Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers
community.blokada.org
community.blokada.org
Most people don’t.
Most people who use anything for iOS tend to use things like:
- 1Blocker - super full featured, including custom script and css rules. business model is paid software, not ‘acceptable ads’ paying them for placement or third parties paying for your data
- AdGuard Pro - Similar to 1Blocker, less custom config friendly
- https://nextdns.io/ - pihole type blocker with unlimited configurations, custom rules, and analytics, native hooks for devices
- https://adguard-dns.io/ - similar DNS[1] service to nextdns.io with ability to upload your own rules based configurations
- Firefox Focus if using that ecosystem
- Brave if using that ecosystem
- iCab Mobile if wanting a super configurable browser with filter rules and longest history as indie browser for iOS
Folks also use ancillary quieters such as:
- Hiya - call / sms blocking
- Hushed - throwaway numbers for spam SMS
- - -
1. Note that the AdGuard public DNS server including custom DNS filtering rules has just (26 August 2022) gone open source: https://adguard.com/en/blog/adguard-dns-2-0-goes-open-source...
In my case, I browse a limited number of web sites that offer no ads (or a minimum amount). The moment I visit a web site with tons of ads, I just close it immediately and just ignore my original intention of visiting that website (e.g., this happens sometimes in HN: people link websites of newspapers, but I don't last in them more than 2 seconds)
There was a time where you could just close the tab if it was that bad, but now pretty much all websites are like this so there's no choice.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/safariservices/cre...
Initial content blocker support came with iOS 9 in 2015. They only work in Safari, maybe also other browsers (not sure though).
It’s by the makers of kagi.
I mainly browse the web on my PC or laptop at home, which has a browser-integrated adblocker + PiHole.
When I need a browser while on the go, I usually just use it to google things and for some quick lookups the experience is "okay", longer and more in-depth web surfing will be deferred to my home PC using the "tabs from other devices" functionality
Benchmarked on reach plc websites. If I open one in Chrome it actually freezes it up
As I write this, I just realized why I have a pleasant browsing experience: unless I am searching for tech info, I don’t do much browsing except for a few favorite sites.
Whole house ad blocking and my iPhone is pretty much consistently attached to my home VPN to take advantage of the ad blocking.
There’s some small pain points with using public wifi with login screens, enough so that I haven’t had my wife use it yet but I dig it.
iOS also has system-wide DNS ad blocking via DNS-over-HTTPS profiles, without needing any apps or on-device VPN hacks, and that works for all networks/cellular seamlessly.
I can't get everyone on adblockers for all their devices so this is worth it to me. Of course, I also setup basic content blockers where I can as well.
Having a choice in web browsers along with emulators and real file system access were major reasons why I'll never go back to iPad.
Nearly spotless experience, costs me 10 bucks a year. And everyone at home is protected.
there's your problem right there.
I recall reading that despite the internet being faster, actual website performance has never really improved meaningfully. Whatever speed gains we've achieved have simply been eaten by larger and more complex tracking scripts.
Google themselves are a significant contributor to this problem, for many websites, Google's scripts are the core source of slowness.
I don't think it's unreasonable for users to want to reclaim their browsing experience (and bandwidth). In the sample comparison below we can see savings as high as 90% of data and speed boosts of ~1500% - it's insanity.
>In 1865, the English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that technological improvements that increased the efficiency of coal-use led to the increased consumption of coal in a wide range of industries. He argued that, contrary to common intuition, technological progress could not be relied upon to reduce fuel consumption.
Which is a criticism, it seems, for any system that values resource attribution over efficiency.
Of course there was flash to deal with rhen too.
Now back when we had 56K Modems was when it really was unusable!
I don't how sites think i want to read an article and warxh a totally unrelated video at the same time.
I'm really starting to miss old style magazines lately.
Click bait and fake headlines about the next iphone have ruinwd the web.
Still, going back to the main subject. Clearly, it seems google decided that most people do not care enough to actually make decisions to make browsing not painful. I hate this cat and mouse game. It is getting to the point where I really think legal solution is the only one. All techs need to be brought to heel. Hard.
In google's defense, it is not just them. The entire ecosystem is broken. When I try to use my bank's website and I use unprotected chromium, it takes extra minute to load everything up on a page. I am running an equivalent of a supercomputer from 90s and I am stunned at the lazy design. If I try to limit it, it stutters and blocks me at every opportunity. And it is one of the national banks in US. Admittedly, some banks do get it mostly right ( kudos to Discover, Chase and Capital ), but I started going to the branch again and each time they ask me if I used their app/website, I say no and tell them why ( which is usually followed by a survey, which I dutifully fill up... mebbe something will finally filter through ).
This combination of Firefox+uBlock and NextDNS+Private DNS makes Android a pleasurable experience.
If your browser supports adblock (eg on Android use Firefox or Kiwi) then disable DNS filtering for the browser (ie override the system level filtering) by using browser privacy settings to choose an unfiltered DoH provider like Cloudflare.
I've noticed most of the recent android based handled scanner we got at office refuse to even use our dhcp provided dns including to resolve local address (forcing us to use IP instead of dns for our internal warehouse apps) and complain about "no internet" because 8.8.8.8 is not open.
It's open source as well.
I try not to use apps where there's a website equivalent, but I also repackaged a couple of them that I like to rid them of the ads, using apktool.
My mobile experience is blissfully ad-free. It's a delight and I would never go back to the default experience.
Unsure if there's been a development since then.
The mobile web experience could almost be described as life changing when all of the bullshit is removed.
if not, is there some mechanism in place that can reduce worries around software supply chain attacks on a privileged piece of software like this?
I guess it's mostly attributed to the website handling accessibility wrong, but using the web is more important to me I guess.
The original policy is documented here: https://web.archive.org/web/20220818100735/https://support.g...
What the post misses is Google has exceptions for:
- Parental control and enterprise management apps.
- App usage tracking.
- Device security apps (for example, anti-virus, mobile device management, firewall).
- Network related tools (for example, remote access).
- Web browsing apps.
- Carrier apps that require the use of VPN functionality to provide telephony or connectivity services.
The part where manipulation of ad-based monetization isn't allowed has always been there in one form or another.
A firewall can also be used to firewall ads/trackers though, and so it remains to be seen what Google makes of such apps (there are plenty!) come November (supposed deadline for compliance). Blokada v5 (and below), otoh, isn't a firewall, but a UDP-only DNS client.
> Here are some examples of common violations: Unexpected ads that appear ... during the beginning of a content segment (for example, after a user has clicked on a button, and before the action intended by the button click has taken effect). These ads are unexpected for users, as users expect to ... engage in content instead.
??? isn't this like... incredibly and blatantly anti-competitive considering that their own app (Youtube), which they still offer on said store, does this?
On-device filtering was never allowed. For as long as I can remember, it has always been against Play Store terms of use. That part isn't new at all.
Though, it could very well be that Google may come down with stringent / permanent bans on VPN-based apps starting November (they, notoriously, only allow two violations before permanently banning a developer account; in some instances, developers have gotten two strikes at once, leaving them unable to appeal).
It may be less emotionally rewarding, but in many areas
- many places advertisements violate various rules and on notification local authorities (or other entity) is likely to take action. For example in Poland ads (except political ones, politicians exempted themself again) cannot be ever placed on bridges, lamp posts, traffic signs, guard rails etc. Every single one placed there is illegal and road maintainers remove them once notified.
- local authorities may be allowed to pass laws banning or limiting their presence (Kraków, Poland recently outlawed large part of billboards within city)
Also, removing some of ads may be perfectly legal or with penalties so low that eliminating them is not legally risky.
It's silly I know, but I get a tiny amount of satisfaction from not letting them advertise to me.
(Sadly, google shut down Vanced, but you can still find it if you go looking and ReVanced is coming along nicely.)
As in Black Mirror's 15 Million Merits.
Will you pay money for the content you consume?
You can’t outrun the incentive alignment. Nobody can. Case in point - Apple is shifting hard into the ad space after laying low and crafting a premium brand.
The money is just too good.
If anything, I've seen more and more services where paying is just for "premium features," of which getting away from ads isn't one of them. Spotify is a key example - if you pay for premium you don't get ads interrupting music, but you still see their bundled advertisements on the home screen of the app, you get content suggested to you in a way that is very advertiser-centric, etc.
I think we should maybe split off the discussion of "how will these businesses get paid the way ads get paid" from "ads are bad and we should get rid of them." Frankly, I don't care if advertising as a business tanks and that takes other businesses with it. The externalities of surveillance capitalism are pretty shitty, and I'm fairly confident there are other ways for people to be productive within the economy that don't involve the invasive nature of today's advertising ecosystem.
I use open source stuff when I can, and similarly, I contribute to the projects when I can. This seems to be the only legitimate way to avoid ads.
I wish companies would offer the opportunity to pay what you want to remove ads. People with adblock are probably more likely to pay for it, because anyone not running ads is probably not bothered by them anyway. And people running adblock are unmonetisable. So a little bit of money is better than no money.
Advertising is popular on the web for historical reasons. Content delivery advanced much faster than payment, so for ~20 years ads were the easiest way for many sites to pay the bills. Nobody was sure what else to do.
But that's no longer the case. Soft paywalls have been around for circa a decade, so selling subscriptions while letting your content self-market is viable. Content creators also have plenty of direct revenue options. Patreon is doing something like $2 billion/year in revenue for creators. Twitch became a huge platform without ads, just allowing direct cash transfers from fans to creators. And that's not even counting the ~$50 billion/year now spent on streaming and VOD in the US.
On the other side of it, per-ad revenue has been falling for decades. I helped start a content site and keep in touch with people in that area. The reason so many ad-supported sites look like absolute shit is that to make any money, you keep needing to up the amount of ads you run, making them more and more annoying to overcome learned ad blindness. So advertising is slowly strangling itself, leading to lots of people using ad-blockers, and counter-ad-blocker technology becoming widespread. What sane person would start an ad-funded content business today?
A world-wide web with little or no advertising is not only plausible, it looks like that's where we're headed.
Suppose someone develops a product that you would love and would make your life better; how do you think you should find out about it?
In the 2020s, the web is nearing a level of criticality to a functioning society as the neighborhoods, towns, cities we access it from. Those physical properties are heavily regulated and with good reason.
Word of mouth, basically. Or searching for something that I need.
What I hate most about advertising is it just shoves everything in people's faces and makes people think they need this and that. I find myself somewhat immune to ads (as much as one can be I guess), maybe I just programmed myself to ignore them growing up in early internet days. But it's so obvious the large effect that ads can have on most people.
I find out about new and cool stuff generally from peoples comments on sites like here, reddit etc. If you have a good product, word of mouth is generally pretty damn good. Or coming across something from searches for a specific need.
I just can't think about anything that I needed and found out from a standard advertisement in like.. any recent memory. Maybe I'm the outlier here.. obviously ads must work well enough but I hate them with a passion.
I felt assaulted. There is no reasonable justification or purpose for this that takes into account basic human empathy. Granted this might be different from ads that do just make you aware of a product. But this reasoning is looking more and more like justification rather than purpose.
I just moved to a new laptop. I haven’t installed ad blockers yet. But interestingly, I seem to have got out of the habit of using the obnoxious ad supported sites. Probably because they became too low quality. I hadn’t even realized my ad blockers weren’t installed until this thread.
Not to say that the service they provide isn't useful. It's obviously more economical to operate media platforms at scale, and obviously most content creators don't have the technical ability to do it themselves.
When you look at say, podcasts for instance, you have this giant shared wealth of free content and you can pick a number of creators to support depending on your budget. You usually get extra episodes or perks as an incentive for doing so. Imagine if, instead of paying YouTube X dollars or watching Y ads and letting them choose out how to spread that money around, you pay the people you actually watch and the platform vendors, who ought to be the least important and most replaceable factor in this transaction, gets the cut they actually deserve.
Before they were ruined by copyright trolls, streaming services like Netflix demonstrated that charging everyone a reasonable amount of money for access to the entire park was a viable business model.
hmm... you do know this is the reason companies like Google + Meta make lots of money, right?
I know you don't like ads but... a lot of people obviously are ok with them (otherwise businesses wouldn't find it worth it to advertise on those platforms, in hopes of capturing customers/increasing sales)
I am not sure why it would be reason for ads.
Would be even more stupid to try after writing this post though.
It's definitely worth the $2/month price for Pro though.
Sadly, it doesn't work on IG.
But I have blocked a few meme sites, and now I'm doing less mindless scrolling.
How do you deal with that? Are you just not going to buy a plane ticket on the airline’s website just ‘cause?
> Why this list?
> Where most other blocklists go for the "block ads/trackers and when something breaks it's up to the user to figure out what to whitelist"-approach ..
>
> This list prioritizes functionality over blocking.
>
> Thís is the list to use at home, at work or at your (grand-)parents place.
> Users report it "passes the girlfriend-test" ;)
I used to run more strict lists and then whitelist domains or temporarily disable blocking, but I have to say I switched to oisd only and now I'm seeing maybe 0.5% more ads without having to go through that hassle, which is a fine compromise for me.
I've used Netguard off F-Droid before, it's really nice when you turn on the filter: https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/blob/master/ADBLOCKING.md.
edit: the app is still maintained & the dev is still active on the Netguard thread, although there was a prior issue with google where he had stopped development
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-6-0-netguard-no-root-...
From what I can tell, non-nonsense opensource utilities are simply undiscoverable on the app store.
Been using this for years, though I don't often use ad-serving apps anyhow, so it's mostly just a second layer of defence behind firefox/u-block (and noscript, to be honest, but I understand not everyone wants to deal with that.)
I'm shocked when browsing web on different devices. I always recommend to at least install uBlock Origin to users of those devices. Most of them never heard about ad-blocking and they are very, very happy with new web browsing experience. 99% of theme do not want go back. 1% don't care.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/more-than-1000-android-apps...
Similarly, their TVs are known as probably the single most obnoxious devices on the market right now, and are always in the news for finding some new and obnoxious way to push more ads or more intrusive ways to spy on you in general.
Everyone always asks this about Apple but really it's never seemed more relevant than with Samsung: why are you purchasing hardware from a company that very very obviously does not respect you as a customer? Aren't there any other android vendors you could patronize instead?
(to be fair, if you aren't interested in budget hardware, and you won't buy a chinese phone, I suppose that list isn't all that long. you have... google and sony, I guess?)
This is the only way to fix the ecosystem.
(Although the best solution would probably be to ditch Samsung crap)
Another way how to block ads on data is using OpenVPN to connect data through you home router that has ad-blocking. But it is limited by upload speed of home network connection and battery drain of your smartphone is worse with active OpenVPN.
BTW, I'm using Brave because of having u-block origin, and I recommend it. Needed to change the default chrome widget for a brave widget, and lost the chrome sync. Other than that, works as a charm.
There's probably other ways.
See also nextdns.io for a turnkey alternative.
Blokada Plus is a VPN optimized to work flawlessly with Blokada. You get one of the strongest encryptions with minimal impact on battery life and speed. Together with the battle-tested content blocking functionality of Blokada, the VPN gives you a peace of mind knowing that your private activity stays private. Even on public WiFi, no-one will be able to see what you’re doing or steal your sensitive information like bank details. Websites you visit will not be able to reveal your real location. https://archive.is/xyVSn
- Strongest encryption? From when I read the code, they back-up private-key without armour (plain-text).
- Battle-tested content blocking? Blokada v5 and below has leaked DNS over TCP since its inception (v6+ is closed source).
- Peace of mind? https://www-computerbase-de.translate.goog/forum/threads/mob...
- The less I say about protecting bank details, 'private activity', location... the better.
Disclosure: I have been accused by Blokada of spreading FUD before: https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/merge_requests/8536
> Manifest V3 is part of a shift in the philosophy behind how we approach end-user security and privacy.
it requrires you to declaratively specify what to block in advance, so it's going to be pretty easy to write some logic that can't be declaratively specified
I suspect killing the adblockers is the entire reason behind it
Having said that, Kiwi Browser on Android still seems safe. You probably have a different browser anyway, now that Chrome has most of the features and featureflags removed.
Tech giants will turn this example around and say "look we need more walled-gardens to protect users". But in reality, as soon as they open the floodgates, there will be solutions that can do the same without giving away more control to Google/Apple. The narrative has to change, and the first step is to give device owners full control.
Play Store has more and more restrictions each month...but it may be a good thing? because people is now discovering the alternate stores and the advantages of them.
I suggest everybody to give it a spin
I know that ads are used to pay content creator on the web but I don't see why I should see ads on the home screen of a TV I fully paid.
If they are going to start blocking apps that do adblocking on-device that sounds like an abuse of power and a HUGE conflict of interest with Google running the Play Store AND being owned by an advertising company.
There are alternatives, but most other solutions will end up costing more in electricity costs. Especially problematic in say Europe right now.
I also hear great things about TailScale, will also try that (soon I'll be "forced" off my fiber/fixed-ip connection).
Even though the name implies you need to run it on a raspberry pi, that's not true.
I'm out of the loop, is there a rpi shortage?
Chips in general are still experiencing supply chain issues too, so this is unlikely to change.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain...
I also use PiHole from a docker container on the same server that's running wireguard.
If that means I need to switch banks, that's OK.
I see NetGuard was mentioned in a comment, but if you have Graphene you can just install an app and never let it call home via the App Info permission menu. I do it for Google Camera and Snapseed, the few non FOSS apps on my phone.
Most Chinese OEMs (OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo, Realme, Xiaomi, Motorola, Lenovo, Acer) ship with per-app wifi/mobile firewall option too.
https://adguard.com/en/blog/adguard-dns-2-0-goes-open-source...
It's not good or great or perfect, but the downside of the demise of ads, tracking, ad networks on the web would be a more information impoverished society any way you slice it.
I don't think any of my staple websites would be around if all we could rely on was their charity, and frankly that's not the internet I want to force on people. I want the people who enrich my life to be able to dedicate their time/energy to that end.
The hosts make money through ads, the content creators don't. We could have donation-funded versions of these just like we have Wikipedia.
print books were published by publishers who sell physical copies and run ads, tours and stuff.
yet pretty much every modern published book (within reason) is freely available to any person who is able to get a library card. similarly those people could use the computers to access archive.org and browse all online content.
how is that not free?
i'm not even going to get into equivocating "reddit" and "best information on the internet"
There are workarounds of course, but I am becoming tired of the cat and mouse game, in fact, I am tired of smartphones altogether. Unless things change, my current phone is probably the last rooted phone I will use as a daily driver, sadly, the last "high end" phone too.
since you say this, I assume you are in the EU or UK? I've heard that several EU banks offer a second 2FA method besides the app, such as hardware code generator[1]. In the UK, banks are actually required by the regulator to offer at least one method that doesn't require a mobile phone [2].
You could tell your bank "I can't use a smartphone" and they will probably be able to assist you (or, worst case scenario, you could find a bank that can)
[1] https://www.unicreditbank.hu/en/individual/banking/electroni...
[2] https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/7793...
I recently had to upgrade my phone, and oh boy is is annoying to get root working with Google Pay and my banking app. It still works, but it took me a few hours(!).
I'm seriously considering switching to iOS for my next phone.
1. Root your phone 2. Install Adaway and update hosts 3. Unroot your phone.
It just takes a system restart to unroot. Then all banking apps work fine. If I need root again, I can just flash Magisc zip file again. Easy enough.
But nowadays just setting up adguard's DNS in Android's private DNS settings is enough to get Adaway like effect without root.
Just curious what do folks think of AdGuard. I’ve seen that come up on Reddit but looking at their website it doesn’t look trustworthy and I couldn’t find info about what they actually track.
I'm not sure why you found their site untrustworthy, but, I've used it for years and I'm a huge fan.
Anyway though, AdGuard on iOS is a VPN and I find it unreliable, on macOS it works great.
This is so brazen they don’t even care
Link: https://adguard-dns.io
Install Firefox Focus, it istalls Content Blocker which you then enable in Safari settings. Plus Ka-Block!. These two together do the trick.
1Blocker¹ does it. It’s the “Firewall” section of the iOS app.
I already have issues with Tailscale and NextDNS, I doubt this will make it any easier.
The usual VPN and DNS solutions also work fine.
I use Firefox Focus as the ad block extension, and it works relatively well.
Okay. Those are essentially malware anyway. As long as uBlock Origin is not affected I see no problem with Google "cracking down" on anything.
It's pretty sad to see Google stoop so low. Back in the day they used to win because of the innovation, best products and openness. Now they can't build anything new and just trying to squeeze every last penny from what they already have.
I use DNS66, which I got from the F-Droid open source app store.
It works very well and blocks ads and trackers on websites and apps.
I had no idea, in that case I will try it also. I use this a lot on my desktop.
> Google claims to be cracking down on apps that are using the VPN service to track user data
Also Google
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2019/01/31/google-apple-deve...
How do Googlers here defend this posture?
b) I wasn't even aware blockada was functional on the play store. Been using it on FDroid. So nothing changes for me.
c) Blockada without VPN is a fantastic tool. It works well. And 98% of the time app ads are blocked.
I personally run a MITM proxy on my network which all traffic goes through. IMHO the security concerns are overblown and largely come from companies like Google trying to stop people doing things like this. They are only securing their profits, nothing more and nothing less.
These changes aim to improve the ads experience, tighten security and limit misinformation according to the company.
The truth is probably closer to "increase the number of ads you see, secure you from getting around that, and limit the proliferation of anything but their official propaganda."
Yes, according to the company. But improving the ad experience for google, not for the user. What Orwellian doublespeak!
- monetization strategy involves affiliate marketing and the sale of ad analytics data
- shows advertisements of its own to users
I don't understand why people are surprised about this.
Even better news than third party app stores, sideloading. No gatekeepers required at all.
In this comment I’m going to explain why the problem is not just ads.
What are ads? Advertizing, or marketing, is a common means of monetizing content.
Here are the top three reasons ads are used on websites:
1. Monetization
2. Tracking users
3. Malware distribution
Want to know more about how ads track users? Read on.
As a guy growing up in rural Wyoming, ads weren’t something that ever really bothered me. Sure there was the occasional billboard and sure television had a lot of commercials breaks, but I was used to it. The idea of using an ad blocker on my television set never occurred to me. I remember this one time when my uncle was moving house and he needed some help and I helped him move the packing crates into the truck and the crates had the logo and name of the shipping company stencilled on the side, and it never bothered me, although that was in fact an ad.
Experts agree that the following method is great for dealing with ads:
First, make sure what you are looking at is an ad. You can often tell by the little x in the corner of the ad. If you click this, you will be able to close the ad and maybe even give some feedback about why you didn’t like the ad. Top tip: always fill this in to let the ad vendor know how to improve the ad for next time.
But take care! This next tip is really important.
If you don’t hit the little x exactly on target, you will be taken to the website of the ad. If you didn’t want the ad in the first place, this is surely something to avoid!
Here are 17 resolutions for dealing with accidentally visiting a website you didn’t want to visit:
1. Try restarting your phone, laptop or PC.
2. Close the browser window. Click here for help on how to accomplish this task.
3. Try clicking the back button on your browser.
4. Write to the FCC if the website caused you distress.
5. Take a walk. Besides being good exercise, the problem may have resolved itself by the time you return.
6. Hit refresh on your browser. If you didn’t like the website first time round, you know what they say? Try, try again!
7. Go to the URL bar on your browser and type in a different address. Don’t forget to hit the Enter key. Try the following helpful URLs from our trusted partners:
8. Raise a ticket with Apple support.
9. Install Google Chrome.
10. Re-install Google Chrome.
11. Contact your ISP. My top tip? Threaten to cancel unless they can resolve your issue completely right away!
12. Close all open windows and applications and wait 30 seconds.
13. Clear your cookies and web browsing history.
14. …
Show more.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/93ypke/the-nsa-and-cia-use-a...
This is a statement and argument that can and is used against any form of user control over their devices, user customization, or general computing.
Unfortunately, at least in the tech world it seems to be a great success. We now have walled gardens and unskippable updates. The next step, "trusted computing" (which is ultimately using a whitelist to forbid the usage of certain software), is already halfway here.
Facebook comes to mind: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=onavo