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    Blocking Youtube Ads

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved pfBlockerNG
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    • XentrkX Offline
      Xentrk
      last edited by

      The blocking files block YouTube ads when watching using a web browser. I do get YouTube ads when using the app on my iPad or streaming media player.

      pfSense 2.4.4_2 | Intel i5-3450 @ 3.10GHz  | AES-NI enabled |  pfBlockerNG | Snort
      Blog Site: https://x3mtek.com || GitHub: https://github.com/Xentrk

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      • T Offline
        thezfunk @Xentrk
        last edited by

        @xentrk said in Blocking Youtube Ads:

        The blocking files block YouTube ads when watching using a web browser. I do get YouTube ads when using the app on my iPad or streaming media player.

        That's exactly what I am noticing. The web browsers are fine, it is the Amazon Fire TV's and Google TV's that still get ads. Sometimes my tablet and phone as well. There must be something else with those Android devices that allow them through.

        RonpfSR BBcan177B 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • RonpfSR Offline
          RonpfS @thezfunk
          last edited by

          @thezfunk
          The devices DNS configuration point to pfsense ?

          2.4.5-RELEASE-p1 (amd64)
          Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz 8GB
          Backup 0.5_5, Bandwidthd 0.7.4_4, Cron 0.3.7_5, pfBlockerNG-devel 3.0.0_16, Status_Traffic_Totals 2.3.1_1, System_Patches 1.2_5

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          • T Offline
            thezfunk @RonpfS
            last edited by

            @ronpfs said in Blocking Youtube Ads:

            @thezfunk
            The devices DNS configuration point to pfsense ?

            Absolutely.

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            • BBcan177B Offline
              BBcan177 Moderator @thezfunk
              last edited by

              @thezfunk said in Blocking Youtube Ads:

              @xentrk said in Blocking Youtube Ads:

              The blocking files block YouTube ads when watching using a web browser. I do get YouTube ads when using the app on my iPad or streaming media player.

              That's exactly what I am noticing. The web browsers are fine, it is the Amazon Fire TV's and Google TV's that still get ads. Sometimes my tablet and phone as well. There must be something else with those Android devices that allow them through.

              DNS over HTTPS :)

              "Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it."

              Website: http://pfBlockerNG.com
              Twitter: @BBcan177  #pfBlockerNG
              Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/pfBlockerNG/new/

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              • T Offline
                thezfunk @BBcan177
                last edited by

                @bbcan177

                Anyway to get around that on Android?

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                • M Offline
                  motific
                  last edited by

                  @thezfunk I’d packet capture the dns queries made by those devices and see what comes up.

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                  • T Offline
                    thezfunk
                    last edited by

                    I wonder if I block all traffic to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 will solve the issue since I don't use them for DNS anyway. I am sure Google must be using their servers for that purpose.

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                    • S Offline
                      sesipod
                      last edited by

                      Any update to the 8.8.8.8 block ???

                      T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • R Offline
                        reg1982
                        last edited by

                        @BBcan177 just out of curiosity is blocking youtube ads still doable ? It worked for me a long time ago... thanks

                        BBcan177B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • BBcan177B Offline
                          BBcan177 Moderator @reg1982
                          last edited by

                          @reg1982 I think it's always going to be hit and miss. There are some feeds that might help but YMMV.

                          "Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it."

                          Website: http://pfBlockerNG.com
                          Twitter: @BBcan177  #pfBlockerNG
                          Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/pfBlockerNG/new/

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                          • D Offline
                            dma_pf
                            last edited by

                            Not quite sure if I should put this in this thread or the pfBlockerNG-devel feedback thread. ButI have an alias in my pfBlockerNG-devel setup to block Youtube ads. I saw in on the widget on the firewall's dashboard that some packets were blocked. Here's a cut and paste of the widget:

                            DNSBL_YoutubeAds 9,481 3680345 Oct 18 03:05:11

                            I clicked on the 3680345 to bring up the Alerts for the alias and this is part of what I got:

                            0_1539851786828_youtubealerts.png

                            All of these alerts are coming from the same iPad. But the iPad was sitting on the kitchen counter at 4:25 in the morning and was on the charger and not being used.

                            How can it be that the iPad is constantly reaching out to Youtube when it is not being used? And at some time stamps have upwards of 1700 duplicate attempts ?

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                            • D Offline
                              dma_pf
                              last edited by dma_pf

                              Since my last post above this came up in the Alerts
                              0_1539852734051_youtubealerts.png

                              Is that 36,132 accurate?

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                              • D Offline
                                dma_pf
                                last edited by

                                I did some more snooping around and checked Diagnostics/States and filtered it by the address of the iPad. I get what appears to be thousands of open states from the iPad to the DNSBL VIP that look like this:

                                0_1539855927098_youtubestates.png

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                                • M Offline
                                  motific
                                  last edited by

                                  The iPad may have been on standby but the app was probably still open. That number of attempts to reach the all-seeing googly eye does look pretty concerning but I have seen ad-slingers doing that with in-game ads and tracking.

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                                  • T Offline
                                    thezfunk @sesipod
                                    last edited by

                                    @sesipod Blocking Google's DNS servers did not stop my Android ads. I am telling you, I don't have issues on Windows machines with ads, it is just Android's YouTube app. In the last two weeks it has gotten worse. I now get an ad at almost every single video again. My FireTV, Firestick, Android phones and tablets with the Youtube app are unanfected by the blocking on my pfSense box.

                                    I have yet to take the time for packet capture deep dive. I just got OpenVPN working so I can route my traffic from my phone through home whenever I am out and I also implemented encrypted DNS.

                                    They were only mildly annoying before but the worse they intrude the more driven I am to shut them off. I am now considering a whole VPN solution for security reasons although I know that won't stop the Youtube ads.

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                                    • T Offline
                                      thezfunk
                                      last edited by

                                      It looks like some people over on reddit might be onto something:

                                      https://www.reddit.com/r/pihole/comments/9w5swx/i_think_ive_managed_to_block_youtube_ads_with/

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                                      • L Offline
                                        lmannyr
                                        last edited by

                                        did you ever figure this out?

                                        M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • M Offline
                                          motific @lmannyr
                                          last edited by

                                          @lmannyr - I suggested a nice long packet capture to check DNS requests to look for any patterns but I don’t think anyone has done it.

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                                          • L Offline
                                            lmannyr @motific
                                            last edited by lmannyr

                                            @motific Any specific settings I should use under "Diagnostics: Packet Capture"? I'm not sure what I'll be looking for but I sure can try.

                                            Also to clarify, the ads do not show up using desktop browsers. I only see youtube ads when using the youtube app with iPads and iPhones. Don't have an android to test with.

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