How I block all online ads
- The author describes a comprehensive setup to block virtually all online advertising across devices and services.
- They focus on network-level filtering instead of per-device ad blockers, so that phones, TVs, and other clients benefit automatically.
- The core of the solution is running a self-hosted DNS-based blocker (like Pi-hole or AdGuard Home) to sinkhole common ad and tracker domains.
- Additional blocklists are layered on top to handle more aggressive tracking and region-specific ad domains, trading a bit of breakage for increased privacy.
- For services that hardcode ad endpoints or use techniques that bypass DNS blocking, the author uses more advanced tools such as proxying or firewall rules.
- Some apps and sites break when ads are blocked; in those cases, the author selectively whitelists domains or uses per-device exceptions rather than relaxing global rules.
- On mobile, encrypted DNS and VPN-like tunneling are configured so that all traffic still flows through the home-level blocking setup even on the go.
- The author argues that this configuration significantly improves page load times, reduces bandwidth usage, and makes devices feel faster and less cluttered.
- They acknowledge an ethical gray area with ad blocking but conclude that user safety, privacy, and mental comfort outweigh the downsides of depriving low-quality ad networks of revenue.
- The piece emphasizes that the goal is not absolute perfection but a sustainable setup that requires minimal maintenance once deployed.
Hacker News Discussion
- Commenters discuss additional tools like SponsorBlock for skipping in-video sponsorships on platforms such as YouTube, highlighting that traditional ad blockers do not remove creator-embedded promos.
- Several users point out that DNS-level blocking does not stop ads injected directly by streaming services, noting that such platforms often use certificate pinning or app-level tricks that make proxying and MITM approaches difficult or impossible.
- A highly upvoted comment recommends using a user-agent switcher to bypass sites that block non-Chrome browsers, with examples where services claim to be incompatible with Firefox but run better once the browser “pretends” to be Chrome.
- Participants criticize websites that enforce brittle user-agent checks instead of feature detection, arguing that this needlessly breaks otherwise compatible browsers and punishes privacy-conscious users.
- Some users express skepticism about privacy-focused browsers that are built on or dependent on codebases controlled by ad-driven companies, calling out an inherent tension between privacy promises and ad-based business models.