Welcome To Privacy Hell, Also Known As

[ukgimp]

https://www.businessinsider.com/smart-tv-data-collection-advertising-2019-1?r=US&IR=T

[bill]

So in addition to putting your IoT stuff on its own network segment, I'd highly suggest you throw a PiHole into the mix. You can really tame and micromanage a 'smart TV' or other device with this.

[rcjordan]

What's this Streisand stuff about?

Secure & Ad-free Internet Anywhere With Streisand and Pi Hole

https://ifelse.io/2019/01/12/secure-ad-free-internet-anywhere-with-streisand-and-pi-hole/


>I'm sorry, you must have mistaken me for someone who wants to f### with IP numbers, hhh.

Gawd, I'm being sucked into the swirling vortex of ip numbers more & more.  I had to do *gasp* DHCP Reservations the other day because of the smarthome stuff.

[bill]

What's this Streisand stuff about?

A lot of people like to run a VPN with their PiHole, and then have the VPN use the PiHole for DNS queries as well. Probably a fun addition, but not necessary for the PiHole on your network.

[rcjordan]

<bump>

This thread was started in 2015 and, AFAIK, pi-hole & vpn are still the most viable privacy solutions.  And still a PITA.

Household privacy is only going to get worse.  Eventually, you won't be able to buy a dumb tv|dishwasher|refrig.

I guess I am, indeed, going to have to "fuck with IP numbers."

[bill]

And now my entire home network is forced through multiple PiHoles, whereas before only certain segments that I personally used had the PiHole love. And I tightened the PiHole down using internal DNS with Unbound. No more DNS calls to Google or Cloudflare. The PiHoles are really essential...my TV seems to be lonely as it appears desperate to call home.

I've read that the newer "smart" TVs know when they're being blocked and will send out gibberish domain calls when they realize they can't phone home. They know they're being blocked.

The thing we have to watch for now is encrypted DNS calls that bypass the PiHole. Some Google devices will do this already. They can bypass network DNS this way to make their precious call home.  Ever wonder why Google and the other big boys are pushing for this secure DNS?

Then there's malware that can run its own encrypted DNS that can use this same functionality to call home through your network protections... It's getting more difficult to keep up.