a horrible idea. You could also VPN into your home network I guess but that's often not feasible.
- pluc 4y agoThere are PiHole-as-a-Service... services out there
- mrchucklepants 4y agoI do exactly this. I have WireGuard running on my pihole server. All my devices are set to connect automatically when off my home network.
- martin_a 4y ago> You could expose it to the internet but that's a horrible idea. Been there, done that. It was a mistake. Not sure which attacks my public PiHole was part of, but I surely was part of some. It's a shame, I'd really like to offer this as a service to friends, because I think they would be able to change the DNS settings of their routers and enjoy a safer surfing experience. I don't want to get started with distributing key pairs to connect to a VPN and whatnot. PiHole really has a sweet spot there with its ease-of-use but it fails in regards of security/protection against becoming part of DNS-based attacks.
- bush-bby 4y ago> Been there, done that. It was a mistake. Not sure which attacks my public PiHole was part of, but I surely was part of some. How did you come to this conclusion? How did you come to know?
- martin_a 4y agoThe PiHole has some integrated logging where you can see the requests that were made. I had several IPs which were doing queries for the same domains dozens of times per second. That wasn't a poweruser but some kind of automated system, probably doing reflection attacks or sth. alike. I think PiHole has improved since that time, you can now set throttling, but I'm not sure I'd run a public PiHole anymore.
- rrix2 4y agoMy pihole listens only on my server's TailScale interface, and have MagicDNS set to use the server's tailnet IP. Phone and laptops get it using the app, LAN gets it with subnet routing.
- xnyan 4y agoAs others say, use a VPN like wireguard. If bandwidth or latency over the VPN is a concern, you can setup your VPN to only route DNS requests over the VPN.
- unethical_ban 4y agoI run Pi-hole and pi-vpn on a VM at home, and have my mobile phone set to always-on VPN. I have occasionally had to disable the VPN on public wifi that blocks the high UDP port, but I think that could be gotten around with udp/443 which is used by QUIC/Google a lot. udp/53 inbound is blocked on my ATT home network.
- lostlogin 4y ago> You could also VPN into your home network I guess. It works beautifully. I think it hurts battery life on phones, but that hasn't been tested by me in any meaningful way.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bishopsmother 4y agoUnfortunately some apps[0] are already resistant to DNS-based blocking, which is why I'm creating SocialsDetox (DoH & VPN). It allows blocking of social media (+others, e.g. Gambling) across all your devices with a single click, scheduled and/or API call. [0] https://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/tech/facebook-app-and-unnamed-domains-avoiding-dns-blocking/102501213/ https://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/tech/facebook-app-and-un...
- wzdd 4y agoI do like the way they let you choose any combination of four blockers by setting individual bits in the last octet of the DNS server address.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- square_usual 4y agoSomeone else posted that this isn't a feature they would look for in a VPN, and I'd mostly agree except for one big problem: VPNs are the only way to effectively block things in iOS and (un-rooted) Android, and you can only have one VPN active at a time. This means that you have to choose between either having a proper VPN connected or a fake one to block content you don't like. Mullvad's ads, trackers and malware blocking DNS has been awesome when I'm on my iPhone and don't want to deal with ads in apps. I'm sure some other people who have dependence issues with gambling or adult content would appreciate being able to use their preferred VPN while also blocking content.
- jeroenhd 4y agoAs I've recently been made aware here on HN, on Android system applications can bind to an arbitrary interface so they can effectively bypass the VPN system. I don't think it happens often in practice, but it's something to keep in mind.
- flas9sd 4y agoon paper (Android 8 and up) has the always-on type VPN that blocks any network connection not using the vpn (disallows bypass). Didn't poke it yet how it works if multiple apps create VPNs, I assume only one VPN of this type can be active
- jeroenhd 4y agoThe single app restriction is a consequence of how the API works, but the always on VPN doesn't prohibit system apps from binding to an interface and bypassing the VPN configuration. This kind of makes sense, you probably want a modem manager to talk to the modem interface directly, but it can be abused by data hungry manufacturers and perhaps Google.
- flas9sd 4y agothanks for your clarification. With custom roms there is at least user control on system apps and their permissions.
- freetime2 4y agoCan you build one that blocks all non-adult and non-gambling content? Asking for a friend…
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- tr1ll10nb1ll 4y ago"Vices DNS", that's what I'd call it.
- jacquesm 4y agoHe could but then you wouldn't be able to read his answer...
- lostlogin 4y agoI'll take that bet.
- kmfrk 4y agoDoes the Adult content filter trigger Restricted Mode on YouTube like CloudFlare's 1.1.1.3? That was the one reason I had to give up using adult filters like that.
- shimonamit 4y agoI use SafeDNS which filters adult content (plus many more categories), without forcing YouTube Restricted Mode. But, you can opt into YouTube Restricted Mode if you choose.
- crikeyjoe 4y ago
- ibejoeb 4y agoSorry for the tangent, but does anyone have a solution for mdns/ssdp (Sonos, in my case) while running Mullvad with wireguard? edit: nvm, was trivial to just route it manually. For anyone interested, just something like ip route add 239.255.255.250 dev <whichever interface> There probably something more elegant in a wg config somewhere, but this does the job.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- stblack 4y agoI'm Steven Black and they cite my repo as their source for adult content domains. Mullvad VPN seems unclear on the concept, at least in regard to my resource. Using my porn hosts variant directly, they are presently pulling-in 188,735 domains, of which only 43,108 are porn domains. The other domains are adware, malware, etc. I also notice the mullvad/dns-adblock repository been in existence since June 7 2022, the date of its first commit. So this is a very new thing.
- Thorentis 4y agoWhy did you include adware and malware domains in a list named to suggest it only contains pornography domains then? Seems like a fair mistake on Mullvad's part.
- stblack 4y agoHere is the readme: https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts If that could be more clear, please tell me how?
- JadoJodo 4y agoI wish there was the option to use both Mullvad + NextDNS.
- Ansil849 4y agoWhat irks me about this is the disingenuous concern trolling in the title: > Aiding to break habits If mullvad's intention with these blocklists is to help break habits, then why is the focus solely on gambling and adult content? Alcohol and nicotine 'habits' far surpass porn and gambling habits, so why is there no option to break habits by blocking, for example, smoking and drinking related content?
- advisedwang 4y agoBecause you can gamble and see porn online, but you can't smoke or drink a website?
- Ansil849 4y agoYou can't "gamble or porn a website" either. But alcohol and nicotine companies have an online footprint, and you can buy alcohol and nicotine online. Or in other words, there is web content that directly facilitates other 'habits' that are way more prevalent than gambling or adult content, so it stands to reason that if the intention is to break habits, the initial focus should be on the most prevalent habits.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- mind-blight 4y agoI'd actually argue that adult content is way more prevalent than nicotine, and likely moreso than alcohol. Researchers trying to study the effects of porn use (in college males if I remember right) struggled to get a control group because they couldn't find anyone who didn't use porn