Do you run an AdBlocker?

Soldato
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Anything that works to remove ads on Youtube android app? I don't mind them on the tv as they only tend to be 5 seconds to skip but on the phone they always seem to be a lot longer and more frequent.

Don't say pay for premium, I'm not that fussed :p
 

LiE

LiE

Caporegime
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Run uBlock Origin in Chrome. On Android there's not a tidy way to remove ads, I've been toying with the idea of using Edge on my desktop and phone, it's really good now.
 
Associate
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Anything that works to remove ads on Youtube android app? I don't mind them on the tv as they only tend to be 5 seconds to skip but on the phone they always seem to be a lot longer and more frequent.

Don't say pay for premium, I'm not that fussed :p
Dunno about using the official android app, but you could use Youtube Vanced which has been mentioned before, or use a browser that supports adblocking e.g. firefox with ublock origin installed.
 
Soldato
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Ublock Origin is installed on any browser I use (Edge & FF) after using it for some many years it feels weird browsing the net with ads and the amount of space wasted that some websites use when ads are enabled is crazy.
 
Associate
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I run Pihole and it works really well, blocks ads on android as well, I have a xiaomi and when you install games and it scans there's even ads there and this removed them. You can run in virtual machines as well if you dont have a raspberry pi. Just install change your dns to the IP and thats it.
 
Soldato
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I run Pihole and it works really well, blocks ads on android as well, I have a xiaomi and when you install games and it scans there's even ads there and this removed them. You can run in virtual machines as well if you dont have a raspberry pi. Just install change your dns to the IP and thats it.
I setup a pihole recently after hearing it mentioned often on here but I found it hasn'ty really reduced the ads I'm getting.

Facebook and You tube ads are completely unaffected on mobile, this is where I had high hopes for it as well.
Still having to run ublock origin on browsers and you tube ad blocker
 
Soldato
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IIRC it's been suggested repeatedly in the past by different companies but not generally done because the cost of doing it and remaking the distribution materials and especially in countries where you have to pay for age certification for any changes at all means that the profit from doing it is generally going to wiped out by the new expenses most of the time.

It's one of these "great" profit making ideas that pops up again every now and then.

It would be pretty odd watching an old black and white Movie and Starbuck signs turn up , I wouldn't be surprised if some countries would use this for political propaganda.
 
Associate
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I run Pihole and it works really well, blocks ads on android as well, I have a xiaomi and when you install games and it scans there's even ads there and this removed them. You can run in virtual machines as well if you dont have a raspberry pi. Just install change your dns to the IP and thats it.

If you hit the cog/gear icon in the top right when the scan thing comes up, you can turn them off. Most ads in Xiaomi apps can be turned off (Europe models AFAIK) in this fashion, though I believe one of the new Pocos doesn't in one of the apps for some reason.
Actually, you should be able to turn it off if you open the security app, as that should be the scanner. Turn off receive recommendations .
 
Soldato
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I setup a pihole recently after hearing it mentioned often on here but I found it hasn'ty really reduced the ads I'm getting.

Facebook and You tube ads are completely unaffected on mobile, this is where I had high hopes for it as well.
Still having to run ublock origin on browsers and you tube ad blocker

Pihole can only block domains, so is useless against any add severed on the same domain as the content you are viewing. That rules it out for Youtube and some other big sites. I've stopped running it now.
 
Associate
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Pihole can only block domains, so is useless against any add severed on the same domain as the content you are viewing. That rules it out for Youtube and some other big sites. I've stopped running it now.

It is a drawback, but I still use it as it makes a difference with a lot of sites still. One of the most noticeable (or not, depending on how you look at it), is Catchup TV on a firestick. 4oD, ITV etc adds are blocked when using pihole.

I'm running pihole as a docker on my Unraid server, so there's no real downside to having it running (no additional HW used up, little/no additional electricity usage etc), so I just leave it running. Might feel differently if I only has a Rasp Pi to run it on, but had other things to use it for.
 
Soldato
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Data protection 'shake-up' takes aim at cookie pop-ups

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58340333



Hoorah!

brilliant. If you visit 10s or hundreds of websites a day it's a massive pain to configure each one, as they don't often have a simple reject all button, instead you've got to go through and manually reject everything especially legitimate interest which always seems to be pre selected. That or use a private browser.
 
Soldato
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I do adblock from the router level tho, pretty damn good!
What do you use for this? I also understand sites and content creators need to make money but at the same time YouTube in particular has become a bloody nightmare watching on my TV, constant adds popping on interrupting then sometimes something messes up with it trying to load the add in so I end up with a black screen and have to then quit out of YouTube app and back in again, so annoying.
 
Soldato
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Data protection 'shake-up' takes aim at cookie pop-ups

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58340333



Hoorah!

The removal of consent pop ups isn't necessarily a good thing. The GDPR requires informed consent to track, profile and/or store/process data about 'users' (people). Most cookie banners are non-compliant (illegal) as it is, using dark patterns and non-compliant wording and obtrusive pop ups that require acceptance to proceed.

What is to replace their removal? Without informed consent are the trackers going to be allowed to continue regardless of consumer choice? Are they going to allow a return to default opt-in tracking and profiling? Or are we going to replace the current system with a blanket ban on such practices? We can live in hope, but don't hold your breath. Adoption of the Global Privacy Control signal, with adoption into legislation perhaps?

The new regulator seems a fairly focused sort of chap:

As New Zealand's Privacy Commissioner, John Edwards showed he was anything but timid in taking on the tech giants. After the Christchurch massacre, he described Facebook "as morally bankrupt pathological liars who enable genocide (Myanmar), [and] facilitate foreign undermining of democratic institutions" - in a tweet he later deleted.

To what extent he's controlled by government interests will be the one to watch. The removal of consent notices and drive to 'streamline' things for big business are red flags, not something to celebrate because it makes visiting websites a few seconds faster. Rather, we should have focused on enforcing compliance with existing cookie consent pop ups (no dark patterns, no reliance on an 'Accept' to access content, equal weighting to 'accept all' and 'refuse all' etc).
 
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