# PDR 006: Filter tracking for every household device

- HTML version: https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab/pdrs/006-filter-tracking-for-every-household-device
- Project: Home Lab
- Status: Accepted
- Opened: 2026-08-02
- Decided: 2026-08-02

## Context

Phones, televisions, streaming boxes, and other home devices make advertising
and analytics requests even when they cannot run a local blocker. Per-device
tools leave those clients uncovered. Moving filtering into a shared network
service can cover them, but it also makes name resolution household-critical.

Filtering that disappears during routine maintenance would trade privacy for a
fragile internet connection.

## Decision

Apply DNS-level ad and tracker filtering to every device on the home network,
including devices that cannot install their own blocker. Make the same
protection available to approved personal devices away from home.

Keep resolution available through the failure or reboot of either lab host.
The household should not lose DNS because one filtering node is down. Manage
the filtering policy once and keep the redundant nodes aligned.

## Consequences

The policy covers embedded and unmanaged clients, but the lab now owns a
household-critical dependency. False positives need allowlisting, blocklists
need maintenance, and a failure of every resolver can still make the internet
appear unavailable.

## Evaluation

A representative LAN client and a remote personal device should receive the
same filtering. Resolution must continue while either filtering host is
stopped, and a configuration change must reach both nodes.

## Migration note

This PDR preserves the network-wide coverage and failover promise from the
original project narrative and ADR 001. ADR 001 retains the AdGuard Home
deployment and synchronization design. ADR 006 retains the monitoring choice.

## Related records

- Project: [Home Lab](https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab.md)
- Implemented by ADR: [ADR 001: AdGuard Home for DNS](https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab/adrs/001-adguard-home.md)
- Implemented by ADR: [ADR 006: Netdata for monitoring](https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/homelab/adrs/006-netdata.md)

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