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DuckDuckGo Browser Now Blocks YouTube Ads on iPhone and Mac
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dg1974
macrumors member
I’m using Control D, “Full Control” plan.
With that plan you can “redirect” any site/services to another country.
For YouTube usually is Albania.
Yep, this is what I'm using too. It's pretty neat. I also use it to watch region locked shows from the UK (BBC) and Canada (CTV).
Graphate
macrumors regular
Good service, the only gap (fairly small) I don’t like is the request to load the tracker is still made from your device to begin with, even if it’s denied by the service and never makes it to the pixel provider.
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
dg1974
macrumors member
Both.I configured several “endpoints”:
- router
- mac
- iphone
- ipad
- Apple TV
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
dg1974
macrumors member
We’re way too out of topic. 😅
Anyway, I’m not sure about what you meant.
Here a screenshot of one of my profiles (you can assign one profile to multiple endpoints):
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
Thank you! That's just the phase I'm at here.
When one does that redirection, do I have to pick a certain region (one that has no AD monetization?)
dg1974
macrumors member
Exactly.
As in my screenshot you click on the circle on the right and then you choose the country for that “service”.
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
dg1974
macrumors member
As I said here
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-ads-on-iphone-and-mac.2485168/post-34674557
for YouTube Alabania is the best option.
For other services, you could ask here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ControlD/
eltoslightfoot
macrumors 68040
Really, can you point me to some sources for this? I mean, there is the incredibly easy to disable menu bar buttons, but other than that? Is there something nefarious going on that would require me to switch?
In a better timeline this would be a native feature to Safari.
Graphate
macrumors regular
Would be nice.
Controld, as good of a service it is, it still has a loose privacy and terms that could allow it to use your data. So that’s the last piece of the puzzle you should plug by preventing the request from hitting controld. You can limit some of that analytics usages by restricting data sharing, but they still need to respond to the jurisdictional demands of the country you’re “touching” on your way to Google.
But it doesn’t look like their website has any major third-party issue.
dg1974
macrumors member
Graphate
macrumors regular
Haha, nice! A snake eating itself. But it still doesn’t stop the initial request from arriving at their server in the first place. So if you go to macrumors.com, you’re still sending a request to controld to for example s.skimresoures.com, controld knows the request is s.skimresources.com and blocks it. That’s great, but that request still left your device and still made it all the way to controld. But an extension that sees it in the browser can stop it from ever being requested by your device in the first place, so controld only sees you requested “macrumors.com”
There are others and depending on the platform, Firewalla, Little Snitch and NopeTracker, along with controld and or a VPN would be a lot of fail safe… add a bunker for that final touch. Haha
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dg1974
macrumors member
That’s true, but of course I use some extensions in my browser so that many requests are blocked before they leave my devices.
For those without a browser (Apple TV, IoT devices, etc) there’s no solution, except for a self-hosted solution like pi-hole or similar.
Services like Control D (or NextDNS) are easier but obviously there are trade offs.
johnsawyercjs
macrumors 68000
My guess is that it's YouTube that will want to block this YouTube ad blocker
johnsawyercjs
macrumors 68000
I think a lot fewer people would block ads if those ads weren't intrusive, obnoxious, too long, interrupted the video in ways that cause you to lose your train of thought, etc. YouTube videos vary in these behaviors, with some not being all that annoying, especially the ads built into some videos, in which the YouTubers themselves present the ad and often manage to make it at least partly relevant to the content of the video. This is the type of YouTube ad I sometimes watch. But too many ads on too many other websites are literally out of control, so a general ad blocker that works on YouTube as well as other sites is often the preferred option. Too many advertisers bring this on themselves.
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It’s called “professionalism” and it’s something all of these tech companies can learn from traditional media.
turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
100%
When they put out a product/experience that I assume they themselves would not enjoy (like ADs in the middle of a sentence), they really give up the game.
They all just want the money, without putting in the care & effort.