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Comment by alias_neo | Hacker News Reader

Pi-Hole is a great starter DNS-blocker, but for anyone that isn't interested in the pretty graphs, and wants more advanced control; I switched to AdGuard Home and found it more capable.

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So here is a real question. Is pihole ( or its equivalent ) enough in today's adversarial environment ( everyone wants to track your internet moves )? I have my thoughts on the subject, but I am curious how everyone's setup evolved.

I'm, honestly, not so much as trying to avoid being tracked entirely. However, I have moved from Pi-Hole to NextDNS to Adguard/DNS/VPN with Apple Private Relay (ON). One day, I want to revamp and setup a better infrastructure but this works for now.

I'm OK with paying for services that the family uses and get returns out of them, such as the YouTube Premium. So, I'm not fighting tooth-n-nail to avoid ads where I can just buy it out.

I have seen and have even tried browsing the Internet without these basic tools (AdBlockers), and I'm stunned how the world had evolved into and how are people are on the Internet without these basic safeguards.

The only problem I have is with a few government/banks/insurance website that I have to strip out and go in naked to get things done.

<< I'm not fighting tooth-n-nail to avoid ads where I can just buy it out.

Agreed. As long as there is an option to avoid it, I am ok with paying for it ( Hulu adfree tier comes to mind ).

<< not so much as trying to avoid being tracked entirely.

Agreed. That might be overkill for the benefit it provides.

<< I want to revamp and setup a better infrastructure

I keep talking about it with my friends, but I can't find enough motivation ( and there is always an excuse not to ).

"...and I'm stunned how the world had evolved into and how are people are on the Internet without these basic safeguards."

World is ruled by money. Advertising is big. Anything that ruin this business will never be advertised publicly. Just imagine huge posters or ads in TV in prime time for pi-hole or AdGuard. That would be paradox not just for advertisers but also for product that is mean to work against advertising.

No, but it’s a lot better than nothing. I also browse with JS disabled by default, only enabling it on the sites where I need to and am willing to.

No, but it reduces the % of your bandwidth that gets used for loading ads and other junk that clutters and/or slows down your internet experience.

Pi-Hole does a lot but it acts against DNS queries, that is, requests done in the open through normal name resolution. If a malicious software or piece of hardware wants to pester the user with ads, or spy on them, through connections to hardcoded IPs without using DNS queries then only a properly configured firewall can be effective. At least until said malware decides to use a well known service nobody would block to phone home, for example by having a mail client buried in the code that exchanges encrypted blobs with user data and/or ads through a gmail address; who would ever block gmail? In that scenario, if that is a device that doesn't need mail functionality, for example a Smart TV rather than a PC, a dedicated firewall that blocks any non essential connection to the outside would be mandatory just for that device.

Pi-Hole is just one step in multiple layers when it comes to protecting yourself; I'd say it's main benefit is twofold; ad-blocking, and related benefits, and secondly script/malware blocking.

If also recommend browser based blockers for desktop and mobile, uBlock Origin bring the best in my opinion and couple that with others as required.

Find and use a few different upstream, privacy conscious and providers. I'm not convinced of the efficacy of paid VPNs, but by all means obtain and use one under your own control for when you're out and about on "hostile" (read; not home) networks.

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