Background information
digitec Pi Hole: throwing annoying ads straight down a DNS sinkhole
by Coya Vallejo Hägi
The test run is over – pulling the plug on the digitec Pi-hole
28.6.2021
Translation: Veronica Bielawski
For a good five months now, you’ve had the opportunity to test the ad blocker Pi-hole through digitec’s DNS server. The digitec Pi-hole era is coming to an end – we’re shutting it down. But we’re not going to leave you high and dry. Here’s an alternative you can switch to.
While it comes as no surprise, it’s now official: we’re shutting down the publicly available digitec Pi-hole. 16 July 2021 marks the end of this DNS ad blocker. So, we’re asking all brave Pi-hole buccaneers to switch to a different DNS server. To avoid any nasty surprises while browsing, we’ll have a countdown for you on social media.
In any case, we don't want to leave you without ad protection. What’s more, we want to provide you with a solution that will help keep ads away even on the go.
When it comes to unwanted advertising, the smartphone is the weakest link in the chain. Our mobile brain extensions offer a great many benefits, but to do so they have to build numerous digital bridges out into the world. So, WLAN, Bluetooth and GPS typically run non-stop, opening the doors to our data for both harmless and not-so-harmless intruders.
Increasingly, advertisers are actively targeting mobile devices, as they’re considered to be more effective for advertising. And the ads are more difficult to block. So, here’s another tool you can use, as well as some information on its development. Namely, WireGuard and WireHole.
The new kid on the block
Security scientist and Linux kernel developer Jason Donenfeld was on the lookout for a suitable VPN protocol. But he wasn’t convinced by the existing OpenVPN and IPSec protocols. They delivered unsatisfactory results and were simply too complicated and slow. So in 2017, Donenfeld created his own VPN protocol.
What’s special about WireGuard? It has a very lean protocol. It’s based on only about 4,000 lines of code (compared to hundreds of thousands for IPSec or OpenVPN). Coupled with a much more efficient algorithm, WireGuard offers two big advantages:
- Higher speeds
- A more secure VPN connection.
Originally, WireGuard was developed for the Linux kernel. And Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux himself, appears convinced of what WireGuard has to offer. Torvalds actually called WireGuard a «work of art» compared to the existing protocols. It’s now available on Windows, MacOS, BSD, iOS and Android.
WireGuard has also convinced our developers at Digitec Galaxus, by the way – we’re now using the VPN protocol internally.
WireGuard and Pi-hole: the story of a love child
Software projects with a publicly available source code, or open-source projects, can be continuously developed by the general public. That’s precisely how WireHole came to be. As the name suggests, WireHole is the love child of WireGuard and Pi-hole.
Developer Devin Stokes combined WireGuard, Pi-hole, and Unbound in a docker-compose project. In doing so, he created a combo that gives you a personally managed VPN tunnel with ad blocking capabilities and additional data protection.
We recommend WireHole as an alternative to our public Pi-hole. It allows you to continue shielding yourself from trackers and ads – both at home and on the go. Sounds good? Head on over to GitHub to see what Devin Stokes aka IAmStoxe has to say about his tool.
From Pi-hole to WireHole
If our DNS experiment has got you on the Pi-hole train and you’d like to keep reaping its benefits (and then some!), here’s what we recommend you do:
- Get yourself a Rasberry Pi! We have already suggested this in the first article, but now it’s high time if you want to retain Pi-hole’s ad protection.
- Install WireHole. DB Tech explains how to set it up in the video below.
- Connect your mobile devices to the WireHole VPN. Now you can surf the web unbothered at home and on the go.
The end
It was a wild ride. Our Pi-hole was spurned, shunned, and even called «shameless» or «impudent». «It will be a tragedy should even just one person redirect their DNS requests to digitec.» Sentiments like this were echoed in the comments. It was a tumultuous affair.
And yet, the digitec Pi-hole was not categorically rejected by everyone. Over the course of the last few months, there were a few hundred users interested in the project – around 745 devices wanted to test it for themselves. Together, we’ve dismissed millions of unwanted queries since.
We hope this has given you an exciting insight into the world of network-based ad blocking.
Are you mourning the upcoming loss of the digitiec Pi-hole, or are you one of the sceptics? Or perhaps you’ve already been using Pi-hole or WireHole for ages? Let us know in the comments!
«I want it all! The terrifying lows, the dizzying highs, the creamy middles!» – these words spoken by an iconic American TV celebrity could have been mine. It's a take on life I also apply to my job. What does this mean in concrete terms? That every story has its charm; no matter how small, large, exciting or trivial. The more eclectic the mix, the better.
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