How i got into the Rabbit Hole of Ad Blocking

Published at 2020-11-20, 9:27 AM

I was interested about ad blocking, then after few months of getting into the rabbit hole, i realized that the World wasn't so nice to me.

It begins in YouTube

It began in a YouTube video that it says that we can block any ads you want including YouTube ads which is i became interested on how an DNS server can do the trick. For context, I HATE ADS, not because of their system, but the content were just awful and not suitable. One of them was the mobile games, especially the ones made with Unity Game engine.

That time i am broke and cannot buy a specific hardware like Raspberry Pi, plus i am not yet fully convinced or i was still skeptical if it's really working. So, i decided to rent a VPS or Virtual Private Server which is one of my worst decisions that time because it was more expensive to manage than to buy Raspberry Pi, but SPOILERS: It became useful for my load balancing project (lols)

PiHole was not my thing back then

At first, i don't understand on setting it all up, since i don't study networking stuff, except the Wifi routers (came from the manual & YOUTUBE too :kekw:), so i followed their guide very carefully, but i didn't set the DNS address in my router because i was already convinced that it might not work, plus the router was for everything so i cannot disturb them while they are doing online classes or work.

So, the setup was done, and it works, but i wanted to know about the filter lists

Filter lists are like the library, but the books are about lists of websites, domains, hostnames, etc., with the return value like 0.0.0.0 which is NODATA (no data will be received, so no ads :wink:) according to their documentation

These lists might not work on yours, but it really depends on what kind of content you wanted to block (e.g: Porn, Gambling, Online Games, Social Media, etc.)

Found the biggest problem

DNS Resolvers literally resolves the domains that you are browsing. If i go to facebook.com, the resolver will just gave you an IP address depending on your location. So if i wanted to block some content or ads popping up at YouTube, it will definetely not work.

DNS Settings on various mobile devices

Another limitations of ad-block is on mobile devices. Android and iOS both have different approach of network security. On iOS, you have to either generate an profile then install on each devices that runs with that system, or install an app with dedicated VPN, such as Blokada.

Meanwhile on Android, well... For older ones, you have to install an app with dedicated VPN, such as Nebulo or Blokada. For newer ones specifically for Android 9 and up, Private DNS option is available, and many ad-blocker DNS already offers you to use them.

Choosing the right DNS resolver

Now you have DNS resolver client, then asking to your ancestors that, which DNS resolver should i use?

Cloudflare

Cloudflare is the fastest & the most secure one but there is no adblocking

It has different variants depending what you want. Learn more here.

OpenDNS

This is the bottom entry of my list, except if you are outside Asia. Just like Cloudflare, there is no adblocking and you can also secure your internet against malicious sites.

Learn more here.

NextDNS

NextDNS took a different approach, by customizing your own DNS resolver, including adblocking! I am currently using this one because it's cheap and it's features such as:

• AI-powered security
• Parental Controls
• DNS Caching
• AdBlocking customization such as choosing filter lists available
• Multiple Profiles
• Available on almost all devices, except Brick Phones (go try it)
• You can try it right now, before signing up!

Learn more about NextDNS here.

BraveDNS

Coming soon

AdGuard / AdGuard Home

Coming soon

Zoomer reacts to DNS-over-TLS & DNS-over-HTTPS for the first time

Coming soon

Bought the Raspberry Pi Zero

Coming soon

Setting up my own DNS Server in this "smol" hardware

Coming soon

How about load balancing between VPS and my Home server

Coming soon

Hardware alternatives

Coming soon

Have you tried YouTube adblocking on a browser?

Yes i have. I know it will works because, unline DNS poisoning/adblocking, we can skip the ads anytime you want due to the adblocking extensions that can manipulate any elements inside the pages including YouTube, Spotify, even porn can be more enjoyful!

Conclusion

Adblocking was still like in a cat & mouse chase situation, and YouTube was really aggressive on their system. Other than that, we can enjoy ad-free, smooth browsing experience with these adblocking solutions. But if you are developing apps that involves the internet, you might consider that don't forget to disable adblocking or add your domain to the whitelist of your choice!