this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
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Ugh. Roku was one of the platforms with fewer ads.

  • Roku will be adding more ads to the home screens of its devices and TVs in the near future.
  • The ads will be interactive and 'shoppable' and will cover a range of industries, including restaurants and cars.
  • Roku already has a significant amount of ads on its home screen, and it is unclear if users will be able to change their preferences for the new ads.
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[–] [email protected] 35 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Can these ads be blocked with pi-hole?

[–] [email protected] 38 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I block logs.roku.com and cloudservices.roku.com on my pihole without impacting any functionality.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (5 children)

Is there a good resource to learn how to install that kind of a system for a person who's tech knowledge ends at one semesters worth of C++?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

A semester of programming is more than you need. The hardest part would be installing the OS on the raspberry pi. https://pi-hole.net/

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

I set one up. My IT skills begin and end with being a millennial that had to troubleshoot what I wanted to get to work before App stores.

You'll be fine in general searching "Pihole setup (insert OS here)". Some minor troubleshooting was necessary in my case, could be an ID10T issue though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Yes setting up a Pi-Hole should be pretty doable for someone like you. I can't recomend a specific tutorial off the top of my head, but there should be plenty to find.

You mainly need a pi running raspbian or a pc running some debian based distro.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Anyone can set them up, it’s just running an app

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

You can alternatively install Adguard too which will happily sit in a Docker container on a regular server if you're aware of how to do that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

what info is sent to these domain?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

None if you block them.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yea my Adblock Home (pihole alternative) blocks the ads on my Roku home screen. Now it’s just a big blank box.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I do wonder how long it's going to take for these device manufacturers to get wise and start hard coding their own host file on these devices with the addresses they use.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Then we switch from DNS and look to good old firewall blocks.

Update to say device is 'offline' unless it can reach these IPs? Local NAT to direct the traffic to a basic ping box.

Game keeps being played until someone quits.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What domain list(s) are you using? Mine are still showing up with pihole. I do think some are being blocked, but not all.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Firebog.net Ticked lists as a collective, over 10^6 domains long now. Firebog have lists organised by how likely it is to impact general browsing, ticked being least likely (basically do you want to be black listing or white listing).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Thank you. And good advice about over-doing it. I've had people complain about "the internet being broken" on my wifi because of an overly-restrictive pi hole.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

PiHole blocks the current ads. Hopefully these new ones too.