Aardvark Daily

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Death, taxes and advertising?

Benjamin Franklin once said "nothing is certain except death and taxes".

In the third decade of the 21st century however, I think we can add something else to that list: advertising.

Everywhere you look online there are ads.

Oh how I miss the days when the worst we had to contend with from advertisers was the humble "banner" add. This little strip of a webpage was often dedicated to promoting some product or service but it was very easy to ignore, even when it took the form of a gaudy animated GIF.

Today however, things are different -- much different and by that I mean worse.

Autoplaying video ads appear on the pages of many websites and interstitial banners or entire screens constantly interrupt the browsing experience by force-feeding advertisers' messages.

Yes, you can install ad-blocking browser plug-ins but some sites will then block access or find ways to dodge these ad-walls and still slip through a few annoying distractions. The ad-blockers and ad networks are playing a constant game of whackamole.

Other sites, such as YouTube, threaten you with dire consequences if you're caught using an ad-blocker. Get caught three times and they'll kick you off completely until the platform is "white-listed" so that the ads are displayed.

The really tech-savvy amongst us will likely set up a cheap Raspberry Pi running PiHole software to effectively block advertising on all the devices that hook up to their home network. Although this still isn't perfect, it's pretty damned close.

Why would you want to use PiHole rather than just installing a browser plug-in?

Well one reason is that I don't trust browser plug-ins -- but that's probably just me.

A more realistic reason is perhaps that it will work to block ads to any device that uses your network to access the internet.

Why is that important?

Well it's a single point of function which means you don't have to install a plug-in on your phone, your tablet, your computer and find some way to block ads on your smart TV when watching YouTube videos. PiHole strips the ads out before they get to your device so that makes it far more convenient, low-maintenance and secure.

Perhaps just as importantly, it will also work to block ads to the growing number of internet-connected appliances that are starting to appear in our homes.

A great example of this is Samsung's US$3,500 smart fridge that is about to start hurling ads at those who were stupid enough to buy one.

Samsung says the ads are optional but if you opt-out then you lose some critical functionality that you've presumably paid for.

There is no "plug-in" for the Samsung fridge but a correctly configured PiHole should still stop those ads from reaching its screen.

With some smart TVs now also displaying their own ads and the inevitability that this sort of unwanted intrusion will continue to grow, I think every household owes it to themselves to buy a cheap Raspberry Pi and configure it with a copy of PiHole before they drown in a tsunami of unwanted adverstising.

Carpe Diem folks!

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