Sky is disgusting with respect to privacy

[BadAndy]

I'm appalled that I'm unable to use private DNS providers with Sky.  This means that Sky inspects every website or service I access and refuses to let me stop them.  

I used to use AdGuard DNS to block adverts, but Sky refuses to let me use the service. If I use that service then I'm unable to connect to my broadband. They don't include any information about their restrictions in their marketing material, or at least I was unaware that I would be obliged to let Sky snoop on me.

Now they're going to be selling my information to social media providers and giving my personal information to an insurance company.

No wonder they insist on being able to snoop on you.  They are going to be storing that information and selling it on to the highest bidder.

Luckily they give you a way to opt out. Of course, any respectable or ethical company would have you opt IN to being spied on and having your information sold on.  But not Sky, in fact, the page that you can opt out on is broken so you can't even opt out.

[jamesn123 · Accepted solution]

@BadAndy 

Uh yes you definitely can. 

1. Disable Sky Shield on your account

2. Enter the DNS provider into your device

3. Done. Easy.

[JPR007]

@BadAndy If you are that worried about privacy...I would be very surprised if you are not using a VPN too, plus using a browser such as duckduckgo which blocks a lot of tracking cookies etc....

This kind of targeted advertising is normal across many different companies, and I'm fairly sure in the 70 odd pages of the contract you took out it will state that they may use data they obtain for marketing purposes while using there network and equipment. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@BadAndy wrote:

Now they're going to be selling my information to social media providers and giving my personal information to an insurance company.

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Sky UK Ltd has been a introducer appointed representative of Domestic & General Insurance PLC regarding Sky Protect Device Insurance for decades.

"selling my information to social media providers" isn't proposed: it's matching data hashes to identify where an existing user of a social media platform also has a Sky account in order to improve advert targeting (which is what pays for that social media use in the first place)

[mpsolihull2]

hi @jamesn123 ,

Can we configure AdGuard home for Sky Broadband? I have ADGuard home running in a Raspberry PI which is connected to sky via LAN cable.  I was trying to use AdGuard for the whole house and for that I will have to setup AdGuard as DHCP server. Not sure if it's allowed / possible in Sky Broadband. 

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Chrisee]

@mpsolihull2 ad blockers can work I use one myself but increasingly sites are refusing to load until I disable the block. Regarding Sky's own services go to https://www.sky.com/help/articles/privacy-hub-home to set your privacy permissions. However given that advertising is the primary way the internet is funded dont be too surprised if your experience is not smooth. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@mpsolihull2 wrote:

 Not sure if it's allowed / possible in Sky Broadband. 

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It's not possible to configure a Sky Hub to do a custom DNS lookup.  You'd need to set up each client device to do so, or perhaps use your own DHCP server to do so (I can't recall if it's possible to disable DHCP on a Hub)

[jamesn123]

@mpsolihull2 

As mentioned its not possible natively, you would need to use a 3rd party router.