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> (which a lot of artists do)

And those who don’t almost always only set a minimum price, so you can still pay more if you want. And if you buy on BC Friday [0] (next is February 6th), Bandcamp doesn’t even take a cut of the revenue.

[0]: https://isitbandcampfriday.com/


> And if you buy on BC Friday [0] (next is February 6th), Bandcamp doesn’t even take a cut of the revenue.

Bandcamp Friday is such a fun day, I always have +5 purchases lined up from the previous month, and usually keep track of the social media of the artists I buy from that day, and many of them post something really wholesome about how much they made on that day :) Such a fun time all around.


For those wondering: it's DNS blocks, so only affecting those using ISP DNS.

Regardless of censorship, I don't recommend anyone to use ISP DNS servers. They are often slow, flaky and don't respect record TTLs.

Quad 1/8/9 isn't optimal alternative (too much centralization if everyone uses those by default) but running your own is easy.


some ISPs make it difficult to use other DNS servers

There's DNS over HTTPS they can't viably block, so thankfully they get the short end of the stick here.

edit: Thinking of it, anyone knows if it's possible to use that for OS-wide DNS resolves, not just for the browser?


Yes, on both macOS and Windows 11. On Mac you have to create/use a simple .mobileconfig profile. On Windows you have to separately provide both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

Or set up a forwarder such as unbound(8) in the LAN and set up the network to use it as the DNS server.

Interesting. UK ISPs have had a similar block/filter list for many years (mostly covering copyright-infringing torrent websites and the like). But it’s more robust than a simple DNS block. A VPN can bypass the block, but changing DNS providers will not.

What / how do they do it then? SNI inspection?

The ISP's blackhole the IP for some blocked domains. So changing your DNS to 8.8.8.8 will resolve the domain, but the IP won't work. A VPN avoids this, since the traffic goes via the VPN IP.

Wow that’s intense.

I remember hearing someone complain on HN of their site getting blocked because it shared an IP with an illegal soccer livestream. I can’t imagine they’re doing this to IP blocks owned by CDNs like Fastly, CloudFlare, or CloudFront though. Or are they? Does this regularly break most of the internet for UK customers?


Spain ISPs block CloudFlare IPs during La Liga matches.

Do you have a source for this claim?

TBH it is not ALL cloudFlare IPs but a significant quantity of sites using and not using CF CDNs. You cannot imagine what a pest that is even for legit users of legit collateral damage pages. CloudFlare is in the courts appealing/countering initial court allowance to blockade and ISPs are bound to comply to blackout requests. You can look at https://hayahora.futbol (traslation: is there soccer match now?) to see affected domains.


While I am not some reputable source per-se, I have some tailscale presence over there and can corroborate my exit nodes find cloudflare sites blanket blocked on weekends.

How would that work with cloudflare and similar though?

Cloudflare works with the UK government to facilitate blocks within their infra, I assume in exchange for being allowed to access UK network infrastructure.

In the case that a blocked site resolved to a Cloudflare IP, it would likely be kicked off of Cloudflare, or geo-blocked for UK users (by Cloudflare).

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/07/cloudflare-blo...


Ironically that url is forbidden for me, I was under the impression that CF were fairly anti censorship, or at least they inferred that they should not be the one calling the shots (in reference to kiwifarms)

I've never hit one. Flipping DNS works for (for example) Anna's Archive. Have you got an example?

In that case it like someone controlling the DNS records for a banned site could cause some mischief

Transparent DNS proxies on ISP side. Easy thing for them.

DNS over HTTP is a thing also, though.

If this is the case, someone running their own recursive DNS server (like Bind9 or Unbound) can trivially bypass these restrictions. Doing this is a sensible step towards more privacy, regardless of censorship.

They don’t need to run their own DNS server, just configure a DNS server other than the ISP-provided one, like Quad9 or Google.

Using Google - one of the largest data mining companies out there - rather than my trusted ISP doesn’t sound d like a step towards privacy

Maybe this is a good place to ask: what is the easiest way to use my own DNS entirely in user mode (not a server when I can't change which DNS is pointed to, since not an admin), a SOCKSv5 proxy?

It looks like this is possible with Chrome-based browsers using a command line flag (--host-resolver-rules) or in Firefox settings. Is there a better way?


If you are on Linux, install unbound and set your DNS server to localhost, done.

"private DNS". Configure your own (with ad blocking) on nextdns.

Worth mentioning NextDNS and ControlD under this! I migrated from the former to the latter about six months ago, but both are a solid choice.

Free trial then $20USD per year for ControlD. Is that what you use? If so, why do you use this over another service?

Not OP but I also use ControlD. I admittedly like NextDNS interface better, but honestly, I rarely need to login anyways.

So why ControlD? Because I don't want to run my own piHole, basically. They maintain ad block lists that you can edit as you see fit to add things or relax things that may cause issues(which you can't do easily with public ad blocking dns servers).

Why ControlD then and not NextDNS? First, because their support was awesome when I had an issue. AFAICT it was the founder actually emailing me back and forth, and it ended up being my ISP's fault, but I only knew that based on research provided to me by support. Secondly, I got a good deal on a 5-year subscription at one point.

Happy to answer any questions, not affiliated but a fan of the service.


Not GP, but I just run my own dns inside the network (unbound on a little openbsd sbc) with a cronjob that pipes oisd.nl into it every night, works great..

I am curious why SNI-based block isn't used.

Shhh, don’t give them ideas

It won't be relevant in a couple years when 90% of sites will be using ECH, meaning the SNI will be encrypted as well.

Just enabling ECH doesn't stop this, firewalls can see it and mangle the data to force a downgrade because most servers need to support older protocols. It's more accurate to say that once sites only support ECH, then they'll be forced to stop downgrading or deal with angry users.

TLS 1.3, including the ECH extension, does not permit downgrading, unless your implementation is broken.

Trying to downgrade or strip extensions from any TLS 1.3 connection will simply break the connection.


In the wild, that's not true at all[0][1]. The corporate firewall at my employer actually wasn't able to block ECH until they updated it then it was able to block sites as usual.

0: https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Technical-Tip-Ho...

1: https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/symantec-ech-whitepaper (see page 8)


This is literally impossible. What your corp fw likely does is mitm outer SNI because your IT department installed your company CA in every client's trust store. So unless you do that at national level your only other option is to block ECH entirely.

Edit: actually totally possible but you need build quantum computer with sufficient cubits first =)


Last I heard, the QCbros were still trying to find the prime factors of 15.

(I remember using quantum algorithms to find prime factors 25 years or more ago, using the Quantum::Suppositions Perl module.)


I ready the FortiGate link and this is the gist:

  The DNS filter setting on the FortiGate analyzes the DoH traffic and strips out the ECH parameters sent by the DNS server in the DoH response. If the client does not receive those parameters, it cannot encrypt the inner SNI, so it will send it in clear text.
So basically they mess with DoH ECH config and trigger fallback behavior in the clients. I don't think any browsers do this yet but I think this loophole is not gonna last.

I'm surprised that works. Doesn't TLS1.3 do the thing where it crosschecks (a hash of) the setup parameters after key-agreement to protect against exactly this kind of downgrade attack?

(My phone screen is too small to look through the RFCs right now.)


I think what you're describing is TLS1.3 Finished verification so that happens after DoH response during the actual handshake. Basically this works because ECH is fairly new and there's no HSTS-style "always use ECH for this site" configuration yet. And ofc this only works if you configured FortiGate as your DNS (corp network) or if it's doing MITM (though I'd expect browser would verify cert fingerprint for DoH connections as well).

Is there even a push for ECH? I don’t imagine big tech and other powerful players particularly want it.

Cloudflare and all the major browsers have supported it for a couple years now.

Computers have supported dnssec for years and it’s barely in use. Support != a push for.

As a reward for freeing yourself from the de facto government DNS, you will now be gifted free movies for eternity

Compared to Steam directly, yeah, sometimes a bit more expensive. But as soon as you go to sites selling steam keys (proper ones, not resellers), it's "almost always, a lot", as steam itself rarely has good prices. Now that might still be worth it, but it's relevant

> But as soon as you go to sites selling steam keys (proper ones, not resellers),

What is a company/individual if not a reseller if they're selling Steam keys? You cannot sell Steam keys without being Steam or the developer itself, and not be called a "reseller". Or what sites are you referring to here, stuff like Humble Bundle where you get Steam keys with the bundles?


Resellers sell something they bought. Or that's the idea. The sites are marketplaces, sometimes having people sell keys from different countries, sometimes stolen credit card keys. There are several game devs saying they'd prefer people pirating over using those sites.

Real stores sell steam keys because they are selling directly from the developers. Steam is actually nice (or preempting monopoly talk, depending on your view) in that it allows that (I think there are limits, but IIRC rather generous)


> Real stores sell steam keys because they are selling directly from the developers

And how did these "real stores" get those Steam keys unless they bought them, maybe even directly from the developers? Or are you saying game developers hand out these keys for free to the store, then the store sends the developer money for each key they sell? I'm not sure that makes a lot of sense.

What is an example of one such site selling Steam keys who you wouldn't consider a reseller?


Normal store: fanatical.com

Key reseller: https://www.loaded.com

You really don't need to be so combatative.


I cannot see a difference, what is the difference between a "normal store" and a "key reseller"?

Humble Bundle usually gives you Steam keys

Apart from times when they have run out and continue to sell...

I’m just going to go ahead and plug is there any deal dot com.

You can sync up your Steam wishlist (it’s a little weird to setup but once you figured it out it works).

I almost never buy games directly from steam anymore, there’s almost always someone else with a discount on steam keys.

And sometimes GOG has the best deal!


I love ITAD! If you use a search engine like kagi or duck duck go supporting bangs, you can use !itad to search there.

As a German I'll say that even acknowledging there is a corruption problem (while still being unwilling to change it and not voting for the parties that let corruption fester) puts them a good step ahead of all those thinking there's no real corruption.

No studies, personal impressions, so I might well be wrong and maybe they all know but don't care. No majority that cares either way.


As another German, I think there is different kinds of corruption. There is low-level and high-level.

Low-level is when you bribe individual cops, city clerks, etc so they let you go instead of writing a speeding ticket or approving your house building plan.

High-level is when people like Merz receive a political donation from McDonalds, do some self-promotion in one, and then keep/lower the Mwst (VAT) for restaurants.

Germany unfortunately has high-level corruption but as far as I know, very little low-level. I think thats partially why people don't care to vote to differently. Yes, it happens, but there is a large disconnect between what Merz does and how it impacts an individuals bottom line.

If people would have to constantly hand out bribes to anyone then maybe its a different story.


Agreed

Yeah, I agree with that sentiment.

Condor airlines has an "open with Google wallet" link, that doesn't work because I don't have that app. .pkpass files just work with my foss wallet

I had an ancient-ish Roomba (620, 11 years ago). The repairability was amazing. This was from back when there was little competition, but just 2 years ago I could still get every part replaced. Only screws, nothing else. It was beautiful. I got a new vacuum/mop now, vastly better functionality, in exchange for the cloud, but I'm glad my old one lives one at my parents.

I've read it's way worse nowadays, but if they stayed at their quality from back then, I'd have probably paid more for an offline workable repairable vacuum.


None of the successors captured oink for me (I proudly had their t-shirt), sadly.


I'm using selfhosted multi scrobbler [0] to scrobble to lfm, listenbrainz, and selfhosted koito [1].

Maybe not super useful, but fun ;) when at home, I scrobble to MS which distributes the data, when I have no VPN active on the go, I scrobble to last.fm only, which then gets used as source by MS as well, to redistribute it to the others.

[0] https://github.com/FoxxMD/multi-scrobbler

[1] https://github.com/gabehf/Koito/


Could you use your fame to get last.fm to extend their API to allow listening number checks so it's not only people who registered with your bot? ;)

Also thanks for your work, while I dislike the spammyness of it, that's on the server owners (main server I'm on limits it to one bot channel)


Last.fm isn't really expanding their API unfortunately. You can however see Last.fm stats in the main artist/album/track commands.

As for spammyness, I'm aware this is an issue. For non-bot channels I recommend using .togglecommand and enabling just a few specific commands, and setting a small embed mode so .fm commands don't take up too much space in chat.


Just one admin's opinion, but I think the bot spam thing is more a matter of server etiquette than anything. Sure, I'm all for #bot-spam channels, but nobody looks at those unless they're using it, so it's not very useful for things like sharing last.fm stats. I'd much rather people use it sensibly in a #music channel.


I'm on a music discord server (for metal), most people share their weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly charts made from their last.fm data. Here's what I posted yesterday for my weekly: https://i.imgur.com/6jYS8jG.png


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