• Re: Windows Browser

    From Theo@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Fri Aug 19 10:13:19 2022
    Jeff Gaines <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using for
    quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a coincidence.

    That's odd. I see barely any ads with Brave, and it's supposed to block tracking cookies so the advertisers don't know what you've seen. Have you somehow turned off the adblock?

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT popups
    are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be really nice to
    press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread message but I guess that's
    a function of FB, not the browser. I keep getting FB notifications that
    Fred has reacted to my comment but I am rarely able to find my way to the message because I just get dropped at the first message in the thread.

    Firefox has Facebook Container to stop FB snooping on other things you're doing, and if you run uBlock Origin it'll block ads everywhere.

    There may be plugins to interact with FB better, I don't know.

    FB is pretty user hostile though - it's designed to show you what they want
    you to see, not what you want. So the fact that you can't find things is a feature not a bug. Third party addons are really the only hope of making
    that better.

    (See also FB's disabling of messages support on mobile browsers, to force
    you to install the Messenger app)

    Theo

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SH@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Fri Aug 19 10:09:10 2022
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using for
    quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe that I
    keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a coincidence. It's also
    not very Facebook friendly and I am using FB more and more as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection
    dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer be the
    case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT popups
    are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be really nice to
    press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread message but I guess
    that's a function of FB, not the browser. I keep getting FB
    notifications that Fred has reacted to my comment but I am rarely able
    to find my way to the message because I just get dropped at the first
    message in the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can have a
    blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50% with no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus is that pages
    load faster as it does not download all the ads.

    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from all
    devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours.

    S.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 19 08:31:42 2022
    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using for
    quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a coincidence. It's also not
    very Facebook friendly and I am using FB more and more as Usenet continues
    to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection
    dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer be the
    case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT popups
    are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be really nice to
    press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread message but I guess that's
    a function of FB, not the browser. I keep getting FB notifications that
    Fred has reacted to my comment but I am rarely able to find my way to the message because I just get dropped at the first message in the thread.

    Many thanks.

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    Every day is a good day for chicken, unless you're a chicken.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Michael Chare@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Fri Aug 19 10:24:50 2022
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using for
    quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe that I
    keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a coincidence. It's also
    not very Facebook friendly and I am using FB more and more as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection
    dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer be the
    case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT popups
    are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be really nice to
    press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread message but I guess
    that's a function of FB, not the browser. I keep getting FB
    notifications that Fred has reacted to my comment but I am rarely able
    to find my way to the message because I just get dropped at the first
    message in the thread.

    Many thanks.

    I normally use Firefox but I have to use Pale Moon to see the pictures
    on my cameras. I had DD-WRT running on a router. Firefox would not
    display the GUI but Chrome would!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Michael Chare@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 19 10:19:45 2022
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using for
    quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe that I
    keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a coincidence. It's also
    not very Facebook friendly and I am using FB more and more as Usenet
    continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection
    dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer be
    the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT
    popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be really
    nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread message but I
    guess that's a function of FB, not the browser. I keep getting FB
    notifications that Fred has reacted to my comment but I am rarely able
    to find my way to the message because I just get dropped at the first
    message in the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can have a
    blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50% with no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus is that pages
    load faster as it does not download all the ads.

    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from all
    devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours.

    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers? Would you
    care to publish it?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SH@21:1/5 to Michael Chare on Fri Aug 19 12:01:12 2022
    On 19/08/2022 10:19, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using for
    quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe that I
    keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a coincidence. It's
    also not very Facebook friendly and I am using FB more and more as
    Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection
    dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer be
    the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT
    popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be really
    nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread message but I
    guess that's a function of FB, not the browser. I keep getting FB
    notifications that Fred has reacted to my comment but I am rarely
    able to find my way to the message because I just get dropped at the
    first message in the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can have a
    blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50% with
    no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus is that
    pages load faster as it does not download all the ads.

    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from all
    devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours.

    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers?  Would you
    care to publish it?


    Pi Hole comes with a choice list where you can select which block lists
    you want, and then pi Hole downloads the files, and then amalgamates it
    into one big blocklist.

    Heres a screenshot of my Pi Hole :-)

    https://ibb.co/rmxVJzW

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SH@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 19 12:24:05 2022
    On 19/08/2022 12:01, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:19, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using
    for quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe
    that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a coincidence.
    It's also not very Facebook friendly and I am using FB more and more
    as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection
    dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer be
    the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT
    popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be
    really nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread
    message but I guess that's a function of FB, not the browser. I keep
    getting FB notifications that Fred has reacted to my comment but I
    am rarely able to find my way to the message because I just get
    dropped at the first message in the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can have a
    blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50% with
    no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus is that
    pages load faster as it does not download all the ads.

    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from all
    devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours.

    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers?  Would
    you care to publish it?


    Pi Hole comes with a choice list where you can select which block lists
    you want, and then pi Hole downloads the files, and then amalgamates it
    into one big blocklist.

    Heres a screenshot of my Pi Hole :-)

    https://ibb.co/rmxVJzW


    P.S. a quick google finds these:

    https://avoidthehack.com/best-pihole-blocklists

    https://cyberhost.uk/top-pi-hole-blocklists/


    I have 50 blocklists downloaded which results in a single blocklist of
    just over 3.5 million URLs.

    When you start using Pi Hole, you will find you will have to make small
    changes to both the black list and the white list....

    for example graph.com was on one of the block lists and that hacked my
    wife off, as she uses facebook, Instagram et al, and this requires
    graph.com to be whitelisted. :-)

    Occasionally I come across a website that relies on a 3rd party website
    to do something (mostly shopping websites) and some shopping websites
    were blocklisted.

    Its easy enough to work out whats being blocked by looking at the DNS
    log file for the device having problems like below:

    https://ibb.co/G9mzp0w

    They are marked in red for blocked or in green for allowed and there are buttons on the right where you can move that URL to the other list so to
    speak.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Michael Chare@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 19 14:57:58 2022
    On 19/08/2022 12:01, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:19, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using
    for quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe
    that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a coincidence.
    It's also not very Facebook friendly and I am using FB more and more
    as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection
    dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer be
    the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT
    popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be
    really nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread
    message but I guess that's a function of FB, not the browser. I keep
    getting FB notifications that Fred has reacted to my comment but I
    am rarely able to find my way to the message because I just get
    dropped at the first message in the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can have a
    blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50% with
    no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus is that
    pages load faster as it does not download all the ads.

    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from all
    devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours.

    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers?  Would
    you care to publish it?


    Pi Hole comes with a choice list where you can select which block lists
    you want, and then pi Hole downloads the files, and then amalgamates it
    into one big blocklist.

    Heres a screenshot of my Pi Hole :-)

    https://ibb.co/rmxVJzW

    Thank you. If that is 3,568,876 domains being blocked, maybe I should
    try using Pi Hole. I believe that I should be able to configure my
    OPNsense router to use it.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SH@21:1/5 to Michael Chare on Fri Aug 19 16:24:54 2022
    On 19/08/2022 14:57, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 12:01, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:19, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using
    for quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe
    that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a coincidence.
    It's also not very Facebook friendly and I am using FB more and
    more as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection
    dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer be
    the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT
    popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be
    really nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread
    message but I guess that's a function of FB, not the browser. I
    keep getting FB notifications that Fred has reacted to my comment
    but I am rarely able to find my way to the message because I just
    get dropped at the first message in the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can have a
    blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50% with
    no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus is that
    pages load faster as it does not download all the ads.

    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from all
    devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours.

    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers?  Would
    you care to publish it?


    Pi Hole comes with a choice list where you can select which block
    lists you want, and then pi Hole downloads the files, and then
    amalgamates it into one big blocklist.

    Heres a screenshot of my Pi Hole :-)

    https://ibb.co/rmxVJzW

    Thank you.  If that is 3,568,876 domains being blocked, maybe I should
    try using Pi Hole. I believe that I should be able to configure my
    OPNsense router to use it.


    Yes, WHat I had to do here was:

    disable DHCP and DNS settings in my broadband router

    Set up DHCP in the Pi hole

    Assign an IP address to the Pi Hole

    You can choose your preferred upstream DNS such as CloudFlare or Quad9
    etc in Pi Hole.

    You can also implment DNSSEC and/or DOT / DOH (This is DNS over TLS or
    DNS over HTTPS). You can also set up Recursive DNS so that you always
    get an authoritative answer from a root DNS.

    You can also set up wireguard on the Pi, and I use the wireguard app on
    my mobile phones so I get the same experience anywhere in the world on
    my smartphone as I do when sat in front of my PC at home.

    This also gives you protection when using Public Wi Fi access points as
    you then have a VPN between your smartphone and your own trusted network
    at home.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SH@21:1/5 to Michael Chare on Fri Aug 19 16:33:23 2022
    On 19/08/2022 14:57, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 12:01, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:19, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using
    for quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe
    that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a coincidence.
    It's also not very Facebook friendly and I am using FB more and
    more as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection
    dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer be
    the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT
    popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be
    really nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread
    message but I guess that's a function of FB, not the browser. I
    keep getting FB notifications that Fred has reacted to my comment
    but I am rarely able to find my way to the message because I just
    get dropped at the first message in the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can have a
    blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50% with
    no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus is that
    pages load faster as it does not download all the ads.

    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from all
    devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours.

    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers?  Would
    you care to publish it?


    Pi Hole comes with a choice list where you can select which block
    lists you want, and then pi Hole downloads the files, and then
    amalgamates it into one big blocklist.

    Heres a screenshot of my Pi Hole :-)

    https://ibb.co/rmxVJzW

    Thank you.  If that is 3,568,876 domains being blocked, maybe I should
    try using Pi Hole. I believe that I should be able to configure my
    OPNsense router to use it.

    P.S. Another benefit is that Pi Hole is a network level device so you
    get blocking for IoT devices, Streaming sticks like Roku, Chromecast, Firesticks and smart TVs as they can be very chatty!

    Someone wrote a paper where they looked at the traffic to smart TVs and streaming sticks... it was very revealing... But I can't find it now on
    Google.

    https://lazyadmin.nl/home-network/how-to-block-ads-on-your-smart-tv/

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/your-samsung-smarttv-is-spying-on-you-basically

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SH@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 19 16:36:35 2022
    On 19/08/2022 16:33, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 14:57, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 12:01, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:19, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using
    for quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe
    that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a
    coincidence. It's also not very Facebook friendly and I am using
    FB more and more as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection
    dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer
    be the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT
    popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be
    really nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread
    message but I guess that's a function of FB, not the browser. I
    keep getting FB notifications that Fred has reacted to my comment
    but I am rarely able to find my way to the message because I just
    get dropped at the first message in the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can have a
    blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50%
    with no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus is
    that pages load faster as it does not download all the ads.

    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from all
    devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours.

    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers?  Would
    you care to publish it?


    Pi Hole comes with a choice list where you can select which block
    lists you want, and then pi Hole downloads the files, and then
    amalgamates it into one big blocklist.

    Heres a screenshot of my Pi Hole :-)

    https://ibb.co/rmxVJzW

    Thank you.  If that is 3,568,876 domains being blocked, maybe I should
    try using Pi Hole. I believe that I should be able to configure my
    OPNsense router to use it.

    P.S. Another benefit is that Pi Hole is a network level device so you
    get blocking for IoT devices, Streaming sticks like Roku, Chromecast, Firesticks and smart TVs as they can be very chatty!

    Someone wrote a paper where they looked at the traffic to smart TVs and streaming sticks... it was very revealing... But I can't find it now on Google.

    https://lazyadmin.nl/home-network/how-to-block-ads-on-your-smart-tv/

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/your-samsung-smarttv-is-spying-on-you-basically



    p.p.s BINGO! found it!

    https://www.princeton.edu/~pmittal/publications/tv-tracking-ccs19.pdf

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to Gaines on Fri Aug 19 15:21:07 2022
    On 19/08/2022 in message <xn0nlslbo2e6i3000@news.individual.net> Jeff
    Gaines wrote:

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT popups
    are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be really nice to
    press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread message but I guess that's
    a function of FB, not the browser. I keep getting FB notifications that
    Fred has reacted to my comment but I am rarely able to find my way to the >message because I just get dropped at the first message in the thread.

    Many thanks for the replies :-)

    It's the greatest of pities that FB is such a pig to use, and deliberately
    so from what you say :-(

    I'll have to persevere, having a great discussion with a Scot about independence but I think I'm only seeing a few of the posts...

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    Those are my principles – and if you don’t like them, well, I have others. (Groucho Marx)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SH@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 19 16:51:49 2022
    On 19/08/2022 16:36, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 16:33, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 14:57, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 12:01, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:19, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been using >>>>>>> for quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't believe >>>>>>> that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a
    coincidence. It's also not very Facebook friendly and I am using >>>>>>> FB more and more as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet connection >>>>>>> dependent, but from a comment in here I think that may no longer >>>>>>> be the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT >>>>>>> popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be
    really nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread
    message but I guess that's a function of FB, not the browser. I
    keep getting FB notifications that Fred has reacted to my comment >>>>>>> but I am rarely able to find my way to the message because I just >>>>>>> get dropped at the first message in the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can have
    a blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50%
    with no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus is >>>>>> that pages load faster as it does not download all the ads.

    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from all
    devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours.

    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers?  Would >>>>> you care to publish it?


    Pi Hole comes with a choice list where you can select which block
    lists you want, and then pi Hole downloads the files, and then
    amalgamates it into one big blocklist.

    Heres a screenshot of my Pi Hole :-)

    https://ibb.co/rmxVJzW

    Thank you.  If that is 3,568,876 domains being blocked, maybe I
    should try using Pi Hole. I believe that I should be able to
    configure my OPNsense router to use it.

    P.S. Another benefit is that Pi Hole is a network level device so you
    get blocking for IoT devices, Streaming sticks like Roku, Chromecast,
    Firesticks and smart TVs as they can be very chatty!

    Someone wrote a paper where they looked at the traffic to smart TVs
    and streaming sticks... it was very revealing... But I can't find it
    now on Google.

    https://lazyadmin.nl/home-network/how-to-block-ads-on-your-smart-tv/

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/your-samsung-smarttv-is-spying-on-you-basically



    p.p.s BINGO! found it!

    https://www.princeton.edu/~pmittal/publications/tv-tracking-ccs19.pdf


    P.p.p.s and this paper too: https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10205759

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Michael Chare@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 19 19:20:44 2022
    On 19/08/2022 16:51, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 16:36, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 16:33, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 14:57, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 12:01, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:19, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been
    using for quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't >>>>>>>> believe that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a >>>>>>>> coincidence. It's also not very Facebook friendly and I am using >>>>>>>> FB more and more as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet
    connection dependent, but from a comment in here I think that
    may no longer be the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although MSFT >>>>>>>> popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It would be >>>>>>>> really nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the next unread >>>>>>>> message but I guess that's a function of FB, not the browser. I >>>>>>>> keep getting FB notifications that Fred has reacted to my
    comment but I am rarely able to find my way to the message
    because I just get dropped at the first message in the thread. >>>>>>>>
    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can have >>>>>>> a blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50%
    with no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus
    is that pages load faster as it does not download all the ads.

    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from all >>>>>>> devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours.

    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers?
    Would you care to publish it?


    Pi Hole comes with a choice list where you can select which block
    lists you want, and then pi Hole downloads the files, and then
    amalgamates it into one big blocklist.

    Heres a screenshot of my Pi Hole :-)

    https://ibb.co/rmxVJzW

    Thank you.  If that is 3,568,876 domains being blocked, maybe I
    should try using Pi Hole. I believe that I should be able to
    configure my OPNsense router to use it.

    P.S. Another benefit is that Pi Hole is a network level device so you
    get blocking for IoT devices, Streaming sticks like Roku, Chromecast,
    Firesticks and smart TVs as they can be very chatty!

    Someone wrote a paper where they looked at the traffic to smart TVs
    and streaming sticks... it was very revealing... But I can't find it
    now on Google.

    https://lazyadmin.nl/home-network/how-to-block-ads-on-your-smart-tv/

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/your-samsung-smarttv-is-spying-on-you-basically



    p.p.s BINGO! found it!

    https://www.princeton.edu/~pmittal/publications/tv-tracking-ccs19.pdf


    P.p.p.s and this paper too: https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10205759

    Thank you. I ran wireshirk on my PC to try and solve another problem.
    This showed just how much traffic windows was generating that I was not otherwise aware of.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SH@21:1/5 to Michael Chare on Fri Aug 19 20:39:43 2022
    On 19/08/2022 19:20, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 16:51, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 16:36, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 16:33, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 14:57, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 12:01, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:19, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been
    using for quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't >>>>>>>>> believe that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a >>>>>>>>> coincidence. It's also not very Facebook friendly and I am
    using FB more and more as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet
    connection dependent, but from a comment in here I think that >>>>>>>>> may no longer be the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although
    MSFT popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It
    would be really nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the
    next unread message but I guess that's a function of FB, not >>>>>>>>> the browser. I keep getting FB notifications that Fred has
    reacted to my comment but I am rarely able to find my way to >>>>>>>>> the message because I just get dropped at the first message in >>>>>>>>> the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can
    have a blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50% >>>>>>>> with no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus >>>>>>>> is that pages load faster as it does not download all the ads. >>>>>>>>
    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from
    all devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours. >>>>>>>>
    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers?
    Would you care to publish it?


    Pi Hole comes with a choice list where you can select which block
    lists you want, and then pi Hole downloads the files, and then
    amalgamates it into one big blocklist.

    Heres a screenshot of my Pi Hole :-)

    https://ibb.co/rmxVJzW

    Thank you.  If that is 3,568,876 domains being blocked, maybe I
    should try using Pi Hole. I believe that I should be able to
    configure my OPNsense router to use it.

    P.S. Another benefit is that Pi Hole is a network level device so
    you get blocking for IoT devices, Streaming sticks like Roku,
    Chromecast, Firesticks and smart TVs as they can be very chatty!

    Someone wrote a paper where they looked at the traffic to smart TVs
    and streaming sticks... it was very revealing... But I can't find it
    now on Google.

    https://lazyadmin.nl/home-network/how-to-block-ads-on-your-smart-tv/

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/your-samsung-smarttv-is-spying-on-you-basically



    p.p.s BINGO! found it!

    https://www.princeton.edu/~pmittal/publications/tv-tracking-ccs19.pdf


    P.p.p.s and this paper too: https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10205759

    Thank you. I ran wireshirk on my PC to try and solve another problem.
    This showed just how much traffic windows was generating that I was not otherwise aware of.



    Yes its Windows Telemetry et. al. Pi Hole logs EVERY DNS request sent
    to it.

    Obviously if a software package is using a direct IP address rather than
    a DNS lookup then wireshark is useful to find out the IP address so you
    can block it at the router level or in a firewall like Smoothwall or
    PFsense or an EdgeRouter X

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SH@21:1/5 to Michael Chare on Fri Aug 19 20:36:17 2022
    On 19/08/2022 19:20, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 16:51, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 16:36, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 16:33, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 14:57, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 12:01, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:19, Michael Chare wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 10:09, SH wrote:
    On 19/08/2022 09:31, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    I am getting a bit cheesed off with Brave which I have been
    using for quite a while now. I am being tracked for sure, can't >>>>>>>>> believe that I keep seeing ads for things I've researched is a >>>>>>>>> coincidence. It's also not very Facebook friendly and I am
    using FB more and more as Usenet continues to fade away.

    The view used to be that speed of browser was Internet
    connection dependent, but from a comment in here I think that >>>>>>>>> may no longer be the case.

    Any recommendations please? Edge seems not too bad although
    MSFT popups are annoying. Any particularly good for FB? It
    would be really nice to press "n" or "space" to move to the
    next unread message but I guess that's a function of FB, not >>>>>>>>> the browser. I keep getting FB notifications that Fred has
    reacted to my comment but I am rarely able to find my way to >>>>>>>>> the message because I just get dropped at the first message in >>>>>>>>> the thread.

    Many thanks.


    I run my own DNS server (Pi-Hole) on a Raspberry Pi so I can
    have a blacklist of all the ad trackers and ad servers....

    They typical number of rejected DNS requests is always over 50% >>>>>>>> with no significant impact on browsing experience and the bonus >>>>>>>> is that pages load faster as it does not download all the ads. >>>>>>>>
    Currently at the time of this post, 82.3% of DNS queries from
    all devices on the network are blocked during the past 24 hours. >>>>>>>>
    S.

    How did you create your list of ad trackers and add servers?
    Would you care to publish it?


    Pi Hole comes with a choice list where you can select which block
    lists you want, and then pi Hole downloads the files, and then
    amalgamates it into one big blocklist.

    Heres a screenshot of my Pi Hole :-)

    https://ibb.co/rmxVJzW

    Thank you.  If that is 3,568,876 domains being blocked, maybe I
    should try using Pi Hole. I believe that I should be able to
    configure my OPNsense router to use it.

    P.S. Another benefit is that Pi Hole is a network level device so
    you get blocking for IoT devices, Streaming sticks like Roku,
    Chromecast, Firesticks and smart TVs as they can be very chatty!

    Someone wrote a paper where they looked at the traffic to smart TVs
    and streaming sticks... it was very revealing... But I can't find it
    now on Google.

    https://lazyadmin.nl/home-network/how-to-block-ads-on-your-smart-tv/

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/your-samsung-smarttv-is-spying-on-you-basically



    p.p.s BINGO! found it!

    https://www.princeton.edu/~pmittal/publications/tv-tracking-ccs19.pdf


    P.p.p.s and this paper too: https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10205759

    Thank you. I ran wireshirk on my PC to try and solve another problem.
    This showed just how much traffic windows was generating that I was not otherwise aware of.


    Another useful reason for using a network level device like Pi Hole
    instead of browser plugins like Adblock, Privacy badger, ghostery,
    uBlock Origin and Disconnect is that many websites can detect the
    browser plug ins (via browser fingerprinting?) and often will then ask
    you to turn off your ad blocker or will refuse to serve you content
    giving an explanation that the ad revenue they get pay for the service
    they provide you with.

    I have NEVER had a browser tell me to change my DNS server or refuse to
    server me content!

    (and of course you can't put ad blockers easily on streaming devices or
    smart tvs either)

    The difference between Pi Hole and no Pi Hole is clear as day and night.

    It even blocks the ads in ad supported "free apps" in the PLayStore on
    my smartphone.....

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daniel James@21:1/5 to All on Sat Aug 27 15:39:51 2022
    In article <tdooni$1lpv$1@gioia.aioe.org>, Sh wrote:
    Another useful reason for using a network level device like Pi Hole
    instead of browser plugins like Adblock, Privacy badger, ghostery,
    uBlock Origin and Disconnect is that many websites can detect the
    browser plug ins (via browser fingerprinting?) and often will then
    ask you to turn off your ad blocker or will refuse to serve you
    content ...

    That's true ... though it's been a while since I saw a site ask me to
    turn off my adblocker, so this may no longer be an issue.

    Conversely, an advantage of using (e.g.) uBlock rather than a pi-hole
    is that you can temporarily disable it for a particular site if you
    want to, whereas with a pi-hole it's all or nothing (for all sites, on
    all devices).

    I ran uBlock and pi-hole together for a few months (until I needed to
    repurpose the pi as I couldn't buy a new one) and I found that once
    uBlock had done its work the pi-hole was only stopping a couple of
    dozen requests a day on average. Mind you, I'm not running Windows, so
    my PC isn't for ever calling home for a chat with mother.

    --
    Cheers,
    Daniel.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)