Google Chrome look to block ad-blockers for all except Enterprise users....

[Infrasonic]

A question for those using Pi's, any experience of the Zero W and whether it will handle DNS/VPN without issue?
From what I've seen on the Pi forums it should be fine, but some feedback would be appreciated.

[PhaseThree]

[quote="formoverfunction"][quote="PhaseThree"]If you're technically savvy and are have a spare raspberry Pi or similar then take a look at Pi-hole (https://pi-hole.net/). I've been using it for six months or so and it is by far the most accomplished ad blocker I've come across.[/quote]

I'm considering buying another one just for this purpose.

My existing Pi is used to drive an additional monitor, is a back up device and boots with a VPN live so allows me mutliple IP's (via SSH/VNC) from my laptop.Sometimes with the addition of usb mouse to speed up browsing.

I also use virtualbox on the laptop with Debian.

Wonderful little machines![/quote]

You probably don't need another Pi. The additional load of running PiHole is minimal on a typical home system. It's really only operating as a DNS sinkhole, ditching DNS requests that match it's blacklist. Once a address is sucessfully resolved the Pi plays no further part in transactions.

In my case I run it on a Pi that spends the majority of its time as a media server with no detrimental effects.

[formoverfunction]

"You probably don't need another Pi"

Lay out of the house and the existing workload means I will, but thanks for the advice.

[Yoda]

Been using Firefox with UBlock origin for years on my phone. Works very well and no ads . Firefox is really good these days no need to rely on chrome. Google is a monopoly and we need to support alternatives when we can or we will end up with none....

[Infrasonic]

On Android Chrome I've been using 'reader mode' as a an ad blocker for years (there are no native ad blockers), initially via flags (chrome://flags) , but I think it's actually a *setting now.
Of course they could remove that option too...

(*Accessibility/simplified view. Although you can still do it in flags).

Well it seems v75.0.3 of desktop Chrome has it available as well now...https://www.howtogeek.com/423643/how-to ... ader-mode/

Chrome 75 has a hidden “Reader” mode that strips web pages down to the bare minimum to make them easier to, well, read. But it’s not enabled by default—here’s how to get it now.

Google has been experimenting with this feature on and off in the desktop version of Chrome for years, but it’s now available with a hidden flag instead of an extra hidden command line option. We expect Google is gearing up to release it in stable form without any flags required.

Edit: Just tried it out on this page, pretty comprehensive, just the posts thread, nothing else. Like a retro text only web page...

[AF62]

A question for those using Pi's, any experience of the Zero W and whether it will handle DNS/VPN without issue?
From what I've seen on the Pi forums it should be fine, but some feedback would be appreciated.

Having just set up a Pi 2 B a couple of days ago to run Pi Hole, it seems to be barely ticking over in use. However some reading suggests a Pi connected by an ethernet cable is better than WiFi, in case of disconnects.

Setup wasn't hard and nothing a quick google didn't solve, but wasn't trivial. Some complications if you have a router where you cannot change the DNS settings such as a BT hub, when you have to then either set up the Pi to do DHCP or configure individual devices to use the Pi Hole for DNS - I chose the latter because a couple of devices on my network wouldn't play nice with the Pi Hole.

One significant benefit is with the correct blacklists, the adverts on All4 and the ITV Hub disappear.

[AF62]

And to add, as well as the Pi-Hole on the Raspberry Pi I decided to set up one using the Google Cloud (which is a no cost option) following the instructions here to use on some mobile devices and as a fall back -

https://github.com/rajannpatel/Pi-Hole- ... PN-Configs

The guide is very well written and everything worked perfectly for me.

[Infrasonic]

I like the idea of using Google Cloud for free to block ads...

Seems the other Chromium players may well ignore the current API deprecation...https://www.zdnet.com/article/opera-bra ... -codebase/

[UncleEbenezer]

I'm waiting 'til this happens, before deciding on a course of action.

"Blocking ad-blockers" is a good headline, but it's also an oversimplification, and it's spin.

The actual story is that they're removing some of the APIs that adblockers use. And there's an alternative spin on it, which is that they've learned lessons from stories like Facebook's troubles with Cambridge Analytica and are removing APIs that could open them to that kind of abuse.

Some in-more-depth commentary on that at https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/1 ... _security/ .