👨🏫 Google posted some tips for Safer Internet Day 👩🏫
As ironic as it sounds, they are surprisingly not so bad for a company famous for its privacy-related issues. Google-specific tips left aside, the rest are quite useful, albeit somewhat basic:
- Keep separate passwords for each of your accounts. Password managers do a great job and very convenient in use.
- Establish a recovery email and phone number.
- Set up two-step verification, either via SMS or a dedicated app.
https://www.androidauthority.com/google-internet-safety-tips-950144/
As ironic as it sounds, they are surprisingly not so bad for a company famous for its privacy-related issues. Google-specific tips left aside, the rest are quite useful, albeit somewhat basic:
- Keep separate passwords for each of your accounts. Password managers do a great job and very convenient in use.
- Establish a recovery email and phone number.
- Set up two-step verification, either via SMS or a dedicated app.
https://www.androidauthority.com/google-internet-safety-tips-950144/
Androidauthority
Google’s tips for Safer Internet Day are genuinely helpful
It might be hard for some to listen to Google when it comes to account protections — the company continually receives flak for its approach to privacy. That said, Google’s tips for Safer Internet Day seem like common sense suggestions that everyone should…
🧮 Recap of 2018 in ad blocking + predictions for the next year 🧮
We already looked back at year 2018 through the prism of AdGuard and its products. Now we aim higher and review the entire ad blocking industry.
Not only that, we make some predictions for 2019!
(spoiler: it appears we are pretty good at this; everything we predicted a year ago turned out to be true)
https://adguard.com/en/blog/the-year-2018-in-adblocking/
We already looked back at year 2018 through the prism of AdGuard and its products. Now we aim higher and review the entire ad blocking industry.
Not only that, we make some predictions for 2019!
(spoiler: it appears we are pretty good at this; everything we predicted a year ago turned out to be true)
https://adguard.com/en/blog/the-year-2018-in-adblocking/
🙉 Spotify bans ad blockers 🙉
For a while now, Spotify has been discouraging users from using ad blockers, taking significant measures to detect accounts that are doing so. But now Spotify takes it to the next level.
Starting from March 1st, the new Terms of Service come to effect. They will give Spotify the authority to immediately terminate accounts that are "circumventing or blocking advertisements", without warning. This will not affect premium users.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/7/18215845/spotify-ad-blockers-terms-of-service
For a while now, Spotify has been discouraging users from using ad blockers, taking significant measures to detect accounts that are doing so. But now Spotify takes it to the next level.
Starting from March 1st, the new Terms of Service come to effect. They will give Spotify the authority to immediately terminate accounts that are "circumventing or blocking advertisements", without warning. This will not affect premium users.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/7/18215845/spotify-ad-blockers-terms-of-service
The Verge
Spotify bans ad blockers in updated Terms of Service
Your account can be terminated immediately if Spotify catches you using ad blockers
💚 How not to spoil Valentine's Day 💚
February 14th is a perfect day for gifts and surprises, but what can be worse than a spoiled surprise? In this Blog article we collected stories about people who had their big day ruined by targeted advertising.
https://adguard.com/en/blog/st-valentines-2019/
Do you have a story of your own? Did you become a victim to an unwelcomed ad? Send it to pr@adguard.com and we will publish the most unfortunate/bizarre/scary cases.
Happy Valentine's Day!
February 14th is a perfect day for gifts and surprises, but what can be worse than a spoiled surprise? In this Blog article we collected stories about people who had their big day ruined by targeted advertising.
https://adguard.com/en/blog/st-valentines-2019/
Do you have a story of your own? Did you become a victim to an unwelcomed ad? Send it to pr@adguard.com and we will publish the most unfortunate/bizarre/scary cases.
Happy Valentine's Day!
AdGuard Blog
How not to spoil Valentine's Day
For so many of us Valentine's Day is one of the most special and exciting days of the year. It is not only a reason to spend time together with your loved one, but also a great occasion to make presents, sweet surprises and say important, sometimes even life…
✍️ Ad blocking community responds to Manifest V3 ✍️
About a month ago Google proposed changes to Chrome that would result in severe restrictions for all Chrome extensions, but even more so for extension-based ad blockers. This triggered a reaction from the developers.
Over the last few weeks, the developers of AdGuard, Adblock Plus, Adblock, Ghostery, Ad remover and Malwarebytes, along with prominent EasyList authors MonztA and Fanboy, have discussed the possible changes. As a result of our collective feedback, we post a document that should lay into the foundation of the future dialog with Google.
We hope that this dialog will serve a positive role in the development of the new declarativeNetrequestAPI and will ultimately help the users to retain as much control over their browsing as possible.
Find the public document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sKZFojq_fUusrebKsyNHfRk_9kpbIALFPS1Nvpddfs8/
About a month ago Google proposed changes to Chrome that would result in severe restrictions for all Chrome extensions, but even more so for extension-based ad blockers. This triggered a reaction from the developers.
Over the last few weeks, the developers of AdGuard, Adblock Plus, Adblock, Ghostery, Ad remover and Malwarebytes, along with prominent EasyList authors MonztA and Fanboy, have discussed the possible changes. As a result of our collective feedback, we post a document that should lay into the foundation of the future dialog with Google.
We hope that this dialog will serve a positive role in the development of the new declarativeNetrequestAPI and will ultimately help the users to retain as much control over their browsing as possible.
Find the public document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sKZFojq_fUusrebKsyNHfRk_9kpbIALFPS1Nvpddfs8/
Google Docs
Feedback from the ad blocking community on the proposed changes to webRequest and declarativeNetRequest
Feedback from the ad blocking community on the proposed changes to the webRequest and declarativeNetRequest APIs Last Updated: 02/08/2019 The Chromium team have proposed changes to key extension APIs, as well as the overall architecture of extensions in…
😐 Mark Zuckerberg calls Facebook "innovator in privacy 😐
Facebook is perhaps mentioned in our privacy-related posts more often than anything else, but rarely in a positive way. Despite that, Mark Zuckerberg is sure: his company has been an "innovator in privacy".
He admits this opinion is far from being mainstream, and bases his point of view on the choices people have made:
"<...> people want tools that give them new contexts to communicate and that's also fundamentally about giving people power through privacy, not just not violating privacy. <...> All of the success that Facebook has had, this is kind of a counterintuitive thing, has been because we've given people new private or semi-private ways to communicate things <...>".
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/20/zuckerberg-says-facebook-has-been-an-innovator-in-privacy.html
Facebook is perhaps mentioned in our privacy-related posts more often than anything else, but rarely in a positive way. Despite that, Mark Zuckerberg is sure: his company has been an "innovator in privacy".
He admits this opinion is far from being mainstream, and bases his point of view on the choices people have made:
"<...> people want tools that give them new contexts to communicate and that's also fundamentally about giving people power through privacy, not just not violating privacy. <...> All of the success that Facebook has had, this is kind of a counterintuitive thing, has been because we've given people new private or semi-private ways to communicate things <...>".
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/20/zuckerberg-says-facebook-has-been-an-innovator-in-privacy.html
CNBC
Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook has been an 'innovator in privacy'
Mark Zuckerberg that while it's not a "mainstream view," Facebook has been focused on privacy since the company's early days at Harvard.
🚆 Stand back from the edge! The new version of AdGuard Home arrives! 🚆
In the new v0.93 you will find:
- HTTPS, DoT, DoH support out of the box
- Official Docker image
- First time installation wizard
- Simple daemon/service registration
All the information about the new release can be found here: https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome/releases/tag/v0.93
In the new v0.93 you will find:
- HTTPS, DoT, DoH support out of the box
- Official Docker image
- First time installation wizard
- Simple daemon/service registration
All the information about the new release can be found here: https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome/releases/tag/v0.93
GitHub
AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome
Network-wide ads & trackers blocking DNS server. Contribute to AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome development by creating an account on GitHub.
Today we need your help! We would appreciate if you could spend 5 minutes of your time to complete our survey:
Why use an ad blocker?
https://surveys.adguard.com/ad_blocking/form.html
Why use an ad blocker?
https://surveys.adguard.com/ad_blocking/form.html
⛏ CoinHive to shut down on March 8th ⛏
By far the most popular cryptomining service, CoinHive announced its upcoming discontinuation. It was designed with a noble goal: to allow website owners an alternative way to monetize their websites. The idea was, the visitors would offer their CPU power to mine Monero cryptocurrency in exchange for the website content.
Unfortunately, there is also the other side of the coin. Cryptojacking — when user's computer is used for mining without their consent — was on the constant rise throughout the 2018, not least because of the availability of CoinHive.
According to the announcement, the service is being shut down because it is not economically viable anymore.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/coinhive-in-browser-cryptomining-service-shuts-down-on-march-8/
By far the most popular cryptomining service, CoinHive announced its upcoming discontinuation. It was designed with a noble goal: to allow website owners an alternative way to monetize their websites. The idea was, the visitors would offer their CPU power to mine Monero cryptocurrency in exchange for the website content.
Unfortunately, there is also the other side of the coin. Cryptojacking — when user's computer is used for mining without their consent — was on the constant rise throughout the 2018, not least because of the availability of CoinHive.
According to the announcement, the service is being shut down because it is not economically viable anymore.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/coinhive-in-browser-cryptomining-service-shuts-down-on-march-8/
BleepingComputer
Coinhive In-Browser Cryptomining Service Shuts Down on March 8
The Coinhive cryptomining mining service which was designed to offer web developers a JavaScript-based Monero miner announced that it will discontinue its services on March 8, 2019.
Here is a question for experienced AdGuard users. What is the best day of the week for releasing new stuff🤔
Anonymous Poll
14%
Monday
8%
Tuesday
4%
Wednesday
4%
Thursday
43%
Friday 🌃
19%
Saturday
8%
Sunday
As our seasoned users know, there is no better day than Friday to release new stuff. So brace yourself, AdGuard 7.0 for Windows is finally coming to the "nightly" update channel!
Here you can learn more about beta and nightly versions: https://adguard.com/beta.html
Please be aware that this is the very first v7.0 nightly build so it is unstable and full of bugs.
Here you can learn more about beta and nightly versions: https://adguard.com/beta.html
Please be aware that this is the very first v7.0 nightly build so it is unstable and full of bugs.
📞 Phone numbers provided for 2FA on Facebook can be used to "look up" the profile 📞
When you see Facebook is involved with some news, you know it's going to be tasty. Now, last year the media giant admitted that the phone numbers obtained from its users to provide two-factor authentication were used to target them with ads. Bad enough, but there's more.
Recent tweet by Jeremy Burge (the founder of Emojipedia) attracted peoples attention to the fact that no matter what security settings you have in FB, there are still ways to "look up" your profile by the phone number. And there is no option to opt-out.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/03/facebook-phone-number-look-up/
When you see Facebook is involved with some news, you know it's going to be tasty. Now, last year the media giant admitted that the phone numbers obtained from its users to provide two-factor authentication were used to target them with ads. Bad enough, but there's more.
Recent tweet by Jeremy Burge (the founder of Emojipedia) attracted peoples attention to the fact that no matter what security settings you have in FB, there are still ways to "look up" your profile by the phone number. And there is no option to opt-out.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/03/facebook-phone-number-look-up/
TechCrunch
Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting
Users are complaining that the phone number Facebook hassled them to use to secure their account with two-factor authentication has also been associated with their user profile — which anyone can use to “look up” their profile.
🏎 AdGuard Browser Extension 3.0 🏎
This update makes AdGuard Browser Extension something that's more than just an ad blocker: now it is a powerful privacy protection tool, too. So, what new stuff waits for you inside?
* Stealth Mode
A module already familiar to AdGuard for Windows users. Designed specifically to protect your privacy, it offers you something that no other browser-based ad blocker will.
* New design
New layout, new icons, new Statistics tab (with both numerical stats and charts). User filter now has luminous element highlighting and text area is resizable.
* Filter groups
Filters are grouped into categories by their purpose: ad blocking-related filters, privacy protection-related filters, etc. Enable/disable them individually or all at once. A much more convenient way to manage the filtering process.
https://adguard.com/en/blog/browser-extension-3-0/
This update makes AdGuard Browser Extension something that's more than just an ad blocker: now it is a powerful privacy protection tool, too. So, what new stuff waits for you inside?
* Stealth Mode
A module already familiar to AdGuard for Windows users. Designed specifically to protect your privacy, it offers you something that no other browser-based ad blocker will.
* New design
New layout, new icons, new Statistics tab (with both numerical stats and charts). User filter now has luminous element highlighting and text area is resizable.
* Filter groups
Filters are grouped into categories by their purpose: ad blocking-related filters, privacy protection-related filters, etc. Enable/disable them individually or all at once. A much more convenient way to manage the filtering process.
https://adguard.com/en/blog/browser-extension-3-0/
AdGuard Blog
AdGuard Browser Extension v3.0
A lot has changed since the first ad blocking browser extensions appeared on the market. Simply blocking ads is not enough anymore (not to say it is an easy task — advertisers are constantly learning new tricks to jam their ads past the filters). Today, big…
🖥 AdGuard 2.0 for Mac BETA 🖥
Normally we don't post about beta versions, but we made an exception this time. There are two reasons.
First reason is that new Mac versions are few and far between, so even a beta is a big deal :) But the real reason, of course, is because this beta is BIG.
There are three huge changes in addition to a dozen of smaller ones:
- CoreLibs integration. Ad blocking will become faster and better.
- Stealth Mode. A completely new privacy-oriented module with many options.
- New UI. This includes redesign, dark theme (optional), new Assistant.
https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardForMac/releases/tag/v2.0.0-beta
Join AdGuard beta test by visiting this page: https://adguard.com/beta.html
Normally we don't post about beta versions, but we made an exception this time. There are two reasons.
First reason is that new Mac versions are few and far between, so even a beta is a big deal :) But the real reason, of course, is because this beta is BIG.
There are three huge changes in addition to a dozen of smaller ones:
- CoreLibs integration. Ad blocking will become faster and better.
- Stealth Mode. A completely new privacy-oriented module with many options.
- New UI. This includes redesign, dark theme (optional), new Assistant.
https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardForMac/releases/tag/v2.0.0-beta
Join AdGuard beta test by visiting this page: https://adguard.com/beta.html
GitHub
AdguardTeam/AdguardForMac
Open bug tracker for Mac version of AdGuard. Contribute to AdguardTeam/AdguardForMac development by creating an account on GitHub.
👷♀️ AdGuard 3.0 for Android BETA 👷♂️
Once you've posted about beta update once, it's hard to stop. Here's another one, this time for AdGuard for Android. What to look for:
- Wi-Fi calling now works along with AdGuard
- You can indicate your own fallback DNS servers
- AG learnt to detect problematic devices that pose a high threat of killing the app
- Almost 50 other bugfixes
Full changelog: https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardForAndroid/releases/tag/v3.0.287-beta
If this is your first time learning about AG for Android beta, maybe give it a try. It is quite stable, and features a lot of things you won't be able to find in the release version for a while.
Once you've posted about beta update once, it's hard to stop. Here's another one, this time for AdGuard for Android. What to look for:
- Wi-Fi calling now works along with AdGuard
- You can indicate your own fallback DNS servers
- AG learnt to detect problematic devices that pose a high threat of killing the app
- Almost 50 other bugfixes
Full changelog: https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardForAndroid/releases/tag/v3.0.287-beta
If this is your first time learning about AG for Android beta, maybe give it a try. It is quite stable, and features a lot of things you won't be able to find in the release version for a while.
GitHub
AdguardTeam/AdguardForAndroid
Open bug tracker for Android version of AdGuard. Contribute to AdguardTeam/AdguardForAndroid development by creating an account on GitHub.
⚠️ How does Android Q beta affect AdGuard? ⚠️
Many of you have heard about Android Q. It is the next iteration of Android OS, and the first beta has been released very recently. It contains several changes that we can only welcome, especially privacy-related ones. But at the same time, it signals certain problems for AdGuard's firewall functionality and HTTPS filtering.
Both require that AdGuard is able to distinguish traffic between different apps, and with new Android beta it becomes complicated. The current state of things:
- for local VPN filtering mode, everything works well already in the latest AG beta
- for rooted proxy mode, the problem is still there, but will be fixed by the time Android Q is officially released
- for no root proxy mode, we will not be able to fix this, so we don't recommend using this mode
https://adguard.com/en/blog/android-q-beta/
Many of you have heard about Android Q. It is the next iteration of Android OS, and the first beta has been released very recently. It contains several changes that we can only welcome, especially privacy-related ones. But at the same time, it signals certain problems for AdGuard's firewall functionality and HTTPS filtering.
Both require that AdGuard is able to distinguish traffic between different apps, and with new Android beta it becomes complicated. The current state of things:
- for local VPN filtering mode, everything works well already in the latest AG beta
- for rooted proxy mode, the problem is still there, but will be fixed by the time Android Q is officially released
- for no root proxy mode, we will not be able to fix this, so we don't recommend using this mode
https://adguard.com/en/blog/android-q-beta/
AdGuard Blog
Android Q comes to beta. What does it mean for AdGuard?
Everybody who has any interest in Android OS is currently talking about Android Q beta that has been released just recently. The developers' blog post provides a lot of food for thought, but it doesn't answer the most important question: how does Android…
AdGuard loves St. Patrick's Day. We don't even need to decorate for it — it's all green anyway!
We offer a 30% discount on all licenses for 2 devices: https://adguard.com/en/promo/19-irish.html
We offer a 30% discount on all licenses for 2 devices: https://adguard.com/en/promo/19-irish.html